Fredrick Law Olmsted. Jr.

Born 24 July 1870 this American landscape architect was a passionate conservationist and gave a lifetime of commitment to national parks.

In recognition of this, Olmsted Point in Yosemite and Olmsted Island at Great Falls of the Potomac River in Maryland are named after him.

In 1916 his contributions to the National Parks Service (NPS) Organic act would guide American conservation for generations to come.

"To conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

The point of all this, if there is one is then to illustrate that despite the undoubted capability of the road crews currently clearing Tioga Pass, a balance must be made of what can be done, to what should be done in the preservation of the park.

Olmsted Point provides in itself not only a point of observation for the traveller on the Tioga Pass, but also a point of caution. For from its slopes, heavy with recalcitrant snow pack there is the undeniable immutable danger of Avalanche!

One method that can be adopted to reduce the risk of a natural Avalanche is to blast the snow, creating a controlled release of the snow pack. The negative impact this has on the natural environment is compounded by the force of the Avalanche itself.

Hence whilst this remains an option it cannot be a preferred choice for the National Parks Service.

So with local businesses and economies either side of Tioga Pass anxiously awaiting the opening of the pass to public traffic (and of course ourselves) the current situation at Olmsted point is crucial to understand.

The NPS website for Yosemite today released this information, which sadly illustrates the dichotomy of the need to fuel the economy and the requirement to preserve the natural state of the park.

‘Olmsted Point is still unsafe due to avalanche danger.

Beginning Friday, June 10, the Tioga Road will be open to bicycles from Crane Flat to Olmsted Point. There will be no access beyond Olmsted Point due to the avalanche zone just east of Olmsted Point. From the east, the road is open to bikes from US 395 to the west end of Tuolumne Meadows. It will be signed accordingly. Please be on the lookout for debris falling into the road and administrative vehicles travelling back and forth.’

As an aside, Olmsted Jr. career followed in the footsteps of his father Fredrick Law Olmsted who died in 1903 and who in 1850 was so impressed with Joseph Paxton’s Birkenhead Park, later worked with the English born Architect Calvert Vaux to design Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

There is some symmetry in this, as our journey which was planned to take us over the Tioga Pass, has a connection with our final destination of New York and like Olmsted point the parks location in Brooklyn is unlikely to be accessed during this visit.

Posted in: history,Route,Snow,Tioga