Eastern Yosemite, the Eastern Sierra Nevadas and a hurricane named Hilary


View from Lembert Dome     

From Lake Tahoe we headed west again to the eastern side of Yosemite NP and surrounding Sierra Nevadas. It is the more remote side of Yosemite where Tuolumne meadows and many of the high mountain lakes are located. The famed Taioga Pass had just opened from the winter snows a few weeks before we arrived. Way back in one of my earlier blogs I had said how excited we were that we had won the lottery to join a "Backcountry Backpacking Trip" where you hike from spot to spot and they provide shelter, bedding, food, etc. We had since received notification that they were canceling all their trips this year due to the severity of the winter, too much damage to the camps, not enough time to prepare, too short a season. This was the week we would have been on that trip. 

So we explored on our own. It is an area of Yosemite that I just love. It is so beautiful. And not nearly as crowded as "the valley". The area just outside the park in the eastern Sierra Nevadas was just gorgeous as well. That was a bonus.

The weather was a bit questionable, a few rainy and chilly days and Hurricane Hilary made her way up from Mexico through California while we were there. Fortunately we just hunkered down in our camper and it wasn't too bad as we weren't in the direct path. I did have some thoughts of our little trailer home being blown apart or some sort of major flooding, but except for some "rocking and rolling" we were fine. 🛟

On to pics …

Hiking along the Tuolumne River

I was hot and thought I might take a dip. The water looked so inviting. But it was FREEZING! My feet went numb almost as soon as I put them in the water. Haha 🤣

We came upon a deer who was eating  the fresh new grass (just keep in mind that this is mid-late August and the grass looks like it's spring grass).

All that eating made for a thirsty girl.

Excuse me, at you looking at me?

Mushroom pics.  

They were growing in a meadow near a river. I call them the "Hamburger Bun" mushrooms. Haha

Hiking up to May Lake

The weather line in the sky over May Lake 

This is one of the camps, May Lake, that we would have stayed at. It didn't look in terrible shape, but with so much work to be done over the whole park and limited man hours, I suppose they had to prioritize 

More swaths of alpine lupines

Reflections

granite mountains and boiling clouds 

Half Dome from the other side. You can see the hiking trail from this side.

My guy ❤️

Tenaya Lake.  

Clouds, granite, water, reflections 

We hiked to both the lower and upper Cathedral Lakes one day. It was far, but it was a great hike.

Tenaya Lake in the distance.

Lower Cathedral Lake

Cathedral Peak

The meadow beside upper Cathedral Lake. It was pretty soggy (and buggy) but we (I) felt quite accomplished at having made it to both lakes.

On our way back down we came upon some deer munching and then they decided to move down the trail in front of us before eventually crossing to the other side.


Leaving Yosemite, but exploring some nearby places in the eastern Sierra Nevadas.

Devil's Postpile National Monument 

A volcanic vent with similar rod structures to the Devil's Tower in Wyoming, just not nearly as big.

Of course, Devil's Postpile does have all  these cool features accessible like, you can see the ends of the rods.

And in a couple of places you can even walk on them. They look like a tile floor.

So many different and interesting surfaces and textures on the earth's surface in our country alone.

June Lake

One of our campground sites.

Reflections

We were inside the camper, but this guy was pretty insistent that he wanted in. (In case you're wondering, he's climbing up out camper door!) We didn't dare leave the door open at all. Haha.



Next stop: Zion NP, Utah



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