Mid-summer in the Sierra

July has been a busy but awesome month. It is crazy to think that we are well into summer! Its been really hot here in El Portal – highs of over 100 every day – but luckily no humidity! We’ve been escaping into the mountains to cool down.

A couple weekends ago we took a short jaunt to the east side of the Sierra.  One highlight was Mono Lake, which is a very interesting place.  Because it has no natural outlet, the water evaporates, leaving the minerals behind, giving the water a very high salinity.  It is supposedly three times saltier than the ocean.  When the city of Los Angeles starting filching the water supply in the 1960’s, the water level dropped and it exposed towers of accumulated carbonate called tufa. 

Tufa towers at Mono Lake

Another awesome part of that weekend was an awesome dayhike through Lundy Canyon, which was full of beautiful wildflowers.  We climbed to the top of the canyon up to a basin with numerous small tarns (small lakes in the high country) were nestled in the mountains.  It was quite spectacular. 

Steelhead Lake

Falls at Lundy Canyon

 The next couple weekends we spent with David’s family in Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Yosemite.  We had an awesome time hanging out, eating good food and seeing the sights.  One highlight was seeing the giant sequoias, which was also a first for Emily.  David’s favorite part was an old timey store where we got ice cream.  It also had four hummingbird feeders in front, and we were able to see up to a dozen hummingbirds from several feet away.

King's Canyon National Park

This past weekend we were back at it burning up the trail.  We did a great dayhike starting from a high elevation lake(Tenaya Lake) in the north part of the park, hiking to one of the best 360 vantage points (Clouds Rest), and then going all the way back to the Valley.  It was a popular trail and had a lot of other hikers, but it was well worth the crowds for the amazing vistas.

View of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley from Cloud's Rest

David celebrated his 29^th anniversary of existence with the traditional butterfly census (and hoping no one notices its his birthday).  Meanwhile Emily celebrated his birthday by making her favorite food, macaroni and cheese, ostensibly for his sake.