Yosemite Trip: Tioga Road

 On the way through the park, we drove by this lovely lake for kayaking. While the weather was still warm at just over 8,000 feet. Getting to Tioga Road means a quick pass through the valley. Once again people were stopped to watch something but this time it wasn't a bear, it was climbers on El Capitan. 

It's a good thing we bought a pair of binoculars when we bought a new backback before going back to the park. We never could have seen the climbers without them. But my camera did a pretty great job of seeing them! 

Then we hit the Tioga Road and Tenaya Lake. Turns out there are all kinds of beautiful viewpoints to stop at on the way...

a view of El Portal Road and the Merced River

The most spectacular of viewpoints is Olmsted Point at 8300 feet. The rocks and trees are so cool but the views of Half Dome and Clouds Rest are amazing! 

Clouds Rest on the left and Half Dome on the right

I love the tenacity of this tree

from this natural amphitheater you can watch climbers on Half Dome

The next viewpoint down the road was overlooking our destination, Tenaya Lake..

Before we put the kayak on the water, we had a bit of lunch...

The lake was a bit cold and windy but we paddled out to this lovely little spot on the water for Chris to put up the hammock and me to go swimming in the lake...

just enough sunshine to warm up in after a cold swim in the lake

Tenaya Lake was a perfect way to spend an afternoon...

More from Tunnel View...

Since we didn't want to wait for sunset, we decided to go back to the visitor's center and get some better trail maps for the next day. Unfortunately, it was closed when we got there. So we hit up the impossible-to-find-the-entrance store for souvenirs instead. 

Then we got distracted by El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall again...

All that wandering around, meant we missed sunset at Tunnel View. But we did catch some phenomenal sunset shots on the road out...