by Michelle
A trip up the Highway 395 in June 2015 along the eastern slopes of Sierra Nevada Mountains of California gives us a glimpse of “old” California. Small towns like Lone Pine, Independence and Bishop line the highway and are refreshingly lacking of Mega-stores like CostCo, Walmart and Co.
It is a long drive from Southern California to Yosemite but the attempt to find public transporation along the Eastern Sierras was unfruitful. However, during our trip we spoke with some travelers and found there are indeed bus lines traveling up and down the Eastern Sierras as well as bus connections between Yosemite and Fresno. YARTS – provides bus service from Fresno to numerous sites in Yosemite and Eastern Sierra Transit has a 395 route which seems to run on a daily basis.
Our first stop was Lone Pine and a visit to Whitney Portal. A hike to the Lone Pine Lake was also on
the agenda. Mount Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states with 4421 meters (excluding Hawaii and Alaska). In Lone Pine we stayed at the Whitney Portal Hostel which made us feel like we were in New Zealand again. Teenagers/Young Adults cooking their own meals and hanging out with a bottle of beer trading stories about where they had been and where they are going. Unfortunately, the hostel has no kitchen so the kids were cooking their meals on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Many of the kids were hiking the Pacific Crest Trail which has become much more popular since movies and books have been written about it.
As we did not want to pack any food with us on the hike because of bears we had a fantastic burger at the Whitney Portal Shop before setting off! I must have washed my hands for 5 minutes before we left so that the bears would not get a craving for a burger when they smelled me coming! Did I mention that I have an unreasonable fear of bears?
At the trailhead we sat and watched many hikers with huge backpacks heading for Mount Whitney with their bear canisters and other equipment designed to keep the bears out of their food.
Our hike ended at Lone Pine Lake as we did not have a permit for the summit hike. This is a beautiful lake surrounded by pines.
Yosemite is one of the USA’s most popular national parks which has earned it the nickname “national parking lot” instead of National Park.
There are still many beautiful and quiet places in Yosemite because the majority of the tourists who visit the park do not walk more than 50 meters from the bus.
In Yosemite we treated ourselves to the Wawona Lodge Hotel which is a lovely old lodge in the middle of the park.
On the way back to good old Moreno Valley, Uli and I had a contest while driving through the Central Valley at 105F(40C) - we turned the air conditioner off in the car and waited to see who would turn it on first. We are still arguing about who actually won the contest. Uli started pouring the drinking water over his head making the whole car wet and I felt that was a forfeit and turned the air on. So, who won the contest?
 |
| Lone Pine Lake on the Mount Whitney Trail |
It is a long drive from Southern California to Yosemite but the attempt to find public transporation along the Eastern Sierras was unfruitful. However, during our trip we spoke with some travelers and found there are indeed bus lines traveling up and down the Eastern Sierras as well as bus connections between Yosemite and Fresno. YARTS – provides bus service from Fresno to numerous sites in Yosemite and Eastern Sierra Transit has a 395 route which seems to run on a daily basis.
 |
| View of the Eastern Sierras from Independence |
 |
| Courthouse in Indepenence |
the agenda. Mount Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states with 4421 meters (excluding Hawaii and Alaska). In Lone Pine we stayed at the Whitney Portal Hostel which made us feel like we were in New Zealand again. Teenagers/Young Adults cooking their own meals and hanging out with a bottle of beer trading stories about where they had been and where they are going. Unfortunately, the hostel has no kitchen so the kids were cooking their meals on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Many of the kids were hiking the Pacific Crest Trail which has become much more popular since movies and books have been written about it.
 |
| East Face of Mount Whitney |
Mount Whitney Trail
Permits to hike to Mount Whitney are obtained by entering into a lottery in February. You cannot just drive to Lone Pine and hike up Mount Whitney. You can however, hike up part of the trail to the Whitney Lookout.
As we did not want to pack any food with us on the hike because of bears we had a fantastic burger at the Whitney Portal Shop before setting off! I must have washed my hands for 5 minutes before we left so that the bears would not get a craving for a burger when they smelled me coming! Did I mention that I have an unreasonable fear of bears?
At the trailhead we sat and watched many hikers with huge backpacks heading for Mount Whitney with their bear canisters and other equipment designed to keep the bears out of their food.
 |
| Hot, hot hot in the Eastern Sierras |
Next Stop Yosemite National Park
 |
| View of Yosemite Valley with Half Dome on the right and El Capitan on the left |
 |
| Here I narrowly escaped being trampled as a busload of tourists stormed the view point |
 |
| Uli and Half Dome |
Tuolomne Meadows
We hiked a part of the John Muir Trail at the Tuolomne Meadows and found peaceful meadows, meandering streams and magnificent granite boulders. This is my absolute favorite part of Yosemite! |
| Tuolomne Meadows |
On the way back to good old Moreno Valley, Uli and I had a contest while driving through the Central Valley at 105F(40C) - we turned the air conditioner off in the car and waited to see who would turn it on first. We are still arguing about who actually won the contest. Uli started pouring the drinking water over his head making the whole car wet and I felt that was a forfeit and turned the air on. So, who won the contest?
 |
| My park ranger impression :-) |
Comments
Post a Comment