California 2017 - Day 10 - Yosemite Valley to Lake Tahoe
Monday
Route
The way out of the valley today was via the spectacular Tioga Rd, the highest automobile route in North America at the highest point it is 9045ft or 3000 meters!
Our first stop was at Olmsted Point an impressive slab of granite that had been smoothed and scoured by glaciation.
We could see the other side of Half Dome today and if you look very carefully you can see climbers on the ladders.
The visibility wasn't great today because of the smoke drift from the forest fires.
Next was the beautiful Tenaka Lake, it looked inviting but it was pretty chilly at this altitude.
The Tolumne Meadows are sub alpine grassland and is snow free for just a few months of the year.
We walked along a trail for a kilometre to the Soda Springs a natural phenomenon were water bubbles up from the ground but it is cold not boiling like a hot spring.
We would loved to have lingered longer here but we still have a four hour drive.
At the top of the pass we were almost level with the mountain tops which still have a smidgen of snow on their tops.
The chilly wind was blowing a gale, we could hardly stand up in places and yet in just a few miles we were in the desert of the Mono Lakes Basin where there is just 10 inches of rain each year.
The lake is fed by the melting snow pack of the Sierra Nevada and has no outlet, the process of evaporation makes the water here two and a half times more salty than the ocean!
We crossed the State Line into Nevada and as it was warm and sunny stopped for an ice cream before we continue on to Lake Tahoe.
Another stunning day in this amazing state of California.
Route
The way out of the valley today was via the spectacular Tioga Rd, the highest automobile route in North America at the highest point it is 9045ft or 3000 meters!
Our first stop was at Olmsted Point an impressive slab of granite that had been smoothed and scoured by glaciation.
We could see the other side of Half Dome today and if you look very carefully you can see climbers on the ladders.
The visibility wasn't great today because of the smoke drift from the forest fires.
Next was the beautiful Tenaka Lake, it looked inviting but it was pretty chilly at this altitude.
The Tolumne Meadows are sub alpine grassland and is snow free for just a few months of the year.
We walked along a trail for a kilometre to the Soda Springs a natural phenomenon were water bubbles up from the ground but it is cold not boiling like a hot spring.
We would loved to have lingered longer here but we still have a four hour drive.
At the top of the pass we were almost level with the mountain tops which still have a smidgen of snow on their tops.
The chilly wind was blowing a gale, we could hardly stand up in places and yet in just a few miles we were in the desert of the Mono Lakes Basin where there is just 10 inches of rain each year.
The lake is fed by the melting snow pack of the Sierra Nevada and has no outlet, the process of evaporation makes the water here two and a half times more salty than the ocean!
We crossed the State Line into Nevada and as it was warm and sunny stopped for an ice cream before we continue on to Lake Tahoe.
Another stunning day in this amazing state of California.
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