Glacier Point Rd

[Grzldvt]

Just curious, and for the record, I rarely do winter hiking. 30+ years of living in the snow country cured me of that
So the question of the day is: Is there any parking along Glacier Point Rd around Badger Pass, or do I have to park at it's origin off of Wawona Rd?
Plus your best guess as to the conditions of the road: the snow has melted this week and I would be on asphalt, or it has 42 feet of snow on it?(Being a bit funny with the 42 feet, so don't take it seriously )
I have volunteered to take a "Travelin Charlie" to Yosemite. It is for a elementary grade nephew of someone I know that is out of state. It is a school project to see how many places one can send "Travelin Charlie" and then have a geography lesson on the places he visited. I got him to Death Valley already and Yosemite is next.
Plus I need to do a 20 mile training run for an upcoming marathon. I know some of you are against using the park for extreme hikes/runs, and I understand that. Just wanted to be honest and up front with my intentions. The school project is primary. As far as the run goes, it just struck me that GP road is probably the simplest situation that keeps me off of crowded trails so I don't bother anyone.
The other option is to head over to Tioga Road and park at the Grove parking lot and do my run from there up the road. Come back and then take Charlie down to the Valley.
Any clue on snow levels at this time of the year?

[balzaccom]

Glacier Point Road is currently closed, according to the YNP website.

You can get updates by calling this number: 209 372 0200 then pressing one and then one again

[AlmostThere]

Snow levels have been minimal, but that doesn't mean they will open roads any sooner. There are hazards other than snow to be taken care of.

Tioga Rd will likely have some amount of snow as you approach the pass, for sure. Glacier Pt Rd is likely to as well, but less of it.

[bill-e-g]

The gates at both locations will be closed. You park at Chinquapin.
After Badger Pass expect snow covered road. Probably many feet of snow.
Good luck running in that. 20 miles nowadays isn't extreme.
I think people were more not nice about extremely stupid.
I keep mentioning another forum... if you look there... and I won't mention
it again... maybe it is bad etiquette (?).. you would see "trip reports" with
snow levels (think about maybe 6500 ft. for full snow dep. on aspect).
Since you're coming from San Jose why don't you run to Rancheria Falls
and take Charlie there for photos. Take him to Tuolumne Grove and
take pictures there with him. Run up the road if can do...
Anywho. I'm not a fan of people calling areas "holes"... or
"I have a super secret spot and I'm not telling you where it is".
(why bother even saying) Anyway, I just had to get that off my chest.
It's why I haven't responded in the past.

o... they start plowing the road on April 15th... so you prob. don't want to
go on it after then for a bit... although I've talked to the operators
when they were starting the day and they were nice about how things
were so it MIGHT be ok.
I'd be surprised if GP road isn't plowed and opened by mid May.

Have a good one

[Grzldvt]

Thanks for the responses. I was trying to stay off the trails and stick to the quiet roads for the run. I guess I wil play it by ear when I get there and see what works. The Ranchiera trail is a thought as I suspect it would be fairly quiet this time of year.

[AlmostThere]

Fairly quiet?

It'll get pretty busy with backpackers - when it's the only place unaffected by snow, and it's not 100F at that elevation, it's a popular destination. Spring is when it's most pleasant. And Wapama Falls is at its most impressive....