Visiting a national park with a pet is not exactly pet friendly. In order to protect the natural balance, national parks, such as Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic, Redwoods and Kings Canyon/Sequoia limit where pets can be taken and some, like Channel Islands, do not allow pets at all. Similarly, few in-park accommodations allow pets to stay in rooms or in cars.

However, there is one hotel in the Yosemite area that does a doggone good job at welcoming pets. The Yosemite View Lodge, a deluxe accommodation located at the national park’s west entrance (SR 140) allows pets to stay overnight with their owners in rooms, and the hotel offers a pet package that includes accommodations, a comfy loaner pet bed, a gourmet dog treat, a colorful bandanna and a tongue-in-jowl bedtime story to read to your dog that describes Yosemite pet dos and don’ts. The rooms at The View, as it is known locally, are among the nicest in the Yosemite area and feature fenced balconies or patios, kitchenettes, fireplaces, double showers and many come with large in-room whirlpool tubs.

The discovery of a rare orchid, known only to grow inside Yosemite National Park was announced by scientists this month. The orchid lives only in wet meadows between 6,000 and 9,000 feet and it’s certainly not the type of plant that florists will be rushing to obtain, since it is as foul smelling as sweaty feet.

The offensive orchid uses its rank bouquet to attract pollinators in the rarified air of the high country. U.S. Geologic Survey Botanist Alison Colwell was reported by the Associated Press to have said, “I was out surveying clovers one afternoon, and I started smelling something. I was like, ‘Eew, what’s that? It smelled like a horse corral on a hot afternoon.”

The plant is the only known orchid species indigenous to California’s Sierra Nevada range and grows in spring-fed areas between 6,000 and 9,000 feet. To read more about California plants, CLICK HERE.

Sunday, July 29 is the deadline for comments on the Glacier Point Road Environmental Assessment. To read the Environmental Assessment, CLICK HERE.

Comments collected from a 74-day scoping period focused on a plan for management of the Merced River inside Yosemite National Park are now available online. Six scoping meetings were held in 2007 in such diverse locations as Yosemite Valley, Mariposa and San Francisco, resulting in 108 comments. To read those comments CLICK HERE.

This summer, the National Park Service has continued discussions with the public, park visitors, staff, stakeholders and volunteers regarding planning both for the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River and Tuolumne Meadows. To further those conversations, the NPS released the Tuolumne Planning Workbook which compiles work completed on the planning process to date.

The workbook is sort of a progress report and provides an additional opportunity for the public to comment. To view the workbook online, CLICK HERE.