Day 16 (7/14) (Lin) After a solid night’s sleep in South Lake Tahoe (and gorging ourselves on the continental breakfast), we wanted to see a bit more of Lake Tahoe before heading south to Yosemite. We drove to Emerald Bay, on the southwest side of the lake, to Inspiration Point, and then hiked a short trail to Eagle Falls. Both were lovely, and we had to pull ourselves away. There were also a lot of people at both places! Parking was difficult for the hike especially.

On the road again, we headed south through the Sierra Nevadas to Mono Lake, just outside the eastern entrance to Yosemite. The road south to Mono Lake, however, took us through several astonishing mountains, passes, and valleys! Steep curving roads through the mountains, rugged snow capped mountains on either side, and then sweeping valley vistas, always with mountains in the distance. Our kids cannot believe this is all within one state! Spoken like true Rhode Islanders, I guess.

Mono Lake, like the Great Salt Lake, has high levels of salt and minerals. We drove to the south side of the lake to where a significant collection of tufas (mineral stalagmites) were along the water. It was super hot, but really beautiful, with the blue sky, the multiple blues of the lake water, and the whites and grays of the tufas. It reminded me a bit of Barbados, which has a lot of coral rocks. We opted not to swim (since there weren’t any showers).

From Lake Mono, we finally headed into Yosemite proper, via the east entrance through the Tioga Pass, which was in itself amazing (9945 ft. elevation, our highest so far, I think!). From there we descended into the Toulumne Meadows in the high country of Yosemite. Granite domes started popping out everywhere — huge towering mounds and mountains, mostly free-standing. We stopped at Tenaya Lake, which is a gorgeous lake tucked between towering granite mountains.

After Tenaya, we stopped at Olmsted Point, which is an amazing lookout that gives you a view of Half Dome from a long way off. It was really pretty, and cool to see Half Dome. The rest of the drive to the valley floor of Yosemite was highly wooded, although often with beautiful redwoods or some sort of very tall redwood type trees. Occasional lookouts allowed amazing vistas out onto and over the mountains. As we descended into the valley, one particular lookout gave a really unique view of El Capitan and Half Dome close together, although from miles away.

We reached the valley floor around 7 pm, and decided it was too late to make it up to Glacier Point for the sunset. So we did a loop around the valley and took in the incredible views of the towering mountains and formations above us. The moon was out, and the soft setting sun illuminated the upper portions of many of the mountains and granite walls. The Upper Yosemite Falls were also beautiful, although the were in the shadows. I admit to being totally mesmerized by these towering granite mountains and walls!

After a quick tour of the valley, we went to our hotel in El Portal, which turned out to be a huge complex with four swimming pools. Dinner by the pool with the sunset in the background and a nice swim made for a good end to an excellent day. Tomorrow we get up early to beat the crowds for some hikes.

(Note: Due to a slow internet connection, I wasn’t able to upload as many pictures. Hopefully that will improve in the next few days. Perhaps this is good, since I’ve been posting too many pictures anyway!)