The Highway 395 can be a geological wonderland, make sure to stop at the vista points and read all the info plaques ;)
That’s what noone wants to see when they travel! The pass road is closed and we already make plans to skip parts of our route or go 10+ hours extra to make it work.But after a 2 hours walk it opens and we’re the first to fly through the open gate lol … The fractures that peel the granite into sheets is called “exfoliation,” and it is caused by expansion of the bedrock.Full with adrenaline we joyfully cruise through the outer parts of Yosemite.The Sierra Nevada mountains are an enormous conglomerate of granite bodies called a batholith, blobs of magma that welled up under volcanoes and crystallized underground, only surfacing when everything else withered away.But slopes also get more vegetation (how the trees can get hold on these flat rocks is beyond me)A few very nice views follow.Tioga Pass at Olmsted Point Overlook.When the glaciers melted, they dropped whatever rocks they were carrying, including these.We’re not alone!Looking back into Yosemite Valley. Someone else said: “Knowing when you’ve taken enough photos at Yosemite is a superhuman feat.” We concur :DHalf Dome from Olmsted Point.Little chipmunk racing up and down the stone wall.The highway meanders through a vast plateau landscape.Tenaya Lake.The granite is not formed as monolithe, it is a composite of hundreds of smaller bodies of granitic rock that, as magma, intruded one another over a timespan of more than 100 million years.The wide open of the high sierra.And there’s the reason the road was closed temporarily: It’s icy!A coyote thinks about saying hi but then turns around.The descent is a long one, from 3,031 m down to the Inyo National Forest following Hwy 395.The eastern side of the park is bare. This section of road was first built in 1899-1905.This area contains “roof pendants” – remnants of volcanic rocks sitting on top of the granite.Eventually we reach the valley floor and near Crestview.Looking down south into the valley, Bishop is the next stop.With sheer willpower we drive into the sunset and reach Lone Pine just before dark. What an adventure!
