Another Beautiful Day in Paradise

Holy schmoley..........  what a perfect day!

First off...... here's a picture that Ann shared from yesterday.  The ST Seestas at lunch at Tom's Place yesterday  - me, Ann and Linda.

It was a cool start to the day today, but full sun & little wind.  Oh - and a little climb right away to warm us up.  We did about 6 miles on the Mammoth Scenic Loop.  We were very close to day 3 of the John Muir Trail (JMT) trip I did last year.  Devil's Postpile was close by and Mammoth Lakes was where two of our group exited when they decided the JMT was beyond their comfort level.  Great memories.  The scenery on the loop really brought it all back for me.

Everyone seemed excited to get this close to snow!  Me - not so much but got in line and took the pic anyway.

Wonderful views all day long of snow-capped mountains.  Lots of pictures today; perhaps not too many words.  The scenery was spectacular the entire day!

Here are three of the front-runners at the end of the Mammoth Scenic Loop where we join US395 again - Fiona, Ann & Linda.

Once back on US395 we started a 6 mile climb to Dead Man's Summit (no sure of the origin of the name; just hoping the man wasn't a cyclist).  Views were best looking back so I had to stop a few times to pull out my camera.

After a few miles of nice downhill......

..........we turned off US395 onto about a 16 mile loop around June Lake - very picturesque.

Still on the June Lake loop we passed Grant Lake, which is significantly reduced in size judging by the shoreline.  Not sure if the reduction is due to recent drought or the City of Los Angeles diverting the water as seems to be the case with so much else around here.

We then caught our first views of Mono Lake and the Mono Basin.

But still quite a ways before we get there..............

We have spent several days away from the official Adventure Cycling Sierra Cascades route.  We have cycled up the eastern side of the Sierras.  The official route goes up the western side.  A couple of reasons for our departure.  As a commercial enterprise, WomanTours could not get a permit to run the trip on the western side through Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Yosemite National Parks.  Also, we would have had to come over Tioga Pass (about 10,000') which might not yet be open for the year.  In fact, the pass just opened today.  As I was taking the picture below a snowplow passed by me.  I subsequently noticed another half dozen snowplows on the road over the next couple of hours.  From this point on we'll be back on the AC route a lot more.

I spent a good long time at the visitor centre at Mono Lake.  Very interesting place  -  take a look on-line.  It was totally new to me.

Leaving the lake............

......... and heading uphill again.

The summit is just beyond the brown cut-out left of centre in the picture below.   Yikes!

Views back to Mono Lake as we climb.......

And finally the summit with the welcome sight of the SAG car just beyond.

Thirteen miles of downhill and into the booming metropolis of Bridgeport for the night.

Big day tomorrow and a wind warning in the forecast.  All in the name of adventure...........

Stats for the day:
103 km / 64 miles from Mammoth Lakes CA to Bridgeport CA
3809 feet up
5134 feet down
Weather:  started out cloudless and 5C.  Stay cool for much of the day but was in the high teens/low 20s for most of the day, finally reaching the upper 20s by the time we got in to Bridgeport which is at a bit lower elevation.  A few high clouds later in the day.  Negligible wind.  A perfect weather day.