I began my odyssey yesterday morning, leaving my home in the San Fernando Valley at 7am and drove up the 5 Fwy to the 14 to the Antelope Valley. I decided to drive the mountain route up through Mammoth and up all the way through to Tahoe. The drive through the Antelope Valley is a tad on the sparse side, but it still can be beautiful. I drove past the aircraft boneyard in Mojave – I had checked and they do give tours…however, they won’t let you take pictures, so what’s the point.
Just past Mojave, you come across Red Rock Canyon State Park. It’s quite beautiful and reminds me a little of Sedona (without the trees and shrubs). I stopped to take some pictures (see below), and they do have a park, but I had to get on my way.
The 14 eventually merges with US 395, which takes you all the way up towards Tahoe. You drive through a bunch of tiny towns. Independence is one I would love to go back and stop and spend some time. I stopped in Bishop to gas up – I had not been to Bishop since I was maybe 5 years old. And gas was about the same as what I paid in L.A.
I continued on to Mammoth. I wanted to stop there since I had seen something on the map that had intrigued me: the Devil’s Postpile National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/depo/index.htm). I stopped in town to grab some lunch at Schat’s Bakery (www.schats.com). I had a roast beef sandwich on squaw bread – they carved chunks of beef of the roast….an unusual way to serve it, but it worked and was quite tasty.
I went on my way to the Monument way west of town. Since it’s part of the National Park Service, you do have to pay an entry fee ($10). You start out at just over 9100 feet elevation, then drive down a very windy, extremely narrow road into the valley. For three miles, the road is one lane. Once you get to the bottom, you have the option of going to the meadows, a couple of waterfalls, and the Devil’s Postpile. They also allow camping with a permit.
I was there primarily to see the Monument, so I drove on to the south end of the park to the parking area for it. It’s only a short, easy hike to get to it, and you also have the option of hiking to the top and over, which I did.
The monument is quite interesting – it’s similar to the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland – they both are ancient lava flows that cooled very slowly over time and crystallized. When that happens, it forms into hexagonal columns. It’s very neat to see.
After hiking over the hill and taking lots and lots of pictures, I checked out the San Joaquin River, which flows through the park. It was a very bucolic setting. It was getting to be mid-afternoon, so I started making my way back to the 395 and headed north to Mono Lake.
One important note about gas: I recommend gassing up in Bishop, maybe Mammoth, because once you get north of there, expect to pay $5 a gallon! EEEEEKS!
When I got to Mono Lake, I stopped at the county park at the north end of the lake off the 395. I was advised be friends to bypass the visitor’s center on the south side and head to this park – it has a boardwalk that takes you out to the shore and you get up close and personal with the tufa’s left behind after the lake began being drained by Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power.
These tufa’s are limestone formations created from the minerals spewed by hot springs that used to dot the area. Many were submerged until the lake was being drained, and the shoreline has shrunk back about a football field’s length. Thankfully the drainage has stopped. I spent about 30 minutes at the park walking around and just enjoying the simple beauty.
It was then time to make my way to Tahoe. The 395 goes off northeast into Nevada, so you have to cut over on state route 89, which takes you up through the mountains of the Toiyabe National Forest into the Tahoe region. Just as I had turned onto the 89 and was making my way up the hill, a guy in a truck coming down was waving a red flag, so I knew something was up. Since it was on a corner, I decided to stop, and just as I did…….thousands of sheep turned the corner and headed my way.
They were moving a huge herd down the mountain and had to use the highway for part of it. It really was rather amusing. It didn’t take more than 5-10 minutes, and one of the women at the end with the herders told me there were close to 5000 of them!
I eventually made my way up to Tahoe and around the lake to meet up with Phil around 7pm.
I will try to post each day with new pics and any interesting dining adventures.
Glad you had a good drive albeit with expensive gas.
ReplyDeleteHave a great vacation, CJ! Looks like fun!
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