That’s what Waze has been telling us the past few days. We were going from Yosemite to the June Lake loop area, specifically the Sliver Lake RV resort. We love Waze and use it all of the time (thank you Wes), so we were so surprised that no matter where we were in the Yosemite area, Waze said NO! Thankfully, google maps to the rescue with an option to the north or the south.
If it were July, our travel would have been much shorter and straightforward. Similar elevation challenges, but shorter. Alas, there is currently too much snow at 10,000 feet and therefore multiple routes just are not accessible. It made for a long day, and we knew it going in.
In fact, the snow starts at 6,000 feet. We were in and out of the snow several times today, with our highest point being over 8,100 feet and currently over 7,200 feet (we can feel it). Thankfully, the snow was never on the road, but several areas had avalanche warnings and there was one stretch where I literally held my breath that the big snow mound on the side of the road wouldn’t give way as we drove by.
The first half of our travels were narrow winding roads, with plenty of significant elevation changes. It was exhausting and tense. Thankfully, we switched halfway and had a lovely gas/shopping/dog walk break at a cute little market. The second half was even more elevation changes, just wider roads and faster travel. All in all, about 7 hours to get here and we are glad to be settled before the sun set over the mountain.
The drive was spectacular. We saw so many different:
- climates – temps ranged from 49 to 76, ending around 52. Snow is actively melting wherever it is present. Expected, but fascinating as we shifted about 30 degrees colder in less than an hour
- vistas – snow, rocks, desert-like conditions, beautiful forests, wide rivers, frozen lakes, bright flowing lakes and plenty of mountains
- surroundings – developed communities, rural landscapes and completely desolate areas.
So stunning. It was definitely the most diverse driving day of our trip, and that is saying something.
This evening, we had some time to explore the surroundings before a great dinner of tortellini soup (courtesy of some covid-era recipe sharing in MNS, I believe) and this fantastic jalapeno bread that we got at the market today. Good thing to warm us up, since it will be super chilly here tonight and we are planning to do some stargazing soon. We are getting re-acquainted with our antifreeze procedures at an RV park, which include tank heaters and constantly dripping water to prevent our hoses from freezing.
We rest now for a few days, and I shall let Rick tell you all about this amazing place tomorrow since we have nothing on the agenda. He has again picked an amazing spot for us!!
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