Yosemite - Tuolumne Meadows

Eastern Yosemite National Park, Tuolumne Meadows - August 7, 2003

The eastern part of Yosemite National Park made the entire trip through the Park worthwhile. I decided that I really wasn't all that thrilled with Yosemite Valley - been there before and there were lots of people and cars and a planned fire that caused lots of smoke and the closure of some of the roads, which made the driving much more unpleasant. I really didn't like the driving in Yosemite Valley. I think that is the crux of the problem.

I entered the Park at the southwest entrance near Wawona. It took me about one and one half hours to get from there to Tioga Road. This is the road which would take me to the east entrance to the park, which is where I needed to be to get to Mammoth Lakes. I turned onto Tioga Road in the northwest corner of the park, near Crane Flat. My mileage from Wawona to Crane Flat could not have been more that 30-40 miles. Seems like I should have traveled much faster.

Once on Tioga Road, the driving went a lot smoother. I still had about 70 miles until I reached the east entrance to Yosemite at Tioga Pass. This road and the pass are closed a good portion of the year due to snow - I don't believe the park service plows the road so, unless you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle (and even then that may not be enough), no passing Go. Snow shoes and cross country skis pretty much required once it snows until such time as there is no snow. Around Memorial Day.

But, this was summertime and there was no snow. So off I went. Most of the drive was, well, not exactly uninspiring but it was just a road with some trees next to it. Until OImsted Point. At that point, it was like the sun coming out on a rainy day. Sorry to be so clichèd, but that is how my mood swung right about that time. I can't explain it - must be the thin air.

The surrounding granite hillsides looked, at Olmsted Point, like the picture above. Kind of like tiles with some trees thrown in every now and then. At that altitude, you start getting above the tree line, so the number of trees begins to dwindle. A lot more "rock" can be seen (and we all know how I love rock!). It is just amazing to me that some force from within our earth could twist and turn and churn and whatever other adverb you want to apply and then, at some point, just kind of explode and create what we see around us. I can't even imagine all of the energy or activity that went into creating the sights we take for granted. Or, more specifically, what I saw at Olmsted Point (and other points east of there in Yosemite National Park). The rock has a stark kind of beauty, kind of raw and primitive with amazing colors and shapes. No person could create this!

There I go again, waxing poetic about rock.

Down the road a bit from Olmstead Point is Tenaya Lake. I wish I'd taken a better picture of it as it is nestled in there, way up high over 8,000 feet. On this day, Tenaya Lake had a lot of visitors. A little further down the road was Tuolumne Meadows itself (a picture of which is at the top of this page). This is the largest subalpine meadow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. (No, I am not a geographist or geologist or someone who just throws words like "subalpine" around. It was in the literature you get whenever you visit a National Park Service local.)

Surrounding the meadow and, indeed, all around this part of Yosemite is what is called the "Highcountry". People who love nature more than I and who are much fitter than I routinely hike into and camp throughout this area. No running water, no showers (both of which I require when I camp). But my guess is they get to see a lot more impressive sights than what I see. This part of the Park, and probably this area of the Sierra Nevadas in general, is much more rugged that the lesser elevations I visited while at Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.

I loved it! I will definitely be back here.