Yosemity nat. parc - Bishop

  Bishop, California, United States
Tuesday, July 8, 2008

July 8, from Yosemity National park to bishop

Sunny 30°C/86°F-35°C/95°F in the morning and   38°C/100°F in the afternoon
 
We slept well in our beautiful room and after packing the car we had breakfast at half past six. For this breakfast we go directly to the restaurant next to the hotel. Because we are hotel guests, we get a discount of 20%, always nice!

Yesterday we saw that driving in mountains with altitude differences and rather twisting roads causes motion sickness, so for precaution we take some medicine against that

Railroad station

On our way to the south entrance of Yosemity, where we will drive through the same route as yesterday, we came along a nostalgic piece of railroad, it looks like the wagons were used for sightseeing of the park. It is free accessible,so we examined them just a little bit closer. 

Mist in the morning

Some miles ahead, again shortly before the entrance of the park, we come along a small meadow where the morning mist still hangs over the water. It is no official lookout point, but nice enough to stop and enjoy it for a moment. 

Upper Yosemity Fall

At the south entrance of Yosemity we finally succeed in buying our park pas. We drove into the park and at Yosemity Village we get some fresh ice for our icebox. Of course also a cup of coffee. We take these along on our walk to the lower Yosemity Falls which lies near the village. It is a short, beautiful walk but the temperature rises rapidly wich makes it a big effort. 

Underneath ice in July

After the walk we make the trip to Tioga Pass the same way we have driven it yesterday. Today we skip many stops, except a stop just outside the park exit, because here still lies snow. In our country, the Netherlands, even in the middle of the winter we don't have snow, so to see it here in July is very strange for us. 

Mono Lake

We leave the Tioga Pass and continue on highway 395 in southern direction. After approximately 5 miles we turn right. We stop at Tufa parking lot and walk from here to Mono Lake where particular rock formations have arised from lime. This happens because rainwater runs over hard rock underneath the layer of clay and immerge as a spring downhill, there the fresh rainwater undergoes a chemical reaction with the salt that causes these little,strangely formed but beautiful,mountains. It won't take long to visit, but it's worth wile.

When we return at 395 instead of continue to drive south we drive a very small distance, ¼ mile, to the north to take a left turn. This route is called the June Lake Loop and runs a part parallel to the 395 to the south but is a particularly beautiful route. We pass several lakes here. Eventually, we encounter the 395 again but only for a short time because some miles further we follow the Mammoth Lake Loop. This one also runs parallel to the 395 to the south but is again a beautiful drive, especially by the many panoramas which arise near the road. 

View somewhere direction South

Finally we observe the last bit of the 395 for today to drive to Bishop were we will stay the night in the Comfort Inn. This is in comparison with our hotel yesterday in Oakhurst a typical hotel for 1 night. It is clean, there is a bed, TV and standard bathroom, but nothing extra. This hotel is hardly cheaper than the hotel in Oakhurst, but a little more effort to decorate and attention to furnishing made the Oakhurst hotel a more pleasant place to stay. Next holiday we probably will skip the hotels of best Choice.

We rest a little from 16.00 till 18.00 and then have a steak at Sizzlers. This chain of steakhouses is comparable with the Ponderosa restaurants, only we found eating in Ponderosa (Orlando 2007) a bit more tasteful. In our room we still have a bottle of White Zinfandel, a Californian rosé, deliciously!

The distance which we travelled today by car is 218 miles.