Yosemite to Mono

Loaded up the Jollopy and headed off across the valley towards Yosemite with the intention of driving over the Tioga Pass. Unfortunately it was closed 2 days before we left following a snowstorm and is due to stay closed for the winter.

The journey was a little harrowing as Iris is deperatly trying to get her eye teeth through (both sides at the same time) so if she is not asleep in the car she is screaming. You could consider it a buddhist lesson in tolerating another beings pain and a wat to cultivate loving kindness......or you could consider why God cursed parents with babies born without teeth! Why oh why!

Yosemite is without doubt the most amazing landscape I have seen in my life. As you drive in the valley is laid out like a good peice of CGI from SCI-FI movie. Half Dome in the distance El Capitan standing as a sheer face taller than Snowdon and Yosemite Falls taller than Niagra. Makes my hair stand on end just remembering it.

The masses were absent due to it being late Autumn and we found out as we drove in that the pass had been reopened that morning so the 9500ft Tioga pass was on the menu for the late afternoon. Lucky.

As we climbed out of Yosemite Valley the temperature dropped and the snow became apparant. At the top we woke the kids up and walked across the the High Sierra meadows where the Indians lived. Too lovely.

We arrived at Mono Lake in time for sunset. After the lush greenery of Yosemite the barren and lunar landscape of Mono is a stunning and surreal contrast. The Dead Sea like Mono Lake is a saline lake surrounded by volcanic craters, snow on the mountains in the background, the high desert lit up orange by the sunset and the moon rising too. Nice.

The day finishes in Truckee in an empty ski lodge in a hot tub under the stars in the freezing cold.

Yosemite To Mono