No place like this on Earth in deep winter

When I saw this photo a few years ago, I remembered scenes in Yosemite Valley like this from the 1990s when I started covering Yosemite National Park as a beat for The Fresno Bee. It's the best place on Earth in deep winter. This photo tells you why.

The photographer, Kenny Karst, works for park concession, but not as a photographer. He was head of the public relations department when he took this shot. I think his photo work is really nice.

Anyway, Yosemite Valley is fascinating in winter. There are very few tourists in the valley when it snows like this. Sometimes the temperature drops into the teens after a big storm, and it really is a slice of icy heaven.

Surrounded by the ancient, granite cliffs, you can sense what it was like when this valley was filled with ice during glacial times. The largest glacier in the Sierra was in the next watershed north of Yosemite Valley. It's called Hetch Hetchy Valley on the Tuolumne River.

We'll talk a little more about the dam and the reservoir stashed in Hetch Hetchy.

Might not need to worry about snow patches this August

Last August, there was still snow all over the place in the high Sierra. This photo was in the Southern Sierra, just east of the crest.

Trust me, unless the winter gets rolling a little bit soon, this snow patch will not be around.

The hiker's name is Tim Crosse, a 20-something guy who likes seeing nature up close. By the time we were finished with this backpack, he knew what a Sierra glacier looked like. He had listened to the gentle drip at night as the snow and ice melted. He drank ice-cold water from a glacial tarn.

He's one of those youngsters who likes to check things out before he makes decisions -- like casting a vote. I won't get into the connection between water and California voting. That's a subject for a different blog.

Back to the high Sierra, I think it's really important to show the next generation what's up here and connect the dots. I know plenty of people, young and old, whose world is inside four walls. That was true for me when I was 20 years old.

I'll have a few more blogs soon about seeing California up close. And you don't have to put your phone on vibrate. I'm hoping to get you into places where there is no cell coverage.

Southern Sierra may hold a climate key

I'm heading again into the glacier belt in the Sierra Nevada to get a closer look at where California's water starts.

I'm not saying exactly where I'm going yet, but you will definitely recognize it a lot easier than the photograph I've loaded with this blog item. The photo was taken in August at Dusy Basin in Kings Canyon National Park.

The glacial wilderness above 10,000 feet in the Sierra is often quite arid during the warmer months. But the Southern Sierra is the highest part of the mountain range. The snow tends to stick around all season long on many years, no matter what's going on elsewhere.

What does that mean for California as the planet warms?

I asked a fishery biologist who has had a lot of influence around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Peter Moyle told me these wind-blown plateaus and peaks may be the last place where a decent snowpack remains in the future.

And that means what to the state? Remember, there are two rivers flowing to the delta. The vastly more important Sacramento River carries a lot more water, while the San Joaquin is considered a kind of murky mess.

But a restored San Joaquin with real snowpack 70 years from now might become a more important piece for conservation.

More later. And, by the way, I've decided not to take experts with me this year. Instead, I'm going with a fresh-faced young man who represents our future. Again, stay tuned.