In October 2016 I flew out to Reno, Nevada, rented a car and drove the 150 miles due south to a small town called Lee Vining in Eastern California at the foothill of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Lee Vining is about 200 miles due east of San Francisco and about 25 miles from the Nevada State border. The area may be characterized as high desert with Lee Vining itself nearly 7000 ft above sea level. The attractions are the beautiful snow covered Sierra mountains, and the gorgeous yellow leafed Aspen trees that grow in 'groves' in the area.

Wednesday October 19th: Lee Vining is located right next to a large lake called Mono Lake. The lake is a large, shallow saline soda lake that was formed at least 760,000 years ago. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake. These salts also make the lake water alkaline.

The lake has been a water source for Los Angeles and, as a result, water levels have fallen dramatically in recent years exposing formerly submerged 'tufa towers'. According to Wikipedia "Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of ambient temperature water."

These towers are most prominent at the southern end of the lake, but exist throughout the lake just below the surface. 

This early morning pre-sunrise photo shows off the calm beauty of the lake and some tufa towers about 50 yards off-shore. The limestone is very porous and fragile and care needs to be taken to avoid damaging the environment.

Thursday October 20th: The photo on the right was taken not far from Lee Vining at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Highlighted is the juxtaposition of the mountains and a grove of Californian Aspen trees. (Colorado is the other State famous for its Aspen trees).

Being late Autumn, the leaves are a lovely golden yellow, which together with the white trunks and branches make them a thing of beauty. Unfortunately the day before I arrived a severe storm had passed through the area and had blown a lot of the leaves off the trees.

Space prevents me showing here, but I discovered a place where the magic of Aspen trees, a local lake, and mountain were all in the frame - magical!

I believe the bushes in the foreground were dogwood. 

Sunday October 23rd: The photo workshop I participated in lasted only a four days (October 17-20), but in order to make my travel across the country worthwhile I decided to stay on a few more days exploring the area by myself.

I had heard whispers of Bodie, a nearby "Ghost Town" so decided I would explore this place for myself. I went more out of curiosity than out of a hope of photographing anything interesting since, as you know, I generally seek out beauty in natural landscapes or close-ups - not in hulks of dilapidated buildings and rusty cars! I was pleasantly surprised and found many things that were intriguing and definitely nostalgic.

Bodie, about 30 miles north-east of Lee Vining, was a thriving gold mining town in the late 1800s. In 1876 several rich gold veins were discovered there by a William S. Bodie and this precipitated a kind of gold rush into the area. However, by the beginning of WWII, all the gold was depleted and the town was abandoned. It is now preserved by the California State Park system. At one time the town boasted 65 saloons!

Friday October 21st: About 50 miles due west of Lee Vining is the famous Yosemite National Park. I devoted a full day to visiting this national icon of American landscape. It was well worth the visit! (Unfortunately about 9,000 other tourists also thought so that day!) I actually had my first ever sighting of a wild bear on my way to the park. Its about a 2.5 hr trip to get to the park due to the winding roads. 

The photo on the right was taken on the way back at a place called Tuolumne Meadows. I parked the car and walked the 150 yards along a stream to this beautiful spot which immediately caught my eye as a place of tranquility - made all the more beautiful by the clouds lit up by the slowly declining sun. I stayed until it was nearly dark!

It was exactly one year ago on this day that my Sweetheart went to be with the Lord, and this peaceful scene made the memory all the more poignant. You can see all these photos and many others of my trip to Lee Vining either in the slide-show photos at the Home page or in a dedicated folder under Places. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!