Prev: Day 15: A drive into Yosemite and back out
Next: Day 17: Halfway across Nevada on 10/10/10
10/09/10: Day 16: Across Yosemite and north to Nevada
Note to those of you who comment on my pictures: If you don't say who you are in the form, then I won't know who wrote to me.

Again, the picture captions will mostly have to suffice.
We had breakfast with Jade and John, packed up, and drove up and across Yosemite, back down to Mono Lake, and up around Lake Topaz to spend the night in an unincorporated border enclave in Nevada.
Karen, John, and Jade hanging out on the patio of their home, parked south of Coarsegold, CA.
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We stopped at the market in Coarsegold. Karen hoped for veggies, given the pumpkin vines. No such luck. It was mostly a junque mart. But there was an espresso stand.
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We stopped at another "Saturday Market" just north of town. No veggies. But our choice of bidets!
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I set up my dash cam to do a time-lapse zoom around the winding roads at 30x natural speed. Given about 25mph actual, that'll be about 750mph. Dizzying.
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Yes, road work, as described yesterday. Actually, they take Saturday off. That's the biggest visitor volume day.
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Welcome to Yosemite. That'd be $20 to get in. But we'd bought an $80 annual inter-agency pass, good for all National Parks, Forests, and Recreation Area sites. But not state parks.
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The sign to the visitor center at Yosemite, just up those stairs, and down a path.
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A snapshot from the historic village at Yosemite. The bridge is about 150 years old, and handles horse traffic as well as ever.
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New road, without lines or guardrails. Great view, but don't drift off the pavement!
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The driver is allowed to appreciate the view.
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I saw this hiker jump from the wall, and had to stop at the next pull-out. It turned out to be a choice of walking in traffic at a blind curve, or on a wall with a 40 foot or better drop on the other side. Good view, though.
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Karen peers over the nice, tripping-height guardrail at some falls. Not for the vertigo squeamish.
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Karen, back before the ground drops away and attempting to lure me off that dangerous wall, asks if I'd seen the view...
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Yes, I saw the view. But now I was more aware of the traffic zooming by a foot behind me, and the drop to a ledge 40 feet down, and then to bounce the rest of the way.
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As an engineering-minded fellow, I appreciate these recessed reflectors. They will not be scraped off by snowplows, and also add a rumble indicator to rubbernecking lane drifters.
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Our first sight of snowy mountains on this trip.
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The famous Half Dome seen from way up route 120, near the tree line.
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A lookout showing snowy mountains, and a high lake.
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We're finally up with the snow.
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Mountains reflected in a snow-rimmed lake, almost up to the pass, and Eastern entrance to the park.
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Taking that last picture. Yes it was cold, but I was only out of the heated car for a few minutes.
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And out of Yosemite we go.
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Passing a boarded-up for the season facility on the way down the mountain.
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Shadows getting long on the winding roads.
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As I learn more about geology, I appreciate more how that patch of basalt got into this granite mountainside. We are not that far from the upturned western edge of the North American plate.
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One of the skimpiest guard rails, yet.
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In person, the glittering water coming from the spigot was magical. Or maybe it was the altitude.
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Really?
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We'd planned to spend the night in Lee Vining, CA on the shores of Lake Mono. But the whole town was sold out. I should find out more about this lake, so evocative of Crater Lake.
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But we saw some cool views as we headed north and uphill in the fading day. Here I am on another edge to try and capture one.
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How did this chicken cross U.S. Highway 395 in a 65 mph zone? Carefully.
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Sunset was nice. But driving on new, narrow roads without lines in the dark at interstate speeds with oncoming trucks was nerve racking. We stopped at a cluster of lights we saw across a lake, just over the Nevada border.
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The Lake Topaz Casino was now a Super 8. We got a room with a lake view. Or so they said. It was dark. But after a nice dinner, Karen got to feed the slots while I published the previous day.
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One claim to fame of Lake Topaz and the Casino/Resort is this over 13½ pound trout. Not my kettle of fish, but I can see the pride. There were other fish displays, and also quite a collection of scale model coaches and wagons.
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Next: Day 17: Halfway across Nevada on 10/10/10

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