We drove up the wide fault-bounded Owens Valley between the White-Inyo Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Here the great Basin and Range province of Nevada extends eastward toward Utah. The area boasts textbook examples of fault movement and glaciations and eruptions, and an equally fascinating human history of Indian tribes, miners, cowboys, vagrants, interned Japanese-American citizens, of disappearing lakes and water politics. Today the area is an outdoor wonderland with an almost endless list of activities that can be had.
We spent the first night amid the rocks of the Alabama Hills, a favorite site of old western due to its close proximity to Hollywood and its far away feeling. We camped at the base of a giant rock that looks like some sort of evil deep sea fish. Great spheroidally-weathered rockpiles of granite rise from an apron of gruss with the great rocky skyline of Mt Whitney (14505ft/4421m), the tallest peak in the lower 48 states, and other high peaks of the southern Sierra Nevada.
Like its bigger brother Joshua Tree, the Alabama Hills feature some superb climbing on sharp, friction-y high desert granite. Limited by time, we explored an intricate scrambling route I knew of to access the top of The Loaf (incidentally where the background image of this blog was taken), a prominent rock formation, then hiked to one of the famous arches which can be made to perfectly frame Mt. Whitney. Even these short ventures were enough to rough up the skin on our palms.
We continued north and had a great overnight trip up to the Champion Mine in the White Mountains (separate post). We then spent a night in the cozy home of my relatives in Mammoth Lakes. The following morning we were kindly dropped off at the road block near Twin Lakes and began our hike towards some backcountry hot springs (Red Cones). Our plans changed, we ended up having a quiet New Years in Mammoth. The next morning we drove out along the Green Church road in search of a new year hot spring dip. After driving past several busy ones, we settled on Little Hot Creek, a particularly hot concrete-lined pool adjacent to an interesting geothermal area. We had good conversation with the few other soakers and Sara enjoyed an overdue back massage.
Then onward our faithful bus crawled up the steep grade of Tioga Pass Road. Geologically, you get the impression that the road should not be there...and given just a bit of time or the right natural disaster it will not be. In places the road crosses unstable moraine deposits with no bariicades or side rails to protect from the 1000 foot drop below. That said it is a stunningly impressive climb up from Mono Lake to the divide. Several frozen lakes were passed. We drove on through the spectacular Tuolumne Meadows area where great granite domes rise above verdant meadows and forests. We could not resist stopping at Tenaya Lake and joining the spectacle of kids, families, full-grown adults and even dogs, playing on the ice. Particularly entertaining where two kids on ice skates pushing a stroller and a dog excitedly chasing after a sliding chunk of ice as his body spun three different directions. For our part, Sara and I played ice bocce for a while.
We arrived at Yosemite Valley well past dark and set up camp (set up van?) beneath a starry sky speared by the outlines of pines trees wrapping overhead. The last morning, we did our best to postpone the inevitable drive back to southern California and the end of a very fun trip.
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