Framedlight

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 Parson...