Just when you thought it was safe...

There's another big storm coming to the Sierra this week, one that should bring as much as a foot of snow to the high country, and snow down to 6500 feet. That's below the rim of Yosemite Valley.

We know many of you are getting pretty darn frustrated with the fact that this year is going to be a short season for backpackers. The snow pack is still at about 150% of normal, and that number will go up this week. Tioga Pass, often open by Memorial Day, may not open until late June---and that's just the road itself. The trails out of Tuolumne Meadows

are going to have a lot of snow on them well past that date.

We've already decided that we won't be doing much Sierra hiking in May or June. Maybe conditions will improve by July, but so will the population of mosquitoes. This is going to be a year for August, September, and, if we're lucky, some hiking into October!

Meanwhile, we've been busy in another way. P was invited to speak on a couple of wine cruises this spring, and we've spent the last month floating down the Rhone River in France, and then sailing from Singapore to Hong Kong via Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. That may explain why we haven't posted much here....but with a few short exceptions, we're in the Good Ol' USA for the whole summer, and looking forward to it!

Here are a couple of images from those adventures:

Singapore in the read view mirror: And a Cambodian temple...