Sue De Lapa

Yosemite Valley and Half Dome

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Saving the Meadows: Something had to be done. Yosemite Valley’s treasured meadows were being trampled. Generations of people criss-crossed them, damaging plants and compacting the sponge-like soil. Decades ago, drainage ditches were dug and crude roads built, interfering with the vital circulation of water.

But when I visited recently I learned that Yosemite is in the midst of a major restoration effort. Teams of volunteers are tearing out non-native plants and planting native species. Sensitive areas are being protected by fencing, boardwalks installed, ditches filled in, and remnants of old roads removed.

On the Beat

I spent a lovely sunny afternoon, Half Dome shining in the distance, as a ranger explained the restoration project funded by the nonprofit Yosemite Fund and National Park Association. Volunteers can contact the Yosemite Fund.

Because Yosemite Valley is such a gorgeous place, it’s not surprising that much of the year, finding a place to sleep isn’t easy. The iconic 1927 Ahwahnee luxury hotel is the toughest ticket in the park, although after the first of the year, when the snow flies and the wind whistles, vacancies appear and room rates can fall with avalanche speed.

In the warm weather months, though, when the park is jammed, visitors drop their bags at nearby hotels outside the park. Just south of the entrance on Highway 41, the class act is the all-purpose, high-quality Tenaya Lodge (www.TenayaLodge.com). Just behind the lodge an old logging road allows a good hike through the pines to the stables and beyond that, Tenaya Falls. Just outside the park, west on Highway 140, El Portal’s best accommodations are at the 278-room Yosemite View Lodge, with its three pools. (Tel.: 800-321-5261.) The Merced River, having run smoothly through Yosemite Valley, picks up speed and tumbles noisily past your balcony.

Sue  De Lapa

Whistling Billy steam engine at Coulterville.

Four miles west on Highway 140, you can ride that river at Zephyr Whitewater Rafting. True, you can go rafting back in the valley, renting a rubber raft near Curry Village, but here you can sign up for half-day to three-day trips on regional rivers. From here, the road continues through one of the gold rush country’s most colorful areas, Mariposa County. The town of Mariposa, small as it is, seems to hold at least one festival a week, dressing kids like butterflies one weekend, gathering for a blues-and-beer bash another. Locals say the Charles Street Dinner House, Highway 140 at Seventh Street, is the best in town. Tops as a coffee stop is the Mariposa Fruit & Nut Co., on Highway 140. A must-see is the Mariposa Museum and History Center, a fascinating look at the early gold-mining boom days. It’s at 5119 Jessie Street, open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you’re lucky you can see a noisy, jolting demonstration of a vintage stamp mill, once used to crush gold-bearing quartz.

Over at the sleepy, forgotten town of Coulterville, the 1851 Hotel Jeffrey (Tel.: 209-878-3471) is back in business, reopened by Peter and Cherylann Schimelfennig. The rooms are small but clean and cheap and the halls are reputedly inhabited by friendly ghosts. The place is fun, the food is good, and the big barroom gets lively when doctor and lawyer bikers swarm in and bearded locals drop by for a drink. Tourists check out the thrift shops and gather around Whistling Billy, the eight-ton locomotive that once hauled ore over rugged country on what was billed as “The Crookedest Railway in the World.”

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