From low to snow

Having been towed back to Pahrump, Nevada to have Grayham's fuel pump replaced, we were again on the wrong side of Death Valley. It was with some trepidation that we set off once more to descend the 3000 feet into the valley and then climb 5000 feet back out again. As we had already found to our cost, the combination of high temperatures (100F this time of year in the valley) and lengthy inclines has the tendency to stress cars to breaking point. The easy part was of course getting to the bottom. This time we made no stops for photos (as you can see, I just pointed the camera out of the window as we drove!) – we just wanted to get to the other side.

The ascent up the other side was going well. But with the summit just a stone's throw ahead, a crunching sound was heard from the engine. With a shudder, the power steering gave up, but cool as a cucumber, Andy steered us to the side of the road, just as the radiator boiled over and spewed its guts. Having diagnosed the problem as a broken bearing in a pulley wheel for the fan belt, we were debating how to proceed, when the two chaps we had camped next to the previous night pulled up beside us. We had told them of our fuel-pump woes back at camp, and now seeing us pulled up, they had rightly concluded that we were in trouble once more. They were heading home from an off-roading trip in a Jeep, which they now towed behind their pick-up truck (the Jeep is just out of shot in this photo). Happily, with a bit of creativity, Andy and the guys were able to bodge together a temporary fix for Grayham from the Jeep's parts! With gushing gratitude, we parted from our saviours and hit the road. In the next town - Lone Pine, California - we were able to buy the replacement part for just a few dollars. And with a rush of relief, we found ourselves west of Death Valley, at last!

Lone Pine sits at the base of Mount Whitney, which at 14,505ft is the highest peak in the contiguous USA. The foothills are littered with bizarre and ancient rock formations formed by the turbulent geology of the region. In the visitor centre, we picked up a guide leaflet for a short driving tour, on which one was supposed to be able identify rock formations resembling various animals, mythical figures etc. (e.g. “the bear”, “batman”, “three old women”... you know the sort of thing). So we trawled the area following the route the leaflet described - it was a pleasant drive and viewing the contorted rocks was well worth the effort. However, I began to suspect we are lacking in imagination, as the two of us failed to conclusively identify a single formation from the leaflet, with the exception of that in the photo, named “the visible man”, which had helpfully been painted on!

From Lone Pine, we took the road north, following the valley at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. As we went north, the air became quite cool, a relief after Death Valley. Just south of Bishop, we stopped to warm ourselves in a hot spring.

By the time we reached Bishop, things had turned decidedly chilly. To our consternation, electronic road signs in Bishop informed us that the road ahead – the Tioga Pass Road, which we had intended to take into Yosemite, was closed due to snow. Furthermore, the next two passes over the Sierras (the Sonora and Monitor passes) were also closed. With these passes closed, the only way to get to the west side of the Sierras was to skirt around the mountains, which meant either travelling several hundred miles north, or several hundred miles south. Either way would take us a great distance from our intended destination of Yosemite. We hung around Bishop for a couple of days in a state of indecision, before making up our minds to go north. As the road north climbed in elevation, the temperature plummeted. When we reached the ski resort of Mammoth Lakes, it really looked like a ski resort, being blanketed in 6 inches of snow! You don't get icicles like those back home!

On our first night camping in the snow, the temperature plummeted to 7F (-10C). We were well prepared, though, and were snuggly warm in the back of the G-Dog, where we registered -6C.

After a day in the snow, we were informed that the Tioga Pass was to reopen. Moreover, the weather forecast for the rest of the week was warm, so the pass would stay open for at least a few days. At the base of the pass, we stopped at Mono Lake. Mono Lake is unusual in that it has several streams going in, but none coming out. In other words, over the course of a year, the water coming in is balanced by evaporation alone. Although the water evaporates, the dissolved substances carried by the water remain, the result being a very salty, very alkaline lake. In addition, local volcanic activity means that springs bearing calcium bubble up through the lake. The calcium reacts with the alkaline lake water to precipitate calcium carbonate, which forms bizarre underwater limestone towers known as “tufa” over the springs. The tufa are now visible at the lake edge because the lake level has dropped dramatically due to diversion of the streams that feed the lake, in order to provide water for Los Angeles. The unusual chemistry of the threatened Mono Lake also supports a unique food chain, topped by brine shrimp, which constitute a vital for food-source for migratory birds.

Then, we finally made the climb to the 9945 foot Tioga Pass, which marks the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park.

The Tioga road was clear, but there was still some snow on the verges. The cold wind whipping through this glacier scrubbed valley was enough to make Andy put his coat on – the only time so far this trip – he didn't even wear it in the snow at Mammoth lakes!

Going west, the Tioga Road dropped in elevation, allowing us to explore the forests and lakes of northern part of the park in the warm autumn sun.

A steep walk down the disused north-south road through the park took us to the Tuolumne Grove of giant redwood trees. These trees, the largest organisms on earth, occupy around 70 small, remote groves, all in the Sierra Nevada. Even after a century of study, scientists still puzzle over their highly patchy distribution. The trees are impossible to photograph effectively, being so massive and crowded by other trees, but you can get the idea from this dead trunk, into which a tunnel was cut in the late 1800s so that tourists could drive right through.

Our last stop in the park was Yosemite Valley, which is at the centre of the action; the area to which the majority of visitors flock. The wide valley is walled in on either side by a series of immense granite monoliths. The most highest and most famous of these is El Capitan, which rises 3593 feet above the valley floor. The photo shows Liberty Cap with Nevada Falls on the right, taken after a leg-shredding hike up the steep path snaking the valley wall.

After two nights in Yosemite valley, we left the park to head for the coast north of San Francisco, where we will complete our inland adventure and dip our toes in the Pacific.

This is just a fun pic that I thought I'd squeeze in – the economy might be crumbling, but Halloween must go on!