From Mountain Wonderland to the Wild West
We’ve just enjoyed a three-day weekend, as yesterday was Labor Day. Not being ones to stick around in one place for very long, we headed to Yosemite and the Eastern High Sierra. We’d decided to concentrate on a different part of the park, specifically the eastern end along the Tioga road, near Tuolumne Meadows. With its highest point at almost 10,000 feet above sea level, the Tioga Pass is covered in snow for much of the year and only open for about four months. We did one serious hike: a long (14 mile), but not too difficult trek from Tenaya Lake to Cloud’s Rest, which affords fabulous vistas in every direction, including a view straight down Tenaya Canyon into Yosemite Valley . On Monday, we did a couple of shorter walks – one through lovely alpine meadows to the naturally carbonated Soda Springs, and one up through the forest to Elizabeth Lake. We sighted lots of chipmunks and deer (including a doe with two fawns), but no bears! Part of me wants to see one and part of me would be terrified, but they’re so elusive! In summary, I was delighted with this area of Yosemite: a stunning landscape with lots of lakes and far fewer crowds, resulting in a quasi-religious communion with nature.
The other part of our trip was spent beyond the park gates on the eastern side. The Tioga Pass emerges near the weird and wonderful Mono Lake. Dubbed the “Dead Sea of California” by Mark Twain, it is 2.5 times as salty as sea water and lies in a huge desert-like basin at six and a half thousand feet elevation, sporting bizarre limestone formations on its shores called tufa. We had visited it on our big California road-trip back in 1999, so it was a bit of a blast from the past for us: we even stayed in the same motel and ate at the same diner, which isn’t hard given that the only inhabited place is barely a village with some 300 odd residents and seems to live entirely off the passing summer tourist trade. We marvelled at the tufa and swam – or rather floated – in the lake, experiencing the added buoyancy the salinity affords, but not liking the thick layer of salt it left on our skin!
On Sunday we also took a trip a short distance north to the ghost town of Bodie, 13 miles off the highway, three of them dirt. Bodie came about and enjoyed its short-lived heyday in the 1870s, when gold was discovered in the arid hills surrounding it. Declining yields and two major fires led to its demise, and it was finally abandoned for good in the early 1930s. Bar some necessary restoration, the remaining buildings are left pretty much as they were, crumbling in the elements and strewn with the detritus of departure. Quite amazing to think that it was once a lively Wild West town with regular shoot-outs together with plenty of drinking, gambling and opium-smoking in its saloons. Still, it must have been a tough environment, with its isolation, dry summers and snow-bound winters.
So, we had a wonderful escape – the only down-side being the discovery that my nose is prone to bleeding at high altitudes! Surprisingly, we had a good – if long – journey back (approx. 240 miles from Mono Lake). Of course, we’ve returned to busy times at work and the problems associated with transferring the mortgage on our house in the UK (the main one being that everyone involved seems to think it’s okay to charge you absurd amounts of money for doing practically nothing). However, with a weekend at the beach to look forward to, staying in my friend’s parents’ holiday home, it’s not all bad! Photos are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/labor-day-weekend/ (Password: moocow)
The other part of our trip was spent beyond the park gates on the eastern side. The Tioga Pass emerges near the weird and wonderful Mono Lake. Dubbed the “Dead Sea of California” by Mark Twain, it is 2.5 times as salty as sea water and lies in a huge desert-like basin at six and a half thousand feet elevation, sporting bizarre limestone formations on its shores called tufa. We had visited it on our big California road-trip back in 1999, so it was a bit of a blast from the past for us: we even stayed in the same motel and ate at the same diner, which isn’t hard given that the only inhabited place is barely a village with some 300 odd residents and seems to live entirely off the passing summer tourist trade. We marvelled at the tufa and swam – or rather floated – in the lake, experiencing the added buoyancy the salinity affords, but not liking the thick layer of salt it left on our skin!
On Sunday we also took a trip a short distance north to the ghost town of Bodie, 13 miles off the highway, three of them dirt. Bodie came about and enjoyed its short-lived heyday in the 1870s, when gold was discovered in the arid hills surrounding it. Declining yields and two major fires led to its demise, and it was finally abandoned for good in the early 1930s. Bar some necessary restoration, the remaining buildings are left pretty much as they were, crumbling in the elements and strewn with the detritus of departure. Quite amazing to think that it was once a lively Wild West town with regular shoot-outs together with plenty of drinking, gambling and opium-smoking in its saloons. Still, it must have been a tough environment, with its isolation, dry summers and snow-bound winters.
So, we had a wonderful escape – the only down-side being the discovery that my nose is prone to bleeding at high altitudes! Surprisingly, we had a good – if long – journey back (approx. 240 miles from Mono Lake). Of course, we’ve returned to busy times at work and the problems associated with transferring the mortgage on our house in the UK (the main one being that everyone involved seems to think it’s okay to charge you absurd amounts of money for doing practically nothing). However, with a weekend at the beach to look forward to, staying in my friend’s parents’ holiday home, it’s not all bad! Photos are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/labor-day-weekend/ (Password: moocow)
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