Bishop, CA

This weekend I explored the "East Side".  In the Yosemite employee colloquial, the East Side refers to going over the pass and spending time on the Eastern side of the Sierra.  I've always thought this was funny.  Why don't you say you're going to Mono Lake or Lee Vining or Mammoth or Bishop, etc.?  Nope, East Side.  Perhaps it's like all carbonated beverages in Texas are referred to as Coke.

I drove over the Sierra and Gil drove through Death Valley and we met in Bishop.  We camped.  It was rainy.  It was cold.  Good company made it not too bad.

See, there is still snow on the ground.

 We drove out to South Lake.  It was very low but still quite lovely.

Then we drove to Sabrina Lake.  This is a very popular place for fishing.  As one fisherman said, "The fish are hungry."

 Both South and Sabrina Lakes are technically reservoirs.  We hiked out on the dam at Sabrina and enjoyed the view.  It was raining and might have had a little bit of frozen stuff mixed in with it.  Did I mention it was cold?

 Sabrina Lake!

 There was a very enticing island in the lake.  Neither of us felt like swimming out to it though.

 This past week has had some very high temperatures and snow is melting fast and waterfalls are going crazy.  This one was particularly lovely and quite tall.  I also loved, loved, loved all the aspen trees where we were. So green.  I want to get back out there and explore and hike again when it's not so soggy.

 I was very worried about getting home over Tioga Pass with the cold temps and the rain.  I made it just fine.  And I picked up some very wet and very cold and very tired and very forlorn PCT hikers.  They were from Quebec with not too much English so it was a quiet ride.  It was a grand weekend.