After Death Valley, I rode on to the West and there are several other valleys out there that look like really bad places to get stuck. They are just barren wastelands, covered in sharp black volcanic rocks with barely a withered plant to be seen for literally miles.
This type of climate lasts for quite a way but it gradually gets more vegetated and then even green as you ride toward the Sierras and out of their East side rain shadow.
It was late afternoon by then and there were several big black patches of cloud and I had to ride through the edges of a couple of thunder showers. I also had to detour a couple of times since there had been thunderstorm induced flooding and mud slides on the highway (strong weather they have out here :)
The smell of summer rain was strong in the air along with fresh sage (the sage brush is green and fresh at this time of year).
Then it was up into the Sierras to find a place to camp for the night.
I turned off at one of the local ski resorts (Mammoth Lakes) and drove through the resort before heading back out of town a little to find a camp.
The ski resort is very like those in Canada that Ive seen and as I imagine European resorts are as well - That is to say that in the summer months it becomes a Mountain Biking resort - so its maximum tourist activity all year round!
It was very interesting to be exposed to this sort of place just after having spent four months meditating and nearly two months in silence in a tiny little town in Guatemala -
Guess I'll have more to say about that in a while...
Anyway, a camp was found and I slept well though a little cold.
The next morning I went for a scenic drive around the area and there is no question that the Sierras are certainly beautiful country :)
I then headed up over Tioga pass and down into the Yosemite valley.
Yosemite is the second most popular national park in the US after Yellowstone but it is in a far smaller area and again the "manic intensity" of the tourist hoards was something to experience. The park its self though is really worth the visit and you can easily see why it is so popular.
The grey granite domes in amongst the lush alpine meadows and pine forests with beautiful little lakes of Tuollome Meadows are stunning.
I really liked the gnarled (Krumholtzed) Juniper trees and took quite a few pictures. This led to me having a very "modern problem" of running out of memory space in my camera.
I was not going to buy another memory card this close to home so I started deleting pictures, but was saved by a Swiss family on holiday who had a disk burner handy. It was slow but after an hour and a half of friendly conversation, I was back on my way and headed down into the valley.
There, the massive granite walls of the Yosemite Valley are truly awe inspiring with the valley being so narrow, and when you look up and manage to discern the tiny specs of rock climbers ascending these walls it is definitely something that makes the average tourist stop and "gawk".
I only did a quick drive through visit of the valley, but it brought back fond memories of the month I spent there about fourteen years ago when I did my last year long hiatus from work. I was rock climbing and I climbed several of the prominent peaks and walls in the area including four and a half days to climb the 1200m high "El Capitain" - good memories :)
Then the day was over again and I headed out West to find a camp site.
Tomorrow its into the city to meet up with Mike...
