Sonora Pass, Part One
While visiting my family this Summer, I decided that it had been far too long since I had been to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and I decided to seize the opportunity to go while I was home in California. So, grabbing my camera equipment, my sister's Ford Contour (which, being formerly mine, I was most comfortable driving), and a bunch of camping gear, I headed off for four days in Sonora Pass, one pass North of Tioga Pass (Yosemite). Though I had hoped to do a fair amount of productive photography, the light was harsh, the skies were cloudless, and I caught a head cold which made me a late riser, missing much of the best morning light. Nevertheless, even though I really did not get anything that would make a killer print, I left with 400+ digital images, as well as well over 100 print images, so I will pick a few of the better ones, in order to share a taste of the Eastern Sierras with you.
From the Peninsula of the San Francisco Bay, one drives over a bridge to the East Bay (in my case the Dumbarton Bridge), then over Altamont Pass, in the livermore hills, to get into the flat plain of the Central Valley. After Modesto, the land starts to slope upwards, and the climb begins into... the Sierra Nevada Foothills. Large enough that they would be considered a range of mountains in their own right, they obscure views of the actual Sierra Peaks until one has climbed a couple thousand feet into the base of Sonora Pass, which is drier and less majestic than Tioga Pass and Yosemite to the South. On the way into the foothills, mesas start appearing in the volcanic uplands of the Valley, like this one, seen from above the town of Sonora, entrance to the pass.
California's electric economy relies heavily on the use of hydroelectric dams, and such dams are also key to the system of canals and pipes that provide irrigation to the dry Central Valley and water to the cities of the coast, respectively. Many 'beautiful mountain lakes' are in fact reservoirs, like Donnel Lake Reservoir, seen here. The most famous Sierra reservoir is Hetch Hetchy, damming a monumentall valley which John Muir described as equal to Yosemite in beauty; now underwater, it provides drinking water to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Having risen into the lower portion of Sonora Pass, one is greeted with sights such as this, from a roadside lookout below The Dardanelles.
The Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River, photographed from a common spot, the head of the trail leading to the Columns of the Giants.
The columns of the Giants is a basaltic formation of piles, much like one might find at the much more famous Devil's Postpile. From my reading of past photos, it used to be less significantly obscured by its own talus slope than it is now. I wandered all over this talus slope, thinking it was an interesting sight, but really looking for the trail to the world's largest Jeffrey Pine, which was why I had pulled over. For the life of me, however, I could not find the trail leading any place other than to this section of basalt columns.
Though winded by the altitude and my new-found sinus cold, I climbed up a narrow valley on the other side of the talus slope and scrambled up a couple hundred feet of steep terrain to get on top of the basaltic pile, where I was treated to this rather nice view, a peaceful meadow, and the realization (upon reading my guidebook), that I was in fact at the wrong exit for the world's largest Jeffrey pine. Which, incidentally, I never got around to seeing on this trip.
After the excursion to the columns, I continued heading up the pass, stopping, as I had on the way up, at every campsite, only to find that all of the ones listed in my outdated guidebook as free now cost 20 dollars a night. Determined to find one that was still free, or at least cheaper, I continued on, over the pass, stopping at the top, where I enjoyed the above view and this one:
Eventually, I ended up staying at the reasonably priced, but nevertheless distinctly not-free campsite of Leavitt Meadows.
More when I get the time.