Framedlight

We woke early on the morning of the 1st, All Saints Day. We had felt cold overnight with a sleety hard rain falling on the roof of the car and we found that it had been snowing on the tops overnight and there was frost on the ground. I had a quick wander around in the early light and then we took the car to a parking space further down the mountain where it was slightly warmer. The views over the plain and Owen's lake were staggering. We had a good breakfast and coffee, most welcome, and because it was my birthday! I phoned home. Mairi had some little presents she had brought with her and it was lovely to open those. But the best present was to be out here with the golden sunshine illuminating the hills and the dust and mist coming off the lake. You can see in the sequence below how the light changes as the sun comes up. We took the car up the mountain as far as the road would take us. Here there was snow on the ground in the car park and we saw ...

We did a lot on 31st October. Following our visit to the tufa we had breakfast at the Nicely's all American diner in Lee Vining. It had to be pancakes, egg and bacon with maple syrup for me. Mairi had a sort of scone thing which was giant. We went back to the campsite, filled our water containers up and said goodbye. On the way out of Lee Vining we popped into the Mono Lake Committee building and watched a video on their conservation success and bought a couple of cards. The it was time to go south on the 395 although we made a diversion around the June Lake Loop which lies a few miles south of Lee Vining. Here are 4 lakes and we were hoping for some nice autumn colour but the aspens were largely over. The lake areas were quite commercialised and a little bit disappointing although there was hardly anyone else around. In the winter this is used as a ski area, but the snow hadn't arrived. On the way down we passed Mount Dana which can be seen in the first pictur...