Trip Length: 4 days, 4 nights
Itinerary: Day 1: Drove through Yosemite National Park on Tioga Pass Stop at Mobile Restaurant - Get their fish tacos! Silver Lake
June Lake
Hike up Crystal Lake - 3.1 miles RT, strenuous uphill climb
Day 2: Erick Schat's Bakery for breakfast
Hike up Lower and Upper Lamarck Lakes - 8 miles RT, strenuous uphill climb
Day 3: Explored stores in Bishop
Walked on McGee Creek Trailhead
Swam in Convict Lake
Hot Creek Hot Spring
Mono Lake
Travertine Hot Spring
Day 4:
Rented a boat/dipped in the water at Upper Twin Lakes
Drove through Sonora Pass
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Day 1:
Right outside of the park was where we discovered a lake- our first stop that day. Sadly I don't know the name of the lake, but we spent about 15 minutes looking at the views, stretching our legs and getting cold beverages out of the cooler.
Our next stop was Mobile restaurant, which I suggested we stop at to get some real food. The place was bustling. Little did we know this place was featured on Diner's Drive in. Get their fish tacos!
Throughout the day we drove through little towns and lakes, finally stopping in Mammoth Lakes. This little town in the winter is Lake Tahoe for people who reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the summer the snow melts, but there are other outdoor activities to do. You can do some hikes, ride the gondola and mountain bike.
Day 2:
We bought pastries at Erick Schat’s Bakery and was surprised by the varieties of baked goods and how huge the inside was. There were three lines: one for sandwiches, one for patties and one for baked bread. And it was busy!
We decided to hike up Lamarck lakes, one of the trails recommended to us. By this time it was about 11am, and temperatures were creeping up to the 90s. We were parked about half a mile from the trailhead since parking wasn’t allowed if you weren’t camped overnight in the area around the trailhead.
The hike up to the lower lake was 3 miles, to upper lake it was another mile. All uphill. We had run out of water at the first lake and tried boiling our water with our camping stove (which took too long). Super thirsty, we ended up drinking the water at upper lake- which I don't recommend without a filter... but since it was ice melt, we took a chance. Thankfully, we turned out fine.
Day 3:
On this morning we checked out of our hotel in Bishop and checked out a handful of outdoor stores. It was strategic since we were able to enjoy the air conditioning. I also picked up an iced tea at a local cafe.
We drove out of town and to the trailhead at McGee Creek. Since our legs were tired from the previous day we opted to just walk a mile total of the trail. Having said that, one doesn't need to walk too far; the views were already spectacular from the trailhead. People on horseback passed us and I made a mental note that was a to-do for me when I returned to this side of the Sierras.
We took a dip in Convict Lake when we decided the prices to rent a boat was too steep. We saw how this was a popular place. There were people on boats, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards. Some people were fishing and some were on floaties. It didn't quite matter where you were on the lake since you had another great view of the mountain range. This lake has an interesting history too. The story was that convicts escaped from Carson City in Nevada and ran all the way to this lake where they were captured by the Sheriffs. Carson City, NV is about 140 miles from this lake.
We didn't swim in Hot Creek Hot Spring. It was in the middle of the day and it was way too hot. It was beautiful to look at though.
Mono Lake was another interesting place. We drove to South Tufa and explored the trail around there. What is a Tufa, you ask? Tufa is limestone. This lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America and is much saltier than the ocean, so much so that there are no fish in it. When we were there we saw no swimmers, but one person on a kayak. Since there was nothing in the water, it was very still, which made for great pictures.
The last destination of the day was Travertine Hot Springs. We got to the little town of Bridgeport and contemplated one last time about renting a hotel for the night. We decided against it and set up camp on BLM land outside of the hot springs. There is a parking lot but overnight camping there isn't allowed.
We got to the springs very late. It was almost 9pm. We had a couple reasons for this; we wanted to explore a handful of other places and we wanted to ensure it wasn't too hot (we were in a heat wave after all). It all worked out. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect.
We had to walk a bit to find a spring that didn't already have people (we still have two other strangers join us in ours a few minutes after finding one) but it was warm as a hot tub, and the sunset views were a sight.
We got out at a little past ten and walked past a few others who were still in the springs but it was mostly empty. Beware of huge bugs and mosquitoes!
Day 4:
I woke up twice; once during the moonlight and once around 6am when the sun was already glaring down on our tent. We forgot about the sun rising from the east when we set up the tent... note to ourselves for sure. We had planned to go back to the springs in the early morning, but judging by how warm it was already, we decided to slowly make our way home.
After breakfast we drove to Twin Lakes and rented a boat there. A must-do. Upper Twin Lakes has more rentals and is more serene, in my opinion. We didn't do much fishing but we saw a lot of trout in the water... which sadly is probably from the hatchery.
Our final adventure of the day was driving through the Sonora Pass. This is the second highest highway in California at 9,623 feet and is closed in the winters and spring (depending on how much snow there is). Our drive was beautiful and we stopped at a few points to look at the view.
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