Started out at the Hotel California- You can check in but you can never leave- The Eagles
We left Santa Monica and headed up the Pacific Coast Highway (1) and discovered it had fallen the way of Route 66. Highway 101 took over and took us inland a bit and away from the beach towns and beautiful ocean views.
THIS IS A STATE PARK- you just park there or tent on the beach
We followed it as far as we could and hit a dead end so got on 101 to highway 49 and cut across California to Yosemite. The countryside is beautiful with miles of farmland with vinyards and orchards and beautiful fields. This was a very winding road without much traffic.
The next day we continued into Yosemite. It was raining off and on, very overcast but we put on our raincoats and went to the Mariposa Grove first. This is their largest grove of ancient sequoias. The longest hike there was 2 miles, one way. We chose the 2 mile round trip and saw many beautiful old trees. Forest fires are intentionally set sometimes for control.
THAT IS A VERY WIDE TREE!
We left there to head for Yosemite Valley, the main loop road through the park. You have the option of drivng or a shuttle bus. In the summer when the crowds are massive, the bus is essential but today we drove. The sun tried to come out a few times and the lighting on the massive rock formations just added to their beauty.
The first site we stopped for was El Capitan and Halfdome. Gorgeous!! More adventerous people than us actually climb them but I am perfectly happy just looking and soaking the beauty into my soul.
We continue our drive through the park seeing some deer and wildflowers and many more waterfalls, streams and beautiful rock formations. Because of the weather we decided not to do more hiking but have had a good day in the park.
We discovered the Tioga Road is closed until May. This is the only road the crosses the park and takes us to the highway 395 that we need to head north to Boise. After looking at the map we choose the closest of three highways that will get us over the mountains to Nevada. We head out the west gate on 120 and stop in Groveland at the Iron Door Saloon for supper. This is the oldest bar in California with lots of history. Our son in law's mother grew up near Groveland so our daughter had suggested we stop there.
From there we turn on Highway 108 to go around the west and northside of the park. We stopped for the night at the Christmas Tree Inn in Mi-Wuk Village. Very nice room. The next morning we went to the Pine Cone Cafe for breakfast. As we were the only customers, we got to talk to the owner, a 30 year old who had partnered with the cook to buy it from his step father. They had just had had it a couple months but it's a charming little place and the food was good. Exactly the kind of restaurant I would want to have.
We started up the mountain road, passing a rare car but mostly alone. The snow on the side of the road got a little heavier and Sonny noticed a sign that Sonora Pass was closed ahead but our road was fine. I looked on the map and saw this was a mountain along the road with an elevation of 9400 feet but since neither of us knew at the time that a pass was the road over the mountain, we continued our journey. After driving an hour from our motel we reached a roadblock saying the road to Sonora Pass is closed. So we turn around and drive another 2 hours back to the main highway which has added 4 hours total to our trip to Boise.
ROAD CLOSED!!
NOTE::: There is a sign saying the road grade is 26%. We don't think we ever want to drive this road again even in good weather. That is a steep grade- most are 6% and NO it was not a typo.
We asked the forest ranger we passed how to get over the mountains so he directed us to highway 88. We took off over the mountain and it started to rain and the temperature was dropping and just as it hit 32 degrees we were in an ice storm! It was beautiful but scary! We kept climbing until we hit the pass at 8800 ft and then had to go down in the ice! Luckily it never got colder so the roads did not freeze.
We were beginning to believe that we were trapped in California and thought of that verse from the Eagles song I quoted earlier- YOU CAN CHECK IN BUT YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE!
We came down safely and as we got to Nevada, the weather changed and it was 20 degrees warmer with sunshine.
We continued north to Lake Tahoe at Carson City and went back up the mountain into the cold to view this beautiful mountain lake. We had never been there before and we were quite impressed with it's size and the beauty surrounding it.
close up below
This is the storm on the mountain we had just driven through
After leaving there we contined our journey through Nevada, Oregon and Idaho and got to Boise safely for a week with our daughter and her family.
FOLLOWING THE RAINBOW!! Here we come, Juniper!
Wow! What a perfectly drizzly and foggy day at Yosemite. Just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAnd those are some BIG trees. Beautiful pictures. Glad you made it through that ice storm safely!