California National Parks of the Sierras - Trip Report - Day 9
Day 9 - Thursday 6/28 – Tuolumne Meadows.
Up again at 0600; no great rush today, but we do have a bus to catch at 8:20 to get to the Tioga Pass Road and Tuolumne Meadows. Breakfast again at the food court. The woman who had been manning the grill the past couple of days must have had the day off. The kid who was working this morning was having a tough day; he dropped a plate then butchered a couple pieces of French toast, but he had a great attitude and just kept smiling and cooking. That was a common denominator with all the staff we dealt with at the parks, both NPS and DNC folks, everyone was friendly, helpful and truly seemed to enjoy their jobs.
The French toast was still good.
We were packed and ready and down to the Lodge at 8:00, but the bus was a little late. However, we were soon on the road to Tuolumne. We made a couple of stops (Crane Flats and White Wolf Lodge) and hit some construction before arriving at Olmsted Point at about 10:30. We left the bus at this point and starting working along the Tioga Road using the free shuttle.
Originally I was planning to drive along the Tioga Road specifically to see the view from Olmsted Point, and to see Tenaya Lake, Tuolumne Meadows and perhaps hike up Lembert Dome. The bus from the Valley and the free shuttle provided us with a means to do this without driving….or giving up our parking spot at the lodge! But we did lose some of the flexibility needed to do everything on the list, so we really just had to wing it.
Olmsted Point was a great overlook and a nice place to start our tour along the Tioga Road. The view from the parking lot is great, but it was certainly worth making the short walk (100 yards or so) to the overlook. There was a volunteer in the parking lot with a spotting scope looking at the hikers scaling Half Dome…nope, still not doing that hike. The views in all directions were awesome. And there were glacial erratics scattered all around. I really like that term, “glacier erratic”….those rocks that were deposited by the glaciers when they receded, and glaciers apparently don’t care where they drop a big old boulder! I took a little time to take some shots of the big boulders with the bigger scenery in the background. I could have played around there a while longer composing shots with the erratics, the scattered pine trees and the big granite backdrop. Again, something for the next visit.
Once the shuttle arrived (and I think they were running behind schedule, which did not help our overall plan), we headed to the far end of Tenaya Lake, since there was a restroom there. Unfortunately, it was being rebuilt and therefore out of service. We were thinking of making the hike around the lake, but opted out in the interest of time. There was enough of a breeze to put a chop on the water and ruin any chance for reflections photos. But the lake was still scenic and we enjoyed a snack at one of the picnic tables on the beach.
The shuttle was still seemed to be behind schedule, but we eventually made it to stop number 8 at Pothole Dome and Tuolumne Meadow. Very pretty setting, even though we only reviewed it from the road side and parking area. Looks like a great place for animal sightings. Lynn did spy a pika out in the meadow along the stream edge. In addition to the pika, we saw Ravens, Stellar’s Jays, more ground squirrels, mule deer and a Ranger horseback as we toured along the Tioga Road.
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Our next stop was the Visitor Center. Small but informative with displays on the wildflowers and butterflies. Also nice views of the meadow, wildflowers and Lembert Dome in the distance from across the road.
We took the shuttle to the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge for our final stop. This is really a tent cabin village with a central lodge building and dining hall. But it would certainly make a good base for further exploration along the Tioga Road. Something else for the next visit. The bus back to the valley departed at 2:05 and we were back at the lodge at 4:15.
So even though we only scratched the surface of the sights and sites along the Tioga Road, we did get a good flavor of the area so that we have an idea of what to do when we return. While we did no hiking, we did get to see the sights and look around the area. The shuttle bus is convenient for getting around even though the shuttle seemed to be off schedule today (I bet this was just an odd day; there were at least three shuttle buses running the route along the road, so I’m not sure why the schedule was off). I reckon that if we stayed three nights at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge that we could cover the area in good detail (from a day hiking perspective).
Once back in the Valley, we took the shuttle to the Ahwanee Hotel so that Lynn could look through the gift shop. Then we went back to the lodge, bought pizza from the food court and had dinner out on our patio. The pizza was pretty darn good, and the cold pale ales hit the spot. A very nice way to spend our last night in Yosemite.
Here are the photos from our last full day in the park (plus one of the park entrance sign that we’ll get tomorrow).
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California 2012 Trip Report Intro Page.
We went there in... 2012.
Travel Timeline.
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Return to:
California 2012 Trip Report Intro Page.
We went there in... 2012.
Travel Timeline.
Trip Report list.