California 28th October, soda springs and high lakes

Having obtained petrol we thought a spot of lunch was in order, which we shared with glossy bright eyed Brewers blackbirds.  We had parked in a picnic spot in the meadows and after lunch walked a little way to see some soda springs which just bubble up from the ground. They are not hot but taste just like Vichy water. They stain the earth red and give strange greens to the Toluomne river, presumably from alga growth.

Next to the springs are a number of wooden buildings. Around a portion of the springs an open topped shack was put up by John Baptiste Lembert who grazed goats in this area from 1885. John Muir liked to camp here and it was to this location he brought the magazine editor Robert Johnson to see the damage done by the sheep to the meadows. It was a meeting that was to bring about the inclusion of the large section surrounding the Tioga Road into Yosemite National Park. The wooden McCauley cabin was used by the Sierra Club until 1973 and the Parsons Memorial Lodge is still in use today for talks

From the meadows wonderful views can be had over the Cathedral Range with its two prominent peaks, Cathedral Peak and Unicorn Peak (on the left). I can only imagine what the grasslands must look like in the spring when they are filled with wild flowers. Going back to the road you can see Lembert Dome, a smooth slab of granite (Lembert himself was killed in a robbery in 1897).

This short walk had whetted our appetites for more. We drove out of the park to Tioga Lake where I took an ICM (intentional camera movement) picture. We then drove back up through the meadows to look at the Toluomne River and only to return to the trailhead for the Gaylor Lakes walk which is situated nearly next to the park exit.

This is really high country and we were walking at 10,000 ft. The first part was steeply uphill and a bit of a struggle although we had good views down over the Dana meadows.

Getting to the top of the ridge the terrain became rockier and finally on the crest we looked over Middle Gaylor Lake. We scrambled down and walked round the lake. We were alone part from an angler who we had not noticed at first so small his figure was in the landscape (he can just about be seen on the right hand side of the lake in the third picture down). The water was cobalt blue and backed by the Cathedral Range which was hazy with the smoke of fires that burnt in the forest under it. These fires were under control but had been burning for quite some time. California was in drought.

There are other lakes beyond you can walk to, but this would make the trip 3-5 hours and it was getting on in the afternoon. So we made do with the 2 hour alternative and made our way back down having first sat and taken in the peace and tranquillity of this beautiful spot, making resolutions to come back.