Day 3 – Rays to Raindrops

We had an interruption-free night and slept past 8am. We hit the road shortly after 10:00am and toured the Yosemite Valley.

It never fails to be awe inspiring when you are surrounded with towering spires of granite. The meadows still have a few wildflowers and are just beautiful.

After a loop through the Valley, we started the climb from 3,900 feet above sea level to around 10,000. It was already in the eighties when we started this morning so as we climbed in elevation, the cool air felt great.

We had Tioga Road mostly to ourselves. The Park is limiting visitors during the pandemic and you must have a reservation to enter. Considering the time of year, the crowds were minimal. There has been plenty of parking at all of the attractions and overlooks. It really has been enjoyable.

We stopped at Olmstead Overlook which gave us yet another view of Half Dome. While resting there we noticed the thunderheads forming to the east.

We drove past Tenaya Lake which was much bigger than we thought. It was beautiful. We tried to find a place to picnic there but decided to continue on to Toulumne Meadows, one of the largest high elevation meadows in the Sierras.

We parked the bike and walked to a granite outcropping to eat our lunch. Not feeling pressured to get back on the road, we took our time enjoying the scenery. We watched a deer graze, chipmunks dart between rocks, a hawk soaring above and a woodpecker working on a long dead tree. It was delightful. However, the sky to the east continued to darken.

After some reluctance, we got back on the road and continued on. The temperature dropped dramatically into the low fifties and before long, we were in a rain shower with the temperature dipping to forty-one degrees which is really cold when you’re wet and traveling at forty miles per hour. Brrrr!

It didn’t last too long and soon we were in the desert with familiar smell of sagebrush. We went from forty-one degrees to eighty degrees in less than thirty minutes. After leaving Yosemite we quickly dropped down to Mono Lake. Mono Lake is a saline soda lake which makes its water alkaline.

Traveling toward Bridgeport we hit high winds and more rain. Tom was thrilled to see that his favorite coffee stop is still open so we will get some java there tomorrow morning. Tom is hoping for a burger tonight so we’re going to check out what Bridgeport has to offer as soon as he’s done icing that bum knee.