Awesome Sierra Nevada landscapes

Community Highlights Photography Awesome Sierra Nevada landscapes

Although our motel offered a simple complementary breakfast, we decided to go over the road to the Latte Da cafe which had proper espresso-based coffees and homemade cakes and pastries – I really enjoyed my cherry scone.

Mono Lake

After checking out we drove a little way south to visit the South Tufa area of Mono Lake. A short walk led us down to the lakeshore where we had great views of the tufa. We had great memories of our visit here in 1981; luckily this return visit didn’t disappoint.

After checking out we drove a little way south to visit the South Tufa area of Mono Lake. A short walk led us down to the lakeshore where we had great views of the tufa. We had great memories of our visit here in 1981; luckily this return visit didn’t disappoint.

Mono Lake is a graphic reminder of the consequences of human activity for the natural world. In 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) began diverting water from Mono Lake’s tributary streams, sending it 350 miles south to meet the growing water demands of Los Angeles. The impact on the lake was dramatic.

This is what is known as a terminal lake, as it has no outlet. It is fed by a number of tributaries and also by underwater springs. Because these waters have nowhere to go, they evaporate in the desert air. The combination of this natural process with unnatural human interventions has resulted in a captivating and unworldly landscape. A world of jagged rocky outcrops known as tufa towers reflected in perfectly still waters.

Beneath Mono Lake, calcium-rich freshwater springs seep up from the lake bottom and mix with lake water rich in carbonates. As the calcium comes in contact with the carbonates in the lake, a chemical reaction occurs, creating calcium carbonate, or limestone. The calcium carbonate precipitates around the springs, and over the course of decades to centuries, a tufa tower grows around each. These tufa towers can grow to heights of more than 30 feet underwater.

As LA drained the lake’s waters it dropped by forty-five feet in forty years, lost half its volume, and doubled in salinity. Tufa towers that were below the surface started to appear above it. Once above the water line, the towers can no longer grow and are susceptible to erosion, creating some often-beautiful shapes. But while we may be awed by their beauty, the low lake levels are harmful to wildlife here, especially the brine shrimp and alkali flies that are food for several million annual migratory birds.

In 1978 the Mono Lake Committee was formed to fight back against the draining of water from the lake. In 1983 they won a legal battle compelling Los Angeles to partially replenish the lake level, and in 1994 it was agreed that the water should rise to 6,392 feet above sea level, as a balanced solution to the needs of people and wildlife. It isn’t there yet, being still nearly nine feet below that level, but must be considerably higher than when we first visited in 1991.

I took loads of photos here! I’ve tried not to overshare but it was hard to cut them down to a sensible number!

Driving the Tioga Pass

Leaving Mono Lake, somewhat reluctantly, we headed for our next repeat visit in this part of the state, the Tioga Pass section of Yosemite National Park. As it was a Saturday I had made a reservation to enter the park; without it we would have been turned away. We found the signage along this road a bit hit and miss – it seemed designed on the assumption all visitors would be driving west to east rather than east to west! But we managed to visit several great areas.

We stopped briefly a few times on this first stretch of the road, the scenery just begged to be photographed!

Soda Springs

Our first main stop was near Tuolomne Meadows where we did the walk to Soda Springs. As well as being a beautiful walk of about one and a half miles, this leads to what was for me a fascinating sight, cold water springs bubbling from the ground.

Again, too many photos (sorry, not sorry 😂)

Tenaya Lake

Driving on a little we stopped by Tenaya Lake and had a short walk through the Lodgepole pines to a small beach. Some people were paddling in the chilly waters, but I contented myself with dipping a finger in! We also enjoyed a lunchtime snack at a picnic table here – a cold drink and cereal bar.

Olmstead Point

Then we continued down the road a little way to the stop at Olmsted Point. From here you can see the distinctive outline of Half Dome, as well as another impressive mountain, Clouds Rest. There is also a lot of evidence of glacial activity, with striated rocks and ‘erratics', boulders left by retreating glaciers.

We followed a path down from the car park area, across some of these rocks. It was a bit of a scramble in places but it was worth the effort as it led to a spot with a view right into Yosemite Valley. It was also much quieter as most visitors seemed to stay within a few metres of the parking area; we only encountered three other people here (another couple and a woman on her own who pointed out a great spot for photos of the view).

That was our last main stop of the day. From there we drove the rest of the Tioga Pass road and turned for a short while towards the Valley, before turning off to our accommodation in El Portal, the Yosemite View Lodge. Spoiler – it doesn’t have a view of Yosemite! It is however in a pleasant location by the Merced River. But it’s a huge development of five (at least) accommodation blocks, a lobby/shop building and two restaurants. It was certainly convenient for us, being the closest place you can stay to Yosemite outside the park itself. But it was expensive for what we got (large room, two beds, rather old-fashioned décor, basic bathroom) and rather soulless.

In the evening we ate in the Lodge’s River Restaurant. The food was pleasant if unexciting – I had a chicken breast in barbecue sauce with rice and Chris a large chef's salad. Portions weren’t too large so we shared a slice of cheesecake for dessert.

This featured blog entry was written by ToonSarah from the blog Travel with me ....
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