July 23-30, 2011: Yosemite, Mammoth, Mono Craters

[SteveInLA]

My wife Carmen and I took off a week from work and planned our longest camping trip in the Sportsmobile to date. We started in Morro Bay for one night to camp with my brothers in law and their families, then it was off to Yosemite Creek campground for three nights. After that, we booked two nights at the Westin Monache Resort in Mammoth Lakes to relax and resupply, then one more night of camping before returning home.

We were to meet up with Daveb at Yosemite Creek, but we were delayed a bit. This waterfall was about 2 miles west of the campground turnoff along Tioga Rd. Not pictured, Steve and Carmen skinny dipping under the bridge!


We did eventually meet Dave and Don and settled into a spot with their help.




As Dave said, it was pretty crowded, but our neighbors were either gone all day or pretty quiet. I finally got a chance to try out my remote solar panel setup and it worked like a charm.


On Tuesday, we set off to hike to the top of Yosemite Falls. We did this hike in 1997 and were excited to see if our 14-year-older selves could do it again. We can!


The creek was very full and VERY COLD! Again, unphotographed skinny dipping may or may not have occurred (it did).






Wednesday, we left Yosemite via Tuolumne Meadows and stopped at the Mobil Restaurant in Lee Vining for fish tacos.


On Thursday, we took the shuttle bus from the Mammoth main lodge to Devil's Postpile and hiked down to Rainbow Falls too.




Friday was our last night of the trip and we wanted to camp somewhere remote. On the recommendation of a ranger at Devil's Postpile, we headed north to the Mono Craters area south of Mono Lake. We ended up near a place called Johnny Meadow. It can be reached via graded gravel roads that are a little sandy in some spots, but otherwise easily reached in 2WD.


The view from our 'campsite'.




The thunder, lightning, rain and insects forced us to spend most of our last night inside the van. We couldn't have been happier. Everything in the van performed flawlessly and at the end of a week of close quarters, we were ready for many weeks more.


Steve in L.A.

[SteveInLA]

I forgot to include some photos from the Yosemite Falls hike.




One of the coolest things about this trail are the many rock staircases along the way. I don't know the history of these, but I sure appreciated them and marveled at the care and craftsmanship that went into making them.



Steve in L.A.

[UJOINT]

Great trip, great pics, great place!!

[EMrider]

Grear report and pics, thanks.

That area is my favorite playground. Last weekend we tried to get up to coyote flats. My friend's truck overheated and could not make the grade. Plan B was buckeye creek near Bridgeport. The thunder storms were outstanding!
R

[daveb]

Thanks for the report Steve. Looks like you guys had a great time. Gotta love those thunder storms...most of the time . I just got back from a week+ trip to Yosemite and surrounding areas...yep got the fish tacos

Dave

[twogone]