BURST“The road is now open,” Kim Lawson, Director of Communications for Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau, told me in an email. “It will help visitors and local employees by improving accessibility and overall flow.”
Lawson was referring to the rockslide at 10 p.m. on March 17 in the Lower Merced River Canyon, which blocked both lanes of Highway 140—the main western route into Yosemite. The road reopened yesterday afternoon, March 26, after nine days of closure.
Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) announced the highway is now open to “motorists under one-way traffic control from Savage Trading Post to just west of the Ferguson Rock Shed Project.” They advised drivers to expect “5–10 minute delays or more.”
The slide occurred just east of the Ferguson Bridge, near the site of a 2006 rockslide. The initial road closure spanned 14 miles, from the Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort in Midpines to Cedar Lodge in the Merced River Canyon, forcing detours that turned a 40 to 50-minute drive from Midpines and Mariposa into a two-hour trip via Yosemite’s north or south entrances.
“No current estimate for reopening,” the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office had stated before repairs finished.
The rockslide covered both lanes with debris, extending 30 feet up the canyon wall before spilling into the Merced River. The area consists of “highly fractured phyllite, slate, and chert,” according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report.
“I canceled the spot I booked,” professional climber Sasha DiGiulian told me before the reopening. “The map showed 2 hours from [Midpines] to Yosemite.”
The closure also dampened tourism in Mariposa, where shops saw fewer visitors. During the shutdown, I visited climbing crags in Yosemite’s Lower Merced Canyon and found them nearly empty—I saw one person at the crags on Monday.
“Road closures are always detrimental to the gateway communities, so we are so thankful to Caltrans and all the other agencies that scrambled to get this back up and running. Besides, it’s wildflower time,” said Nansi Wilson of the Yosemite Climbing Association. “And we’re so excited to welcome the coming busy season.”
Wilson referenced the spring bloom now lighting up the Merced River Canyon, Mariposa and Midpines, with “tufted poppies, baby blue eyes, and purple lupine,” I wrote in a story in Men’s Journal called Where to Explore California’s Spring Wildflower Bloom.
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