Sierra Nevada III, June 2000 Trip Report

HOME DAYS { 1^st 2^nd 3^rd 4^th 5^th 6^th 7^th }
I grew up in a big city; never imagine myself walking in a wilderness. I hope you also enjoy my 7 days of venture into the magnificant glaciour mountains.		Author: Asao Kamei Location: Sierra-Nevada Date: June 2000 Etc: Camera This document contains some dramatization

Probably the Lundy lake. A very pleasant drive lead to this beautiful lake.

Big Pine to Bear Valley, 5^th day

The 5^th day, I drove back to the Lake Alpine to Kayak. The knee was still hurting, but Kayak won't use any legs. On the way, I drove through Rock Creek, Convict Lake, Mono Lake, and Lundy Creek. The Rock creek offers a yet-another spectacular trail, I heard, although just driving through was not fun at all. Convict Lake was very easy to access. It offers an interesting sight because the rock formation changes at Convict Lake. To the south is gray granite rocks I have enjoyed in the hikes. But to the north, the Sierra-Nevada is colored with a brown rock.

I briefly stayed at Mono Lake visitor center. Although this was my 3^rd visit, this lake still continue to surprise me with its strange but beautiful scenery. Last place I drove by was the Lundy Creek. I found just driving through the Lundy Creek was beautiful.

It was well before 7:00 pm when I arrived the Bear Valley, which gives me a chance to enjoy the good food, beer, and a good conversation with a owner of one of hotels in the Bear Valley. He told me that I can always find a room in Bear Valley other than the ski season. There were not many visitors here because it is sandwiched by the 2 major tourist attractions: Yosemite and Lake Tahoe.

Small pine trees can still survive on such a small island, or rather just rocks on Lake Alpine.

Bear Valley and Lake Alpine, 6^th day

Kayaking on the Lake Alpine was... peaceful and relaxing. It was my first time to kayak, but it was really easy. The hardest part is to put the kayak on the lake, but everything else was very intuitive and stable. The quiet lake had quite a few visitors; the main activities were enjoying fishing, boating, or swimming.

There were couple more reservoirs near by the Lake Alpine. All of them were beautiful, but the Utica Lake was the most notable. It was even more rugged and have tiny rock islands all of the lake. I met with a lady with backpack and a kayaked. She was sailing into the Utica Lake for a overnight camping.

In the evening, I enjoyed the hospitality of the The restaurant owner at the Lodge hotel remembered me. It turned out that he is one of the owner of the Lodge.

A surprisingly vivid green color of Lake Alpine (to left) and an old boat. On the lake, I found a lot of pollens (to the right). I wonder why I did not get allergy on the lake...

Bear Valley to SF, 7^th day

The river cuts through a rock. This gorge is much deeper than this photo shows.

Last day, I drove back the highway 108, just because I never drove that highway. In contrast to the peaceful highway 4, this highway runs through a dramatic glacier valley. But watch out for the slope and the curves. Some portion the highway is steep that I had to lower the gear to the first. I never had to do that before! The AAA map does not consider this beautiful highway 108 as scenic route. But I know why. It is too difficult to drive, definitely not for Rvs. Then the highway way runs parallel to a gorge. Hmm, it was an amazing sight.

After the 108, I returned back to the highway 4, and drove back all the way to San Francisco Bay area.

Overall, it was my best (one-person) travel. I will come back for the Sierra-Nevada hike. I like to cross the Bishop pass to see the other side, or better yet, I will have backpack into the wilderness one day.