Seeing the Sierra’s

Huntington lake

After leaving Millerton and Speleoed I had several days to kill before I had to be in Sacramento and as the weather in the valley was predicted to be getting warmer I headed east to the cooler mountains to escape.

Almost directly east led me to Shaver lake, from there it was a short drive on to Huntington lake.

Shaver Lake

The campgrounds around Huntington lake weren’t open yet though so it was on to Mono Hot springs.

This meant an opportunity to try out the bug on some offroad trails, the short section leading up to White Bark Vista was a fun challenge being deeply rutted, full of large rocks and very steep, but the bug flew up it no problem.

Coming down from white bark vista/Dusy Ershim trail

At Mono hotsprings it’s amazing to find a resort with cabins, a store and restaurateur (not open till memorial day weekend) after driving along a very narrow and bumpy road. There was lots of space for camping and folks were very friendly as they pointed out the locations of the various hotsprings baths.

Ahh

There’s even the nearby icy cold stream in case the hotsprings are too warm for you.

cool stream

Mayfly

After a couple of days enjoying this tranquility I headed down to continue my trip North. This time going through Oakhurst on my way to brave the crowds of people visiting Yosemite.

First though, I had to try one more offroad trail- Bear diversion, much easier then white bark it was still fun.

bear diversion ohv trail

On the way to Oakhurst I stopped at North fork. The center of California (not sure how they’re measuring that)

center of California?

Then it was on to Yosemite.

stream in Yosemite

bridal veil falls

It was difficult getting a shot of the falls as the wind was blowing large amounts of water at me!

Along the way to Mirror lake

Mirror lake

After Yosemite I spent the night at the nearby Yosemite bug Hostel, a great experience which not only had the usual hostel dorms and open kitchen but a great restaurant if you didn’t feel like cooking.

I made it to Sacramento in time for Bills 80th birthday, a great MLG get together. I also Joined Ron for some great beer tasting and an outing to Natural bridges before it was time for me to head south again.

I once more decided to take the scenic route through the mountains but this time I headed even further east towards Nevada and the 395.