After leaving Mammoth and the June Lake loop we drove route 120 to the Tioga Pass, 9,943 ft; a mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the highest highway pass in CA. It serves as the eastern entrance for Yosemite National Park during the summer months. Tioga is named after Tioga Mine, and Tioga is named for an Iroquois term meaning “where it forks.” It was a spectacular winding road with amazing mountain views all the way over the pass. At Olmsted Point lookout we had our first view of Half Dome in the distance. The granite crest rises more than 4,737 ft above the valley floor and is a spectacular sight to see from a distance.
This was our first visit to Yosemite National Park, an area of 747,956 acres and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1984. As we entered the valley a beautiful waterfall came into view. Bridalveil Falls is one of the most prominent waterfalls in the Yosemite Valley and is 617 ft in height and flows year round. We were fortunate to have a lot of water cascading down the face. When the wind blows briskly the waterfall will appear to be falling sideways, as you will see in one of our photos. We continued along the valley floor to the Half Dome, and saw the spectacular granite dome close up. The Half Dome was originally called “Tis-sa-ack” by the Native Americans. There is a Half Dome Cable Route hike that runs from the valley floor 8.2 miles up the east face of Half Dome using post-mounted braided steel cables near the top, with a 4,800 elevation gain to reach the summit. You need permits to climb the Dome, on our next trip to Yosemite our challenge will be to reach the top. The summit was conquered in 1875 by George Anderson by drilling iron eye bolts into the east face of the smooth granite rock. The first technical ascent was in 1957 by Royal Robbins with friends and took them 5 days up the northwest face. Their route has now been free soloed several times in a few hours time.
On our way out of the valley we saw the magnificent Yosemite Falls, the highest measured waterfall in North America. The total 2,425 ft from the top of the Upper fall to the base of the Lower fall, qualifies Yosemite Falls as the sixth highest waterfall in the world. We viewed the Yosemite Upper Fall, 1,430 ft in height from the road. There are several trails leading to the Upper and Lower falls to get a closer view, this we will save for our next trip. We stopped once more to see climbers on the vertical rock face of El Capitan. The granite monolith extends about 3000 ft from base to summit along its tallest face, and is one of the worlds favorite challenges for rock climbers and BASE jumpers. It’s hard to notice the climbers without binoculars but we have a photo of them from a distance. It was getting late and we had to return to Bishop to the RV Park, we drove about 350 miles total today but saw some amazing sites.
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ” John Muir