In Sierra Nevada, Snow Wonder

Early in the morning one day last week, a few sleepy campers poked their heads out of their tents in the Big Pine Creek campground and got the Sierra Nevada’s equivalent of a pie in the face.

Snow. Although the sun was shining and the temperature was a pleasant 35 degrees, flakes were coming down hard. A mile farther up Big Pine Creek Canyon, the jagged peaks of the Sierra were completely shrouded in clouds.

The storm packed more of a punch than forecasters anticipated. Four to 16 inches fell on much of the high country, making it one of the latest and largest spring dumps to hit the region in the last few years.

With the holiday weekend approaching, the weather left many of the locals puzzling over which way the season would go--back to winter or forward to summer.

“All the campgrounds that are supposed to be open for the weekend are open, and it has warmed up enough in most places to melt most of it,” said Nancy Upham, spokeswoman for the Inyo National Forest.

In Yosemite National Park, California 140 is open again, after a 12-foot boulder rolled across and forced its closure. Glacier Point Road is open. Tioga Pass Road was cleared by Friday, much to the relief of tourists and merchants who use it to cross the mountain range.

According to the California Department of Transportation, all of the trans-Sierra highways are now open, including the hair-raisingly steep California 108 through Sonora Pass.

Forecasts by the National Weather Service called for partly cloudy skies and daytime temperatures in the 60s and 70s in the Sierra this weekend, with a chance of rain in the north today and Monday.

Although the Sierra snowpack is still below average in most places, the storm had a few beneficiaries. Mammoth Mountain had planned to end its skiing season Monday, but with a foot of new powder the resort will remain open until June 2. It’s a far cry from 1995, when Mammoth didn’t close until Aug. 13--it received a foot of snow in a June storm that year--but it still means Mammoth will be the last California ski resort to close this season.

Also benefiting are the waterfalls in the Yosemite Valley. Scott Gediman, park spokesman, said all the falls were “just incredible” and were reaching peak flows just in time for the gaggles of park visitors who descend on the valley for the holiday.

Gediman and forest service officials also intoned their usual warning for this time of year. All visitors to the Sierra, particularly those heading into the back country, should be wary of high stream crossings and slippery rocks surrounding creeks and rivers.

Park officials also said the snow did not drive black bears back into hibernation in Yosemite or Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. Au contraire, the always-hungry bears are keenly aware of thousands of weenie-filled coolers being wheeled into the hills. Park rules require that food be properly stored at all times.

Two of the storm’s luckiest victims were at Lake Edison, located at the end of steep, single-lane Kaiser Pass Road, which was closed for 21/2 days after the snow. That meant visitors to Vermilion Valley Resort were, for lack of a better phrase, stuck there.

“It was gorgeous. I was loving every minute of it,” said Sarah Muzquiz, the resort’s general manager. “A few of us just sat inside by the fire, had coffee and watched it snow.”

Meanwhile, a pair of anglers stayed outside, not minding the 17-degree temperature while reeling in one big trout after another. On the cusp of another busy summer in the Sierra, they had the place entirely to themselves.