Yosemite – September 27
Mono Lake
Jeff, Donna and I got up to go back out to South Tufa at sunrise to get some photos. The light was just gorgeous coming down the mountain. Too bad there were no clouds in the sky. The pinks were pretty intense, but didn’t last long. There were a handful of people already set up and waiting for the color to drop down onto the Tufas when we got there. I was surprised that the bushes along the path were so fragrant in the cool morning air. We could hear the birds waking up, and the singing got louder as the light got brighter. This is a popular spot for birds! I took a bunch of photos, and then we walked around a bit. It was nice to see this spot at a different time of day. It was also nice that it was so much cooler.
We went back and got Scott and went back to Whoa Nellie Deli for breakfast. Not knowing where we were going to end up later in the day, we also got lunch to go.
Just like last night the food was beyond what we expected. Scott and I each got the smoked trout omelet — we could have shared one! It was overflowing with grilled onions and peppers, avocado, tomato, and cheese. And there was also a side of roasted potatoes!
Jeff and Donna got chatting with Chef Matt Toomey, and when he heard we were taking our lunch hiking he separated out the tuna fish, so that the bread wouldn’t be soggy when we got to our destination. How cool was that? Donna bought some of Chef Matt’s seasoning. We will have to find out what she used if for. Donna is quite the chef herself and has produced some wonderful meals for us.
We did a little back and forth driving this morning because we didn’t know what all there was to see, but it wasn’t that far.
First we went back towards South Tufa and stopped at the Panum Crater. This was a fascinating place. The path is mostly broken pumice stone. It makes a funny sound when you walk on it – almost like the crunch of snow. The rock near the crater plug is layers of pumice and obsidian. This seems odd, since pumice is one of the lightest stones there is and obsidian is one of the densest. You can easily lift a boulder of pumice, while a piece of obsidian the same size you can’t budge.
It is mid-morning now and starting to get hot out here. We head back through town and visit the visitor center. This is a really nice visitor center. They have an exhibit on the formation of the tufas and the history of the lake. Los Angeles diverted some of the water sources to Mono Lake, and it started to dry up. After some time in the courts, it was agreed that LA can’t take as much water, and eventually it is hoped that Mono Lake will return to historic levels. It is actually rising now, just very slowly.
At the visitor center we saw a display on sand tufas. Turns out these are on Navy beach right next to Tufa South, but we had skipped that location. So we drove back out to Navy beach to look at those. These were formed by springs coming up through the sand. The same calcification process took place here because of the difference in the fresh water and salt/alkaline water in the sand. As they become exposed (through digging or erosion) you can see that they are similar in style, but a little more delicate-looking than the ones formed in water. This is a fascinating place!
We see some people taking a dip in the water. Scott and Donna decide to give it a try. The water is so salty that they float easily. You are so buoyant in this water that one girl was floating on her belly with her head and feet out of the water! You don’t want to get this water in your eyes – it stings pretty badly. No one in our group got water in their eyes, but we saw a couple that did.
It’s just about lunch time and we decide we’d like to eat up in the woods by a lake. It is starting to get hot out here, and we are hoping it will be cooler past the pass. We say goodbye to Mono Lake and retrace our path back to Yosemite. Since it is Monday, there are a lot less cars at all the pullouts. We were going to stop back at the visitor center at the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center, but it closed for the season yesterday! On the drive back we see some of the cabins being boarded up for the winter. With the heat wave, it seems a little early to be shutting things down, but they can have snow up here in September.
We find a campground by a lake with some picnic tables and have our lunch there. There are people fishing along the shore and enjoying the day. Once we got back to Yosemite we stop at the Ansel Adams Gallery (near the visitor center). They have some incredible photography of the Yosemite area. They also have some nice pottery and jewelry. It was a nice break before we head back to our hotel. The construction was going again, but we didn’t hit any road stops along the way.
Back at the hotel we hit the hot tub and then went back to the pizzeria for dinner. Originally we were going to go down to Sequoia before we drove back to the airport tomorrow. But there is a fire in Kings Canyon, and some of the roads we want need to pass through are closed. Not wanting to get stuck on the last day and have Jeff and Donna miss their flight home, we decide to rent bicycles at our hotel and see what’s nearby.
Go back to September 26 — Go forward to September 28