Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

I noticed today that day passes starting 9-3 were available for Yosemite. (Go to recreation.gov) That allows for entrance from 9-3 for 7 days, though you must leave at night. This will be the last chance to fly Yosemite for a couple of years (at least?) I'm planning to camp here:

https://freecampsites.net/#!122623&query=sitedetails

for the weekend, starting that Thursday with family. Arthur may be coming to monitor but maybe Andy or Joey or George might want to come? Anyone else interested?

Arthur is confirmed as the monitor. Sign up at yosemitehg.org.
Entry tickets for this weekend through recreation.gov are all taken, however Arthur can get you day passes for flying Saturday and Sunday so you will be able to enter the park on those days.

I just monitored the last two weekends. The pilots had a heck of a time getting day passes for the appropriate days. The previous post says Arthur can get day passes for the flying days Sat/Sun. Is that something other monitors can do, or is that something Arthur as a connection to get? Nobody I talked to at YHGA had any way to get passes other than the standard on-line stuff.

Thanks!

George

BTW, While I might be convinced to do it one more time this year, not in the next few weeks. I'm exhausted. I rode my eBike back to launch to get my car, and slept outside the park in the car (Snow play area on 41, literally a few hundred yards from the Park entrance.) About 4500' vertical and 31 miles on the bike each flying day, and not enough sleep at all. If my wife could have come to drive, all would have been different.... Anyway, if someone wants to set up a weekend that doesn't already have a monitor, let me know. But not in the next few weeks.

George, the packet that we got from Chris on July 6 has Day passes that need to be attached to the Flight confirmation email for each participant. At least that is Chris and my understanding.

George, how was SnoPlay for camping? Many people there?

Snow play was fine. More people than I would have liked, but nowhere near enough to be an issue. Maybe 4-5 groups in the actual snow play area. There are also some spots in the woods right next to it that you can camp in. Many of those were taken. The meadow next to the snow play area might work as well. There are also a few turnouts along the road to the snow play area if you are going to just sleep in your vehicle, as I did.

One thing. Take good mosquito repellent. The meadow off of the snow play area seemed to have some. I slept in the van, so it wasn't an issue, but if you actually set up camp it likely would be.

Also - The day passes allow you to come in after the gate is open in the morning (7am?) That's not early enough to fly. So get there a day in advance, get your pass, and then just drive in before the park opens in the morning. The name "Day pass" could be misleading. They are called day passes because they are only valid during the day, not because they are only good for 1 day - They are good for 7 days. You need to exit the park before 11pm each night - And they mean it. (Expensive) Tickets were being issued. I entered the park each day around 5:50-6:10 am no problem, though.

Have fun!!!!

Added later: At no point during my stay was I within 100' of any other person at the Snow Play area. Probably not within 150'. I never felt crowded or unsafe. The biggest issue was that people arrived later in the evening and their lights were on. But I can't complain, as I did the same thing 1 of the 4 nights I was there (Both Fri and Sat on 2 different weekends). Although, I turned off my headlights and used my fog lights as soon as I could safely do so.

arthur wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:13 pm George, the packet that we got from Chris on July 6 has Day passes that need to be attached to the Flight confirmation email for each participant. At least that is Chris and my understanding.

Huh. I never got those, or I missed them. It all worked out (mostly) though.

Thanks for the info. If I decide to go again this year (I might, or might not) I'll check with Chris.

Enjoy!

It looks like we may need to fill out a "self-certification" form since we will be too early for the gate. This year is a real PIA.

from https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/covid19.htm

Can I enter the park overnight?
It depends on the type of permit you have. A day-use permit allows you to be in the park between 5 am and 11 pm. If you have a lodging or camping reservation inside the park or a wilderness permit, you may enter the park 24 hours per day while your permit is valid.

If the entrance station is not staffed when you enter, you must complete a self-certification card at the entrance station and display it in your windshield. You must also be in possession of a valid in-park reservation or permit.

Fires are clouding the picture for next weekend. Here are two sites to monitor the air quality:

A map: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQ ... /-119.8048,

and a High Sierra webcam near launch: https://www.nps.gov/media/webcam/view.h ... 0658CED5EF.

The purpleair site is showing that the last couple of days are getting worse. Lots of red and heading for unhealthy for all.
Does anyone have any insight into what the numbers really mean? Should we rethink this?

Well, it was an interesting trip. I got up there first Thursday afternoon with a little family entourage and was happy to discover that our "parking lot" campground had porta-potties, a trash dumpster and lots of good camping areas in the trees and meadow around the perimeter. The whole scheme proved to be quite workable, though of course we had to get up about an hour earlier than usual to get to launch.

Thursday and Friday the air was better than expected and improving and I encouraged the others to come up and not worry about conditions. Saturday we all flew with no mishaps and toasted the newbies though we could see a fire burning a mile or two north of the valley. During the day, things changed dramatically however. The Creek fire went out of control to the south and by mid-afternoon the valley was dark from high level smoke, cars drove with their lights on and we sat around a beach in raining ash. Sunday we set up to fly but after a lot of hang waiting, gave it up due to wind that came up over the back from the fire, we presume. Blowing down on Glacier Point at 8AM is certainly a new one for me.

We packed up and left after breakfast and I think most of the others followed later on after getting warnings from park rangers about worsening air conditions. We had some nice hikes though. Check out the pictures and launch videos posted by the generous Mary Marasco who came along to drive and enjoy the scene.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/LZbZ2ND8Q3bRmy3m8