Day 9 Mammoth Lakes to El Portal, Yosemite
150 miles plus 50 mile round trip to Glacier Point
We left the
very pleasant hotel at Mammoth Lakes around 8.15 and continued north up the
valley on the east side of the Sierra Nevada.
This was always going to be a special day of the tour for me. Firstly the ride over Tioga Pass – you have
to wonder what level of persistence and sheer effort was required to create
these routes in the 1800s. Secondly
Yosemite Valley is in my opinion the most beautiful landscape in California –
one I enjoyed when working in San Francisco in the 1980s and where I brought my
wife Liz on our Honeymoon in 1995.
We refuelled
at Lee Vining – just above the shores of Mono Lake which I believe was the
location for the Clint Eastwood film ‘The Man with No Name’. The bright sun, incessant blustery wind and
bleak landscape always seems to evoke the uneasy atmosphere of the tale.
We started
up the pass (road open only between June and November) taking a break for a
photo and continuing up to 9,000 feet elevation.
We stopped for a picnic lunch at Tenaya Lake
and continued on through the conifer and granite landscape with windy roads –
seemingly forever – before decisively descending towards the Yosemite
Valley.
We parked up
to walk the short distance to view Bridal Veil Falls which despite reduced flow
still displayed a beautiful wispy curtain blown around by the wind.
Those wishing to face an optional 50 mile
round trip followed the wiggly waggly route up to Glacier Point for the most
outstanding view of Half Dome – a magnificent granite outcrop dominating the
upper reaches of the Yosemite Valley.
Regrouping
we cruised the last few miles down the Merced river valley out of Yosemite to
reach our hotel at El Portal. A Pizza
party with bear wine and music ensued on the patio outside my room which brought the
day to a great conclusion.
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