Day 34 July 27

Cool desert morning called us out early. Riding away from Walker, we headed down 395 toward Mono Lake. The road was a highway, but the kind that you can rip up the hills, then sink into the turns. It was a perfect wake up call and the day kept getting better.

Mono is a saline desert lake. I imagine wanderers in early times trudging toward the water, thinking that at last they would have a drink. Then.....
Beautiful, but deceptive.

Powerful Yosemite drew us in. Crossing the Tioga Pass we reached new heights both figuratively and literally as we climbed to 9000 feet. Now the view was landscaped with sand-castled rock that rose improbably out of granite sheets wrapping the mountain.

The masculinity of Yosemite made itself present at every turn. We rose and fell through vaulted spaces where hard stone jacketed us. As we leaned into hairpin turns, I was shocked by yet a another geological heave. Lunch at Tenaya Lake, surrounded by massive outcroppings. Happy campers swam and sunbathed.

El Capitan! Zooming into view, hard, massive and cold, the master of Yosemite deemed to allow us in his presence. I tried to imagine how early visitors felt, without the traffic, the tour buses and the RV's. Awed as I was, rapture must have enveloped them. I am envious of that primeval experience, yet I feel so honored to be here now.

Yosemite allowed us to leave via route 140 that headed the bike to Mariposa where we sleep tonight in what boasts to be the town's oldest motel.