DAY 4 – South Lake Tahoe to Evergreen Yosemite (124 miles driven, 4.40 miles walked)
It was another grey day in California when we awoke in South Lake Tahoe. This was a shame as we never really saw the lake in all its glory as it was constantly shrouded in cloud. Oh well another time.
The hotel we had been staying at was in California but the town of South Lake Tahoe actually spans California and Nevada. There was no need to mark the state line as it was abundantly obvious when we did cross. This was because as soon as you arrive in Nevada you see several large and it has to be said, ugly casinos. This looked pretty tacky compared to the rustic charm on the California side.
Today we were travelling between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, all part of the Sierra Nevada. We made just one stop along the way at Mono Lake where we were fortunate that the weather was perfect for a walk down to the shoreline. The rest of the journey was in mixed weather from drizzle to downpour. I think that the locals will have been more pleased with the rain than I was what with the wildfires that have been plaguing the state recently. As we drove the long Tioga Pass into Yosemite you could see the scorched and burnt trees along the roadside. It was too late for them but will hopefully help to dampen down other fires.
Not all of interest on the Tioga Pass though was nature. At one point there was 12 miles of roadworks and clearly synchronising traffic lights over such a long stretch wasn’t practical. Instead they used a pace car that drove ahead of a line of vehicles all along the 12 miles and then picked up the returning traffic and took them back. As you can imagine waiting for a line of traffic behind a pace car to arrive takes quite some time.
We also encountered another hold up a bit further on which turned out to be where a car had slid off road. It hadn’t gone that far before a tree had thankfully arrested its progress. It was frightening to think what might have happened had they been travelling in the opposite direction where there was a sheer drop with nothing to halt their progress. I am not sure that the six ambulances and fire trucks in attendance were strictly necessary though.
We are spending this and tomorrow night at a place called Evergreen Lodge which is very much like an American Center Parcs with lodges nestling amongst the trees and a central area for recreation and shopping. It is lovely and makes a nice change from a hotel.