Day Eight - Lone Pine

We visited the Mono Lake South Tufa
this morning. They are really weird shapes - originally hot springs which form limestone columns under water. Just like where life is supposed to have originated. Then the water receded and left the columns exposed. The water in Mono Lake is very concentrated as water drains in but then evaporates.

We then went to Panum Crater, the most recent volcanic crater in the US, it erupted about 600 years ago. We looked at the central cone which had layers of pumice and obsidian.

Then we went down the 395 to Mammoth Lakes where we had lunch. We then visited a fissure from an earthquake before heading south to Lone Pine where we are now in quite a nice motel (Mt Whitney). After unloading we drove up to the Alabama Hills where there are amazing views of the orange foothills against the jagged Sierras. The Alabamas have weird shapes. We found Mobius Arch that we were looking for. They've filmed a lot of westerns here including Django Unchained, the Lone Ranger and Iron Man.

Finally we had a good burger and have finally caught up with the blog as the wifi is useable!

Tomorrow we head up the Alabama Hills and Mt Whitney again before heading into Death Valley along the 190. We'll probably go north first to Ubehebe Crater and Scotty's Castle. I'm not sure where we'll stay yet.

Mono Lake Tufa

 

Panum Crater

 

View from Panum Crater

 

Down the fissure, the hole went really deep and the temperature dropped about 20C

 

Arch at Alabama Hills at sunset

 

Mount Whitney through the arch

 

Day Seven - Tioga Pass

We stayed at a reasonable hotel which had the address in Groveland except it was actually in Buck Meadows 10M away! We went for breakfast next door in the Buck Meadows restaurant. We ordered and waited and waited. I think the waitress came round 5 or 6 times with coffee refills. Eventually after an hour we gave up and walked out. At least we got a free cup of tea out of it!

We went back into Yosemite and too the Tioga pass where there were some great views over the Sierra. We stopped at Olmsted Point for a great view towards Yosemite Valley and Half Dome. Then stopped to climb Lembert Dome for a great view over Tuolumne Meadows. That took about 1.5 hours. We find we can usually halve the estimated time for trails and that's not pushing it. We reached a height of 10,000ft before descending out of the park to Lee Vining where we found a nice motel. Before dinner we went up to Lundy Lake for a lovely walk past beaver dams. Then we had a fantastic sunset on the way back.

We had a great meal at a restaurant besides the Mobil garage! We had fish tacos.

View from Olmsted Point towards Half Dome

 

View from Olmsted Point

 

View towards Cathedral Mountain

 

View from Lambert Dome

 

Lambert Dome view over Tuolumne Meadows

 

Tioga Pass road down past Rhyolite Mountains

 

Beaver dam

 

Lundy Falls

 

Sunset over Mono Lake

 

Day Six - Mist Trail

We survived the night in the tent in Curry Village along with the other 749 tents without being eaten by a bear! After breakfast we got on the shuttle bus to head towards the start of the Mist Trail hike. Unfortunately we had to get off the shuttle bus very soon after as Dad had forgotten his walking poles. After going back to the car to get them we headed back to the bus station and this time the bus left just as we got to it. Third time lucky we got on the bus and headed to the trail head. The trail consisted of a walk to the bottom of Vernal Falls before a very steep and tiring climb to the top of them. The reason I look more tired and sweaty than Dad is because I had to carry the rucksack! After this there was a further walk to the bottom of Nevada Falls and another hard climb. It was worth it though as the view was great and we both felt a sense of achievement at the top. We chose a less steep route back down to avoid too much pressure on the knees. All in all a 4.5 hour hike but quite hard work; the hardest we'll be doing on the holiday, but was worth it. We then made our way to a town called Bucks Meadow for the evening.

Bottom of Vernal Falls

 On the climb up Vernal Falls

 

 Nearing the top

 

 View from the top of Vernal Falls

 Halfway up Nevada Falls

 View looking out from the top of Nevada Falls

 On the other side of Nevada Falls on the way down (Half Dome on the left)

 Some more photos of the tents with the bear boxes outside

Day Five - Glacier Point Road

Sorry this has been so slow being posted - we haven't had decent internet access for about 3 days.

We set off into Yosemite NP and took Glacier Point Road. On the way we saw a mountain lion (aka cougar, panther, puma) cross the road in front of us, which was very fortunate as they're quite rare. After about 20miles we reached the end of the road and got out. We then had what I  can honestly say is the best view in my life. And that includes the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, etc. We had a panoramic view of the massive granite obelisks which make up most of Yosemite. I half expected to be disappointed but I was pretty gob-smacked, it's so unlike anything I've seen before. Photos don't really do it justice. We were on a precipice with a sheer drop of about 3,000ft. We had a view which centred on half dome, probably the best bit of granite.

After Glacier Point, we returned down the road and stopped at Sentinel Dome. We climbed to the top for another good view and then hiked over to Taft Point for a great view into Yosemite Valley and El Capitan. Taft Point had a lot of fissures.  These were cracks about 2 feet across which dropped vertically for thousands of feet.

On the way back we went into Yosemite Valley and stopped at Tunnel View for a terrific view of the whole of the Valley. We stayed at Curry Camp, we had a tent complete with beds and lighting. Sort of glamping but not especially glamorous! We had to stow all deoderants, toothpaste, food, etc. in the bear proof container outside and empty the car (a lot get broken into by bears).

View from GlacierPoint

 

Half Dome

 

Sentinel Dome

 

View from Sentinel Dome

 

Me at Taft Point trying not to get too close to the drop!

 

View from Sentinel Point with El Capitan on the right

 

A fissure

 

Tunnel View

 

Inside our "tent"

 

Day Four - Kings Canyon

We had a good walk this morning to Buena Vista point where we had some good views. We then went down to Kings Canyon only to find that the road was shut as the recent fire had damaged it. So we went for a walk up to Panoramic Point where we had a good view of the fires which are still burning. We also saw General Grant, the oldest ever Sequoia tree. We then travelled on to Oakhurst just outside Yosemite so we can get in relatively early tomorrow.
It's still very hot in the 90's though aircon works very well in both car and room!

 

Day Three - Sequoia NP

After a slowish start - the hotel didn't have breakfast so we headed off to Hanford to have it in a Dennys. We had 4 different menus and I eventually found some porridge in very small letters on one of them!
We then went into Sequoia Nat Park where entry was actually free as it was the 125th anniversary of national parks! The road climbed from about 1500 ft and a temp of 100F to 8000ft and 75F. We climbed up Moro Rock, a granite dome with precipitous sides (it had steps!). Fantastic views from the top. We saw a black bear cub on the way up. Fortunately Mum wasn't around! We then did the Congress Hike amongst giant sequoias which still showed signs of burning. The oldest is 3,200 years old, i.e. it was a sapling in Minoan times!
We're now at Montecito Sequoia Lodge in a cabin. It's got great views over the Sierra Nevada and a pool. We had a lovely meal of salmon (all included in the price!).

 

Day Two - Pacific Coat Highway

We carried on down the Pacific Coat Highwayvia Monterey and Big  Sur  (considered to be one of the best drives in the world, and it was!) and called in at Point Lobos State Park - the best place in the world where sky meets sea according to Bim's guidebook and Julie Pfeiifer Burns SP where there's a great waterfall onto the beach. Then we headed off on a narrow road that winded up the mountains by the sea and crossed over towards San Lucas and Coalinga before staying in Lemoore with an OK pizza in a local fast food place.
Today we head towards Sequoia NP which has hopefully stopped burning. It's been very hot, temps up to 36 and forecast for over 100  in Nevada.