Yosemite National Park

Sights along Tioga road.

Tioga Road opened for the season on May 7th, just a day before our arrival.

The road carves it's way through the Sierra Nevada mountain range and offers dramatic views at every turn.

And down below.

Though most of the trails we hoped to hike were still buried in deep snowfall, we were rewarded with some great sights alongside the road during our drive to Mono Lake.

Mono Lake

Mono Lake covers about 65 square miles. It's over 1 million years old — one of the oldest lakes in North America and has no outlet. The lake is about 2 1/2 times as salty as the ocean and very alkaline.

The reserve was established to preserve the spectacular "tufa towers," calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water.

These three found some nice shade waiting for me back at the parking lot.

... and apparently a long lost phone signal as well.

Campsite

While not quite as nice as the Awahnee, our campsite was near a river and had a nice view of Half Dome.

Roasting S'mores and brats over the campfire.

Tuolumne Grove

The base of this sequoia is pretty substantial.

... and looking straight up it is also impressive.

The grove's biggest attraction is the Dead Giant, a sequoia stump that was tunneled in 1878 so that wagons, and later automobiles could drive through.

I wondered how far in the air Dead Giant might have once stretched.

Decades of visitors have left their mark on the tunnel.

One immense fallen tree in the Tuolumne Grove provides the opportunity to walk alongside a sequoia, and in doing so, gain a solid appreciation for the massive height and girth of these trees.

Kate found a giant pine cone.