Sunday, I woke up to snow in Mammoth Lakes. Thankfully, my building has a garage and nothing stuck to the road. After coffee, we start with a beautiful drive from Mammoth to the 395/120 junction at Lee Vining. I stopped to grab a coffee and sandwich for my North Dome hike at Yosemite.
Time to head up the hill!
Tioga Pass is literally a hump a the Yosemite gatehouse. The pass is 9945’ and is the highest pass in the Sierras. Fun fact, it’s not the highest year-round pass – that’s Mount Rose at Tahoe. The first stop for pics was at the end of the Tuolumne Meadows with Lembert Dome in the back!
Tenaya Lake and Olmsted Point offered some epic shots!
I drove on to the Porcupine Creek Trailhead, arriving around 9 a.m. It was time for some more leg-stretching by way of a roughly 10-mile hike out (and back) to North Dome for some insane views and lunch up on Indian Rock – it’s a naturally formed arch and incredibly beautiful!
Indian Rock. Thank you Swiss lady for taking my picture.
I got back to the car around 1 p.m. and headed down the rest of Tioga Pass and into the valley! What a tourist trap this place is! Yes, it’s insanely beautiful, but seriously, it’s OCTOBER already! I guess between the heat and the fires, summer is too much for most folks to bear. Anyway, I managed to get some shots of the car with Half Dome in the background - one of the goals of this trip.
I decided to get the heck out of here and head down CA 140 to my Aunt’s house in Merced. This is such a great drive…you wind along the Merced River and then you head down into CA Oak Grove landscape (think hills above Santa Barbara). The town of Mariposa is kind of cool…should have stopped, but alas the day was long by then! Finally, you get into golden farm fields...where it heats up fast. Aside from the ocean and desert, CA 140 is a nearly complete survey of the California landscape!
Final photo stop in front of a farm!
End of Day 2…my Aunt had some great chili and beer waiting for me!