Saturday, June 20

I spent the night at a nice motel in Lee Vining. The same one I stayed in on Friday. They don’t take reservations and they don’t open their office until 4 PM, so it’s first-come, first-serve. And the rooms are clean.

I got up, got gas, and headed across Tioga Pass.

All the folks online say that it’s a tough and treacherous drive, but it wasn’t. General’s Highway – now that’s a narrow twisting road.

The east end of Tioga Pass, when you enter Yosemite, has an elevation just shy of 10,000 feet. (And since it’s an entrance to the park, it costs $30 to drive it.)

I stopped just past the entrance where there was a trail heading up to a lake. I walked about 20 ft before I was out of breath.

I then just drove the rest and stopped every once in awhile to take pictures. I had schedule it for a full day, and it took two hours-ish.

I went on in to Yosemite, parked near the visitor center and hopped on the valley shuttle.

I got out at the trailhead for mirror lake and walked about 3.5 miles to see it and then get back to the road. I hopped on the shuttle again and hopped off at a stop and walked to the falls. Then I crossed a field and a creek to get to the church and take that video.

Then and I took a wrong turn and got lost for about an hour. Luckily, I was just wandering up and down the road until I finally found a map and was able to figure out where I had left the car.

By that point, I was ready to leave and it was… close to 5?  I don’t know. Anyway, I drove to Fresno and stayed at  nasty Motel 8.

*I didn’t take the picture at the top of the page.

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Day 13