To Mammoth Lakes
Sunday, October 3, 2021.
We left home for a ten day driving tour of eastern California and southern Nevada.
We drove across the San Joaquin Valley (having a very bad smoky air day) to Yosemite on CA 120 and over the almost 10,000 foot Tioga Pass to US-395 near Lee Vining in Mono County. The need for a timed entry into Yosemite NP ended on September 30, so this worked out well for us. The air in Yosemite did not appear to be dangerously smoky, but the visibility was poor.
Tenaya Lake in Yosemite. This was the cleanest air we had for a couple of days.
Road coming down from Tioga Pass
After going over the pass on CA 120, we drove south on US 395 from Mono Lake to the resort town of Mammoth Lakes, where we spent the next two nights. Mammoth Lakes, at 7,881 feet, is the only incorporated town in Mono County, although the County seat is at Bridgeport.
October, 4, 2021
The air from the fires around Sequoia National Park had seeped over the mountains into Mammoth Lakes overnight. The AQI was 160! Not safe for hiking, or good for visibility. So we had to make alternative plans on the fly. We got a leisurely start in search of Fall Colors in the forests nearby. Our first stop was at Sage Hen Meadows, north on US 395 to CA 120 heading east. On the way, we stopped at Mono Mills historic marker. A 5-mile gravel road took us to beautiful orange and yellow aspen trees. There were other Fall Color tourists out there. The County publishes guides! The air was gray, but the colors stood out.
We retraced our steps back to US 395 and went north to the Mono Lake Visitor Center, which was, alas, closed for the season. You could barely see the lake there was so much smoke so we decided it was not worth a visit today. We had lunch in Lee Vining at the famous Whoa Nellie Deli. We then drove about 45 minutes to Bodie State Park.
The last time we had been there, the road was gravel the entire 13 miles from US 395; now it is paved for the first ten miles. We walked around with our N95 masks on, but the air was still bad and it was cool (elevation 8,400 feet). Even though Bodie is a ghost town, it makes the newspaper regularly as the coldest spot in California. Later on this trip we will visit the place that is most often the hottest! Bodie is very interesting, since it had a population of over 10,000 people at one time in such a remote and harsh climate.
These two photos of Bodie show the poor air quality.
Then we headed back south to Mammoth Lakes, but first took a detour into the mountains west of Highway 395 to Virginia Lakes for more Fall Colors.
After we got back to Mammoth Lakes, we drove to two of the five lakes that give Mammoth Lakes its name, Lake Mary and Horseshoe Lake. We hadn’t been to Mammoth Lakes in at least 30 years, and were surprised at how much bigger it was than we remembered. We’ll have to return when the air is good (for views from Minaret) and the gondola is running.
Tomorrow, we will be heading to Bishop, in Inyo County, and our plans depend on air quality.
The map below shows many of the places we visited from Mammoth Lakes and Bishop.
