Climb it before it melts away, suggests Barney Brantingham of Santa Barbara's Independent:
"
(In the 30-plus years since my son Barclay and I trekked Mount Lyell’s snowy flanks, it’s been melting, not as fast as a vanilla ice cream cone in the summer Sierra sun, but melting.
Lyell Glacier’s retreat has speeded up since 2000, says Yosemite geologist Greg Stock. “Eventually, there’ll be nothing left.” But Barclay and I had no sense that we were climbing against time, on a glacier silently dwindling beneath our boots. Scientists say the glacier will vanish in about 20 years, victim of that ol’ devil climate change."
(It's a lovely reminiscence and essay, and makes me want to go…but for today, drier slopes.)
"When the glacier is gone, a vital water source for Lyell Canyon will go with it, affecting plants and animals that live there now.
Even if you don’t get to the glacier, it’s a beautiful hike through a broad valley within earshot of the rippling stream. I’ve been back a couple of times for short hikes from Tuolumne Meadows, crossing short bridges over trickling creeks. Next time you’re up there, take a walk in the sun."
Kit Stolz 