Lee Vining to Yosemite, CA

June 24 - 25, 2010 - Wow.  Finally back in California after 13,048 miles since the start of the trip!  Driving a winding, 98 degree hot desert drive up and down Nevada's basins, we cover 378 miles on the 6 to the 120 heading back west.  Our overnight stop, Lee Vining, sits at the base of the Sierra Nevada & fronts the serene Mono Lake.  We successfully book the last motel room in the town, arriving late night and take it easy before the 75 mile drive through the Tioga Pass towards the Yosemite Village.

Waking up early the following day, we intended to find a campsite somewhere in Yosemite.  Unfortunately, I didn't do my research well and the first come, first serve campsites off of Yosemite's Hwy 120 were still closed.  After the breathtaking alpine scenery of snowfields and glacial-carved mountains, off of the Tioga Pass, we arrive Yosemite Valley.  We ended at the Yosemite Village around 8:30 am, knowingly with all the campgrounds full.  The mass amount of tourists in the Yosemite Valley on a June weekday was just too much for us to handle and quite frankly, turned a national park into a semi-polluted amusement park.  Charlie and I have totally been hating on the resort-ran national parks.  These mass amounts of tour bus-driven, resort-styled parks completely takes away the intended beauty and spirit of being in nature.  Anyway, we were over it, took a few scenic shots in the valley and decided to drive further down to Fresno & motel it, yet again.

Cruising around 9,800 feet in Yosemite through the Tioga Pass (the highest elevation at the Tioga Pass is 9,941 feet).  A crisp, alpine morning.

Upper Yosemite Falls

Doesn't this Rad pic of the Yosemite Valley look fake?!  Taken at a brick-lined overlook.