Yosemite- 2- Wildflowers

Spring is the season to renew, revitalize and restore. The temperatures are pleasant, and cold, harsh winters are left behind. Waterfalls, streams and brooks provide a boost and it seems like the earth comes back to life! Meadows of lush green grasses and wildflowers in bloom add to the charm of the season.

These are a few that I came across on the way to Yosemite and within the perimeter of the park. I have identified some, and would love input on some others from readers like you!

One of the first flowers I encountered were these pretty ones called Farewell to Spring or Clarkia dudleyana. 

A riot of colors as these blue and yellow ones along the roadside greeted the eye! The blue ones are the Wild Hyacinths or Dichelostemma capitatum. 

The annual poppy, also called Eschscholzia caespitosa is a close cousin of the California poppy. The bright yellow color provided a nice contrast to the blue of the Hyacinths. 

Applegate's Indian Paintbrush or Castilleja applegatei 

Some Lupines- their blue is vivid!

Western Azalea or Rhododendron occidentale

Then there were these that I have not identified yet.

I find grasses very attractive! They are so beautiful especially when they are dry!

Yosemite- 1- The Valley

Yosemite! There was so much I had heard about this national park, sometimes from people who are passionate about the multiplicity of terrains that contribute to the making of this unique planet and sometimes from people who just want to get it off their bucket lists! The former are the kind that interest me. They do not talk about a place like this with one-liners that sound like- "We have seen all of those places- Yosemite, Niagara, Tahoe"!

It is hard for anyone to not be in awe of this expanse of land! Rugged, resolute, unforgiving, and yet gentle, subdued and tolerant.  On one hand are the gigantic faces of silent, solid granite that have stood there for millions of years, or waterfalls that roar down a cliff, there are the green meadows with rivulets and streams gushing down in dulcet tones or there are forests of conifers and other trees, that create quite an orchestra as the wind blows through them. There is so much to explore, a lifetime may fall short! A small slice of the park can be savored on short trips made by many visitors like myself. Depending on endurance levels, the park offers a myriad of activities. Easy, moderate and strenuous hikes are strewn across the area. I sometimes wish I had the means to visit when I was younger, it would have been an extraordinary experience! Not that this visit wasn't memorable, we still hiked a lot, and spectacular views made it a photographer's dream!

In Spring, all the waterfalls put on their best show with the weather warming up and the snow melting. Luckily for us, rainfall this year was good, there was enough snow and the waterfalls looked as white and pristine as ever cascading down the steep drops! This one below is the upper and lower Yosemite Falls together, from the point where the Yosemite Falls trail begins.

The Merced river sometimes flowing smoothly through the floor of the valley, or singing a song as it trips and falls over uneven terrain.

Parking your vehicle at a convenient location and going around the valley in the park shuttle is a very sensible thing to do. As we hopped from one stop to the next, taking our time at each stop to explore what it had to offer, lots of fascinating things caught my eye.
The hike to Mirror Lake was one such place. On the way, dead trees reminded me of mystery books I read as a child in which the protagonists would often leave clues to be found by their rescuers later... in hollows of tree trunks near a moss covered tree,

Or the grand old tree with a secret held at it's base!

Mirror Lake lived up to its name! The reflections were crystal clear!

The Happy Isles trail was an easy walk through the wilderness, very relaxing too!

On our ride on the park shuttle to our next stop at the Ahwahnee Hotel, I saw this structure that I found very intriguing. A short walk got us there. It used to sport a sign with the hotel name, which changed earlier this year because of a dispute. What an unfortunate occurrence! The hotel is now called Majestic Yosemite Hotel.

The hotel is grand! I loved the curios in their gift shop. 

The entrance to the hotel.

While we sipped some iced tea and some ice cream out in the courtyard of the hotel, a few of the visitors (me included) attempted to count the growth rings on this tree trunk.

Then we got back to our vehicle parked near the chapel. 

I end this post with a salute to John Muir and other environmentalists who had a vision and worked hard to preserve these habitats. Here is a sculpture of him at the Yosemite visitor center.

Lake Tahoe to Yosemite National Park

The night had brought a good amount of snow to the Sierra Nevada peaks.
Before leaving on a vacation, like many others, I like to do some ground work and get an idea of places to visit, must-see attractions and routes and alternatives. There are a couple of alternatives to get from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite National Park. The Tioga Pass or California State Route 120, is closed during winter and opens sometime in the month of May, depending on the amount of snow at that elevation. It is a scenic drive and cuts driving time by a couple of hours. If it is closed, the alternate route is via the towns of Jackson, San Andreas and Groveland which isn't a bad drive, but it takes longer. The overnight snow event that dumped a couple of feet on snow prompted park officials to close the Tioga Pass even if it had opened only three days earlier after the winter closure.

The car beeped when we started, telling us we were driving on a route that had snow on it. There was enough evidence that the area had gotten at least a dusting of snow, even if we saw none on the roads. The sun was shining brightly again!

Crisp blue waters of this lake greeted us as went around a bend on the road.

It was Caples Lake near the Kirkwood Mountain Resort. Snow drifted on the surface and it was chilly out there on the pull out on Carson Pass Highway.

We were soon passing through towns like Jackson and San Andreas. The second name reminded me of the major tectonic fault line that ran along the coast of California. The landscape was very different from the one to Mono Lake the previous day. For one, it was a little warmer, and there were no snow covered peaks in sight.

Google maps directs you to the shortest route and sometimes that takes you off highways and through the countryside. We drove past a nice ranch with an old barn on one such road.

An especially steep and narrow few miles of road called the Old Priest Grade was one such recommended by google to cut down on miles that the New Priest Grade had. This brought us to a nice town of Groveland.
As we drove along the winding roads towards the park, we saw the devastation the forest fire of 2013 had left behind. It will be a long while before the area recovers from that catastrophe that burned down several thousand acres.

Yosemite valley was never directly affected by the fire but the area around suffered significant damage.

And there it was! The sign that we had been waiting for!

As we paid the fee and got inside the park perimeter, there was a pullout and two barns in an open meadow nestled between the conifers.

There was a good deal of traffic but it was nowhere close to the huge crowds the valley sees after Memorial Day weekend. At one vista point, we got an idea of what the valley was like, or so we thought!
On the left in the picture below, you can see one of the many tunnels that we went through to eventually get to Bridal Veil Falls.

There was a light, steady drizzle by the time we got to the valley.

Our first glimpse of the Bridal Veil Falls!

It was very grey, and gloomy by this time. Our phones showed no service at all. Google maps wouldn't work, but it did show where we were on the map. That helped a lot!

On the way to our rental condo unit, this breathtaking Tunnel View lay stretched as long as the eye could see. The enormous granite peaks, pictures can never do justice to their magnitude! They have stood there through millions of years and have witnessed a good deal of what the earth has been through. In comparison, in terms of time, how insignificant is human life!

We managed to get to the condo we had rented and were barely done getting all our stuff from the car into the condo when the freezing rain began. In about half an hour, there was a generous dusting of snow on the ground. 

Mono Lake etcetera

Before leaving on vacation, I had been planning our schedule. A visit to Mono Lake was on the cards. Pictures of strange looking structures on the edge of the lake had me intrigued and I had to see them in person.
The day dawned with the sun shining brightly, but there was snow in the forecast later in the night. Only on the mountains, we were told, maybe an inch or two.
We set out at about 7 am and in less than 10 minutes, we were ascending up the mountain. The Sierra Nevada mountain range is truly imposing!

After about a hundred miles or more, there was a vista point that offered the first view of Mono Lake. A little haze in the sky didn't give a very clear picture, but it looked beautiful! Two islands, the larger Paoha and the darker, smaller Negit can be seen in the center.

Soon , we found ourselves at the west end of the lake at Mono Lake Park. A small drive off the highway led to a parking lot, and a boardwalk trail to the lake. It was here that I first heard the word Tufa.

The boardwalk.

Walking towards the lake, this beautiful structure that I had seen in pictures stood before me! A Tufa tower!

Close up of a Tufa tower. 

Mono Lake is a saline lake in a geologically active zone. Tufa towers are limestone (calcium carbonate) deposits formed under water that grow over a period of tens to hundreds of years. Mono lake has several such towers that got exposed only after a decision by the City of Los Angeles in 1941 to divert water from the lake to meet the demands of the city.  That action drained the lake to almost half its level. Salinity increased and a wonderfully unique ecosystem started feeling the effects of human interference. That's when the towers became visible.

The lake provides a great resting site for migratory birds and a nesting site for several shore birds and California gulls. At one time when the water levels fell to alarming levels, Negit island became a peninsula and bird nests became easily accessible to predators, causing stress to an established ecosystem. 

A committee was formed in 1978 to save the lake. After several years of litigation, the City of Los Angeles allowed the levels of water in the lake to rise. The restoration work continues. You can read about the details here. 

I quote the committee's co-founder's words here from the website- 

"As Rush Creek and I rambled to Mono Lake, I was struck with how quickly Mother Nature, given the chance, heals the wounds we inflict upon her.... If nature can heal an injured land, it can heal our blighted souls as well. That's why saving Mono Lake is a matter of saving, and healing, ourselves."

-David Gaines
co-founder, Mono Lake Committee

Driving a few miles further on the way after the boardwalk trail was a visitor center that provided more insight into the history of the lake. It is worth a visit.
Just a short drive from the visitor center is a parking lot to the Mono Lake scenic area.

A hike along the banks of the lake shows a landscape like no other.

While fish are conspicuous by their absence, trillions of brine shrimp are found in the lake and they, along with alkali flies, support a variety of birds. The tiny brine shrimp population thrives on planktonic algae that inhabit the waters.

California gulls are resident birds of the lake.

Tufa or Limestone deposits are in abundance. They are formed by processes explained here.

The black dot on the Tufa tower in the picture is an Osprey.

It was the onset of spring in the area, and the runoff from rains made the lake rich in nutrients, which supports a lavish growth of algae and gives the lake a greenish hue.

After Mono Lake, we did the June Lake Loop drive. It is a scenic route with great views of June Lake, Silver Lake and Grant Lake.

June Lake

Silver Lake

Grant Lake

We headed back to Lake Tahoe after a late lunch at Lee Vinings, a nice town near Mono Lake. 

On the way, we saw this old courthouse at Bridgeport. A sign on it says it was built in 1880.

As we drove up the mountain to get back to South Lake Tahoe, the clouds started to roll in.

Sure enough, it began to snow! 

An exciting finish to a great day!