DAY 29 – Through Yosemite headed to Death Valley – 9/12/09

( TOTAL MILAGE TO DATE 6149) —– (TOTAL PICTURES TO DATE ABOUT 1150)

 We left Oakhurst after our day of rest and headed back into Yosemite.   This time we did a short loop through the valley and then connected to “Tioga Road” which crosses Yosemite from west to east finishing up at the east entrance to the park which is at Tioga Pass – elevation 9945 feet.  The views were different than the valley which has high cliffs on both sides.  As the pictures show the Tioga Highway has a lot of different rock formations and several lakes.

 Next we headed down on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains into the Inyo National Forest and then went south to Lone Pine, California.  We passed a little town called “Tom’s Place.”  There was a rain storm over the mountains to our west and we had some great views.  Lone Pine is like a frontier town directly east of Mt. Whitney which at 14,505 feet is the HIGHEST in the contiguous US.   Lone Pine is also about 50 miles from the LOWEST point is the US in death valley – 282 feet below sea level!  We went to mass at Santa Rosa church, had a steak dinner at the Totem Café and headed off to blog.

 Tomorrow it’s into Death Valley.   Hopefully there will be more blog entries later.

 

Back into Yosemite

 

Not to be outdone by my conquest of El Capitan, Patti decided on technical climb without the aid of the appropriate gear!

 

Headed down to Loan Pine

 

 

                                     Sierra Nevada mountains from Loan Pine at sunset