Day - 13, Point Reyes

We left the mountains behind and were back at the seashore.  Point Reyes was one of our favorites when we lived in the Bay Area. Beauty and solitude.

We went to McLure's Beach at the northern tip of the part.  We were pretty much there by ourselves.

The boys loved playing in the ocean.

Bart found an intact mussel shell.  

Diane and I relaxed while the boys ran around.

Diane and I stayed out of the water.

The bubbles are from razor clams living in the sand.

Beauty and the Beach.

There were lots of flowers in bloom.

As we hiked back to the car, we ran into some resident Tule Elk.

That evening, we left the boys in the room and headed to Limantour Beach.  

We got to enjoy a nice sunset.

The next morning the tide was very low.  Interesting to see the boats in the harbor sitting on the exposed seabed.

Day - 12, California Cavern

As we were checking out, we saw this nice buck in velvet.

The Falls above Curry Village seemed to be reduced quite a bit in the past week. The big snow melt of 2011 was drawing towards its end.

Diane loves the carpets of purple lupins.

We left the valley and went north into Calaveras County to visit one of the caves in the Northern Sierra.

It was California Cave.  A nice little cave with interesting formations.

Bart looks very sporty in his head protection.

It was a tight squeeze in places.

Some nice formations on the ceiling.

Diane enjoyed her visit.

Alex always likes to be in the front of the tour.

We all agreed that California Cavern was worth the visit.  Now we had to drive to the coast.  Tonight we would sleep near Point Reyes National Seashore.

Day -11, Back to the Valley

It was time to wrap up our visit to Lee Vining and its local delights.  Also time for Greg to head back to the real word.  We would be heading back to Yosemite Valley for a night in Curry Village.

We stopped at Tioga Pass.  Still plenty of snow at the top.

You don't get to have a snowball fight in your shorts every day.

We stopped again at Olmstead Point. 

Still lots of snow on Clouds Rest.

Always like that view of Half Dome.

We made a stop at the overlook where you get your first peak of the Valley.

We went down to El Capitan Meadow for a picnic

We found a nice spot in the shade to sit and look for climbers.

We found a group of climbers very close to the top.

The climbers are located in the small red circles and better seen in the blow-up inserts.  Man my lens is amazing.  Turns our you could follow the lead climber topping out and then starting a belay from the top.

The Valley was still glowing green and the Falls were still raging.

We took the short hike to the base of Bridalveil Falls.  We got wonderful rainbows in the mist.

The contrast against the trees in the shadows is nice.

Great double rainbow action.

As the sun set, we got nice alpine glow on Half Dome towering above us.

That night we had pizza in Curry Village.  It was our last night in the mountains.

Day - 10, Focus on fishing and Tufa visit.

We were on Lake Lundy early and got the spot where we had seen others catch fish yesterday morning. Last day of our 2-day license. This is a nice panorama of Lundy Lake with us getting ready to fish.



Alex got off to a good start with the first fish.



It was a nice one. Today would be his day and he would catch 2 nice rainbow trout. He also lost a brown trout. Such a pretty fish.



Even I got into the action. Beautiful high sierra rainbow.



Greg got into the action. We caught 5 that morning. Not great by historical standards, but better than others on the lake.



We decided to visit the South Tufa area which is alway nice. I like the way the sky blue bleed into the lake blue to greens.



Diane look beautiful next to a Tufa tower. I like the contrast of the blues with the whites and the red shirt.



Alex and the snow covered mountains in the distance. Lot of brown and green tones.



It was a beautiful day.



Greg was enjoying the sunshine and Tufa



We went back to Lundy Lake for evening fishing.



Diane finally got her fish. In the end we caught 13 total trout. The family caught 10. Greg took them home later and smoked them. We were able to bring some home. They were delicious.

Day -9, Friends and Fishing

We were up early and fishing at Lundy Lake in short order. There were a lot of people fishing. But this was no surprise because all of the high country lakes were still iced up. The fishing would be tough, but we would catch some fish over the next 2 days. The other interesting thing was that the lake level was rising. Right before our eyes. In 2 days it would go up more than a foot. This is a great Panorama of the lake from the damn.



Such a beautiful place. I have been coming here more than 20 years and its a favorite.



Bart caught the first fish (on Diane's pole). Eventually we caught 2 others. Our friend Greg showed up that evening and we retired relatively early to get up early for some more fishing.

Day - 8, Bridgeport, Mono Lake, and the Fishing Begins

First day in Lee Vining. Yesterday was a long day with the Mariposa Grove visit and the long drive. We decided to go to the Mono Lake Visitor Center and stop at the old marina. There were a bunch of California Gulls nesting on the Tufa.


I am always amazed by the brine flies at Mono Lake. Here is a nice picture of a gathering.



After visiting Mono Lake we decided to drive north on 395, something we had not done before, at least beyond the turnoff to Bodie (see August 2008 blog). We had a nice lunch in Bridgeport (but nothing worth a picture). We got back to Lee Vining and learned that Bart and Alex could fish that evening without a license. We just couldn't touch anything as adults who had licenses that didn't start until tomorrow. No FIsh, but any sunset at Lundy Lake is a good one.