Day 4: South Lake Tahoe, California to Yosemite National Park

Day 4: South Lake Tahoe, California to Yosemite National Park




South Lake Tahoe, California is an interesting place. It’s a ski village right over the state line from Nevada; on the Nevada side are multiple high-rise casinos popping-up out of the pines, and on the California side is the kind of skiing community we might readily find near home in Colorado.


I went for a walk at about 6:00 am to explore and find coffee. The air was cool and the town was pleasantly quiet. I passed by this old motel as the first bit of sunlight peeked over the mountains. Had I turned the camera just to the right of this motel the high-rise casinos would be in the picture, and the upscale ski village was just across the street from here. The ramshackle motel was more interesting. The only coffee shop open at this time of morning was of course a Starbucks. Lake Tahoe itself was magnificent; the town of South Lake Tahoe was not. We were anxious to get underway to Yosemite. Photo by Blake.




Driving south through the Sierra Nevada Mountains was fantastic. Having been sculpted by both glacial and volcanic activity, they are a different kind of rugged than the Rocky Mountains. The drive was a bit stressful as a “low tire” indicator lit up in the rental car just after we ascended into the mountains. All our gear was packed tightly and strategically into the trunk (boot) on top of the spare tire and Blake did not look forward to unpacking it, changing a tire on a mountain road, and packing it all back in. A flat tire never occurred and it’s possible that the oversensitive tire sensor was confused by cold air and high altitude. All morning we’d driven through the mountains under amazingly clear blue skies and were greeted with this hazy scene as we crested the pass just north of Mono Lake. This kind of smoky haze is all-too familiar to us after two summers of intense and destructive wildfires near home in Colorado Springs. That’s the lake at the upper left of the image. To the right, the mountains rise toward Yosemite National Park. As that was our route, the presence of smoke was concerning; but we also know that such smoke can travel hundreds of miles from the fire itself. So on we go. Photo by Blake.


We were looking forward to hiking down to the banks of Mono Lake to see its limestone tufa formations up close, but the thick smoke prevented us from wandering too far. A ranger told us that the fires were indeed many miles away, south of Yosemite, and posed no concern here except for the oppressive and unhealthy smoke. We agreed that we’d like to come back here sometime when we could explore further…and breathe. Photo by Sarah.



Blake and Kenny up the hill from Mono Lake. Photo by Sarah.


Kenny, Sam, and one big-ass hunk of volcanic obsidian. Photo by Blake.


Thankfully, as we ascended Tioga Pass to an elevation of almost 10,000 feet above sea level into Yosemite, the air cleared a bit. Tioga Road winds up the right of this image. Photo by Sarah.


Sam, Kenny, and one big-ass hunk of glacial-and-weather-polished granite. We stopped to have a lovely picnic lunch at Lembert Dome (pictured) near Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. Photo by Blake.


Sarah at Tenaya Lake. Photo by Blake.


At Olmstead Point with Half Dome in the background. Photo by Sarah.



From above Olmstead Point. Photo by Blake.



Tenaya Lake from above Olmstead Point. Photo by Blake.



We camped at Crane Flat, about a 20-minute drive from Yosemite Valley, for our four nights in the park. We really enjoyed the campground – it was very green, shady and cool, relatively quiet, we slept well here, there were trails into the forest, and we walked to a ranger-led bear lecture on our first night (although we see more bears around our house in Colorado than we did in Yosemite, which is to say that we’ve seen three bears at the house and none in Yosemite). Speaking of bears, one of the genius aspects of our camping experience on this trip was to make, um…let, the kids sleep in their own tent. After four days of driving and three nights in different places, it was nice to set up camp, put all our edible stuff in the bear-proof box, and be able to come back to the same place for several nights in a row. Photo by Blake.