Part 2/4 of the Roadtrippin’ Series
Mono Lake
Starting from the Emerald Bay after our hike’n’swin we continued our journey Southwards. We did not take the fastest route and drove instead along a more scenic route which offered a multitude of beautiful panoramic views.
We were headed to Mono Lake. This lake lies just outside of the Eastern entrance of the Yosemite National Park. As this lake is quite big we had to ask the internet where it would be best to take pictures. Some blog told us to go to the South Tufa Area which turned out to be an excellent advise.
As you might have guessed from our long shadows in the Mono Lake pictures below it was already late afternoon when we arrived at that body of water. So, we drove straight to our lodging for that night after our short hike had concluded at South Tufa Area.
Entering Yosemite National Park
After a good nights rest, we were back on the road again. During our third day of the road trip we had to cross the Yosemite National Park from East to West. After a brief look at Mono Lake again, we entered the park while driving over the astonishing Tioga Pass.
Elizabeth Lake
A few miles in the park, we stopped for a 2-3 hours moderate hike. Before we could start the hike we had to put all our food in bear-proof metal-boxes.
Basically, the hike went uphill to Elizabeth Lake and around it before you went down the same way you came up. A lot of trails here in the America are built that way (at least at the West-Coast, where I have been hiking). You can connect different trails to a longer, non-repeating trail. But such a connected trail quickly becomes rather long and difficult to plan and you might end up walking along the street or waiting for one of the busses that takes you back to your parked car.
Anyways, as you can see, we had a lot of fun on our trail.
Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls
We stayed for two nights just outside of the National Park entrance. That we we could make one of the longer hikes. The trail we chose was one of the best rated in the park and brought us to Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls.
This hike was quite strenuous, not because of its length (a good 10 km) but because of its elevation gain (around 700 meters). The steepness is not surprising when you consider that you climb to the top of two water falls.
Not so wild wildlife
Along this beautiful hike we encountered squirrels that most likely had been fed before. They were quite interested to see what we were eating. It took some rather aggressive hand motions to convince them that they should leave. But those little guys quickly returned just to be disappointed again each time =)
As you can see from the photos below, the hike was very beautiful. The only thing that irritated me a little bit was the number of other hikers and their footwear. We might have been a little over-equipped with our hiking boots. But I was quite happy to descend with them and the stability they provided compared to sneakers which were worn by many co-hikers. But the irritating thing were hikers with flip-flops and similar footwear. Why would you do that? Uphill they were quite fast, but they were overtaken downhill by everyone with closed footwear (obviously…).
