I heard that Tioga Pass, an east-west cross Sierra route through northern Yosemite National Park had finally opened this weekend after a long winter closure - just the excuse I needed for a fun day ride. And what a ride it was...422 miles roundtrip from my home in the San Francisco bay area in perfect riding weather.
Rather than an out and back trip on the same road, I decided to ride up Sonora Pass, just north of Tioga Pass and drop down the eastern side of the Sierras to Highway 395. From there, I went south to Mono Lake and then west up Tioga Pass Road into Yosemite.
Weather was perfect for riding in my BMW air vent jacket and summer pants. The central valley was in the low 90's but even though there was snow on the passes, I never needed to pull out more layers.
Since I was limited by time (this was a day trip), I didn't shoot as many photos as I would have liked, but here are a few I hope you'll enjoy.
Sonora Pass rises to an elevation of 9,524 feet and the road to the top is full of fun twisty curves that many years ago was traveled by wagon trains.
At the summit, the snow was still thick along the road, this tree bent over from the heavy winter snowfall.
I dropped down to the eastern side to mostly flat and straight Highway 395, dodging bugs at 75mph. Splat!
Even tried a self portrait pointing the camera at my mirror.
A view of Mono Lake, just beyond it to the right is the road up Tioga Pass.
Mono Lake covers about 65 square miles and is over 1 million years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America. The Mono Lake State Reserve was established to preserve the spectacular "tufa towers," calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water.
Mono Lake is home to the second largest California Gull rookery in North America (Great Salt Lake is the largest). This California gull was comical to watch, running along the shoreline with beak open catching as many alkali flies as it could.
From Mono Lake, I took a right hand turn and headed for the Sierras again for my return trip up Tioga Pass and through Yosemite.
Snow and ice still cover most of Tenaya Lake, located in Yosemite at 8,150 feet.
View from Olmsted Point - surrounded by dome-shaped granite rock. Through a weathering process called exfoliation, the granite peels away layer by layer like an onion. The granite was formed and compressed beneath an older mountain range of softer stone which gradually eroded, leaving the granite domes. Note : This is upper Yosemite, not the crowded Yosemite Valley that most tourists visit.
Another view from Olmsted Point. Makes you glad you weren’t around when these boulders landed.
This hardy tree, a Jeffery pine I think was able to find enough soil and nutrients in a crack in the granite to survive.
As I was taking a break before leaving the park, I heard voices coming from above me. If you look closely, you can make out three climbers on this granite wall.
Hope you enjoyed the photos!
stunning photographs and a great report. What were you using to take the photos.
