Sierra Back Roads

We have lived in the foothills of the Sierra for 3 years now, doing well at 2200 ft and not missing the life of a Flat Lander (Bay Area). On the 4th of July, for these three years, it has seemed like the perfect day to take a long day trip around this country that we love, discovering parts we have never visited, over the years that we lived so far from such a journey. Now, being in the heart of the foothills, it is only 90 minutes (or less) up to the Tahoe basin...something that we could never imagine before. The SMART part about all of this traveling on the 4th is that everyone ELSE with a tent or a trailer or whatever is ALREADY where they are going to be and not on the roads. SCORE!

This year, I decided that it might be cool to travel down the 395, all of the way down to Bishop, where my dad spent a lot of his childhood. To get there, we needed to get up to the Tahoe Basin, via highway 50 (our corridor to the lake) and then hang a right onto highway 89, following this back road all of the way through alpine meadows up and over the passes to join up with 395, the road that goes along the back of the spine of the eastern Sierra.

As a young adult, I remember bumper stickers, greying on the backs of Volvo's and 4 wheel drive vehicles, saying "Save Mono Lake". Hmmm...read about it, knew about it but never visited. It was just a part of the long sad story of Los Angeles and The Water, to me. Well, this 4th of July, after a long long long Winter and delayed Spring, it was still Spring(ish) in the mountains and especially on the 89 and the 395 through Mono County and down to the Lake. There is a viewing area up on the ridge where people stop and afix bumper stickers and other identifying stickers from all over the world on the metal guard rails. It is this view that they are after and the dreams of the Bumper Sticker People from my teens has come true because Mono Lake surprised me. It is a unique eco system where the tuffa's are still exposed but where the lake is more full and shiny, with hundreds and hundreds of sea gulls floating on the surface.

The land on the east side of the Sierra has vistas that are just vast and jaw dropping. I adore this shot of the road heading toward Lee Vining, which is the back door gateway to Yosemite, when the Tioga Pass is open. Look at the beauty of the Sierra!

This drive takes you past Mammoth Lakes and June Lake and the Mammoth Ski Resort, which was actually OPEN for morning skiing, up there in those mountains.

This area is arid and is the home of pronghorn and lots and lots of sage. We drove through so many alpine valleys and the hills were alive with wild flowers. Incredible.

My father was a kid in Bishop and while he always waxed poetic about growing up there, he never took me there, as a kid. It is at the junction of the 395 and highway 6, there in the northern end of the Owen's Valley, which was made famous during the days of the Los Angeles Water Wars. It is a little green oasis in that valley between the Eastern Sierra and the White Mountains and people flock there for the outdoor life. (now dad lives in Hamilton Montana, another spot in a valley between two mountain ranges...found his home away from home.)

We drove around this little town and I felt no kinship here but found the Laws Railroad Museum, which, remarkably enough, is much like some of the living museums that we visited in Ireland...houses, businesses, a school and library moved from other locations to form sort of a compound. Of course, Rod was there for the SP narrow gauge train but I found pictures of so many different groups of kids who grew up in Bishop, there in the school house. None of my dad's family, of course.

Love the drama of this scene with the White Mountains in the background. This is pretty much high desert, folks. The people who live here, love it and those of us who crave the green stuff...not so much. On the other side of those mountains (Bishop is at about 4000 ft) is Nevada and mining. Just south is Death Valley. Sa-weet!

 

I had had enough of being sweaty and so we piled back into the Honda and rode out of Dodge, heading north, once again.

Now THIS is what I am talking about. Hills covered in wild flowers and the back side of the southern Sierra. Wide open spaces, a mile high and beyond. A beautiful way to spend the 4th, taking the path a little less traveled. Perhaps next year, we will head back to partake in the fun that we passed in Bridgeport. Now THAT is one fine and fabulous alpine valley and I could use some rodeo fun. Next year...

 

Comments

[Annie]

Just beautiful!!

[Suzanne Griffith]

Nice travelog! Thanks.

[Mokihana White]

Wonderful post, Lisa! I really enjoyed all the photos!