Day Thirteen

Yosemite National Park, CA to Mammoth Lakes, CA
June 7th, 2009

High Point of the Day....
Low Point of the Day......
Sitting on Lembert dome in Toulome Meadows
Finding out that Devils Postpile is not open for the season
Miles Traveled Today
Total Miles Traveled
The Bus Playlist
Weather
116 in the bus, 4 on foot
3940
Old Crow Medicine Show, Ralph Stanley
Sunny and Raining
Price of Gas 
(average per gallon)
Wildlife
Night's Lodging
Where this Page was Uploaded
3.31
Coyote, Sow and Cubs, Captive Shrimp
Mammoth Mountain RV Park
Mammoth Lakes, NV

Daily Didactic
Morning started in the extraordinarily busy Northern Pines Campground. It really is fascinating how many folks the parks service can pack into this valley. The sun was out and so was everyone else who had been hunkered down in the weather. We had initially planned on a laundry/showers/day hike kind of day in the valley. After one last Deg Muffin (and finding out showers were five dollars and laundry was probably a very competitive operation) we instead decided to motor on out of the valley toward our next objective, Devils Postpile out of Mammoth Lakes a little to the southeast. Devils Postpile looks to be a miniature version of Devils Tower that we saw in 2004. Originally, we were going to do an overnight backpack near it, but clearly the snow in the mountains will hold that for another trip.

We stopped at the meadow across from El Capitan to watch a few climbers for a bit, then wound back down to Crane Flats and then East over Tioga Pass. If you haven't driven it, Tioga Pass should go on your to-do list. The 10,000 foot pass is absolutely beautiful and must have prompted a couple dozen, "oh that's pretty"s from both of us. We had originally intended to camp up here instead of in the valley, but campgrounds are still closed on both valley rims. We'll be back later in the summer at some point. The Toulome Meadows area was particularly scenic and we made the quick hike to the top of Lembert Dome for a meadows vista. Eventually we climbed back in the bus to finish the summit climb and then dropped down into the very cute town of Lee Vining and stopped at the Mono Lake visitors center for some learning.

About 30 miles down the road in Mammoth Lakes we found the sign in the last picture below. We laughed out loud, found the perfect "Burgers Restaurant", and finally settled on Mammoth Mountian RV Park for an evening of "accommodations productivity". Not a backpacking trip near a national monument, but it'll do for now...


Daily Pictures (Slide Show)

thumb_P1010386.jpg nonethumb_P1010393.jpg
The bus in the ridiculously busy Northern Pines Campground Just another beautiful meadow view, they have a ton of them around here
thumb_P1010395.jpg nonethumb_P1010397.jpg
...and a ton of people The road out of the valley
thumb_P1010401.jpg nonethumb_P1010404.jpg
A short stop in another meadow... ...to watch these folks
thumb_P1010409.jpg nonethumb_P1010412.jpg
El Capitan, there are some folks toward the top but you can't see them The awesome park road toward Crane Flats
thumb_P1010414.jpg nonethumb_P1010424.jpg
All of the granite here is in layers and, we kid you not, is exfoliating The amazing view from Olmstead Point and, yep, one last shot of Half Dome
thumb_P1010427.jpg nonethumb_P1010428.jpg
Looking east towards Tioga Pass and Toulome Meadows Just spectacular
thumb_P1010432.jpg nonethumb_P1010437.jpg
A quick hike to the top of a dome Artsy tree shot
thumb_P1010440.jpg nonethumb_P1010447.jpg
Brian, not realizing Theresa has stopped Looking across Toulome Meadows
thumb_P1010452.jpg nonethumb_P1010458.jpg
Theresa, calm as a cucumber Little rocks on a granite slab
thumb_P1010462.jpg nonethumb_P1010466.jpg
Brian eating Curvaceous tree
thumb_P1010468.jpg nonethumb_P1010475.jpg
Trees meeting Snow on the pass
thumb_P1010476.jpg nonethumb_P1010486.jpg
It almost made 10,000 feet, it felt like it did Looking back up on the road down to Lee Vining
thumb_P1010496.jpg
We're learning. Slowly, but we're learning


Road Trip YesterdaynoneRoad Trip HomeRoad Trip Tomorrow