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| The Hummer is smiling again, but showing a few more beauty marks for its effort. The plan was to head into Yosemite over Tioga Pass but the pass was closed for the winter, and even the Hummer cannot climb a 12-foot snow bank. Besides, I don't have tire chains and the park requires all vehicles to carry them, even Hummers. So we headed south out of Lake Tahoe on US 395. The high arid valley that US 395 rolls down is flanked by mountain ranges to the east and west. On the west are the Sierras that include the national parks: Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia, as well as several wilderness areas. |  |
| From Tioga Pass southward to Isabella Walker Pass a distance of 150 miles this range is unbroken by roads. On the east side the valley, another dryer but no less beautiful range bounds the road. Near the turn off for Tioga Pass is the town of Lee Vining near Mono Lake. Mono is an amazing bird refuge where 85% of all Californian Gulls are born on the islands in the lake. There is no outlet: river, stream or creek, which flows from it. So the lake is increasing in salinity as fresh water flows in and only evaporates. One other notable feature of the lake is the "Tufa" mounds. Tufa mounds are white irregularly shaped columns that poke up from the lakebed like cave stalagmites. Tufa is formed by calcium-bearing fresh water percolating up from the bottom of the lake. The calcium combines with carbonate in the lake water and forms limestone. | |
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While we were walking and reading the Mono Lake information pamphlet it
mentioned that ONLY 4x4 vehicles should drive around the east side of the
lake. A quick check of the fuel tank confirmed that the Hummer was ready
and willing to find out why ONLY 4x4 vehicles should go there. I took the
navigation seat and K2 was driving and down the road we went. The first couple of miles were on well-graded dirt road. This was only the short cut to the highway where we would pickup the track that leads around the lake. More boring miles later and we were turning off the highway and lowering the tire pressure. |
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| In matter of moments we were driving a narrow path cut into tough, dry creosote bush. The scrapes of the broken branches were as grating on the Hummer as it was on me. With the mirrors flattened against the doors we scraped our way trough the brush. After a few urges to the driver to "Links Halten" - keep left - it is very wide vehicle and there is no sense in having paint only one side. K2 asks if I wanted drive. I agreed because it is easier to do the damage rather then just listen to it. We changed places and I scraped our way a couple of hundred yards more through the creosote bush until it gives way to softer and more scattered sage. With K2 back at the helm, we cruised over the rolling sandy landscape. Each time we brushed against a sage the earthy smell would fill the interior and soon a dry dusty film had covered every surface inside and out. |  |
| The earth is dry and parched with areas were salt leaches up from the subsurface leaving bone white patches of earth. We are driving clockwise around the lake. With the lake to our right and the low mountain range to left the blue green shimmer of water stands out in stark contrast against the parched landscape in the lowlands. In the higher parts of the mountains the dryness gives way to scattered snow cover and ever-increasing whiteness as it reaches the peaks. In the gusty winds a white plum streams from every mountaintop, but where we are the air is a cool and comfortable 60 degrees. We change drivers again and an hour later we are back to a secondary road and then on US395 headed toward Mammoth Mountain. |  |
| Kim and Kim On the Road |
