Earthquake!!

…at least on my side of the tent. I woke this morning to the ground shaking, but Annemarie swears she didn’t feel it. So what’s the truth? We are camped on a volcano that last erupted less than 100 years ago so I think it was an earthquake…but I’m still not sure??

Today was a lovely day. We woke early and drove down to the shower rooms…yes, we drove…it was only 5C!! It did however get up to 24C today and was much warmer on the volcano as we took a good long hike to see King’s Creek Falls and then onwards for a lunch break at Sifford Lake further up the volcanic slopes.

It was a typical mountain tarn, however this one was really a small caldera. We had the small lake to ourselves and it was probably the high-lite of the day. We both found our hiking legs today and are becoming more adjusted to the elevation. We hiked at 7,200’+ range for about 4 hours and managed to cover about 12ks including water stops and shade stops on the steep parts. We both enjoyed the experience and the views were excellent. Needless to say, the photography was pretty easy. The break from our usual lives is good for the soul and tells us that we need to spend more time doing this type of thing. Of course there is really only one way to do this…

Tomorrow we will be on the road for much of the day as we head south to Yosemite for a couple of nights. Our helpful neighborhood tent types advise that we will need more time there to hike once we have seen the overly crowded central valley. We are considering this advice and may take a day trip over the Sierras to see Mono Lake and stay in Yosemite for a couple of extra days before moving across to the coast. The weather on the Nevada side of the range is not very warm and we really only want to camp in cold weather if there is no other choice. In the case of June Lakes there is another choice…don’t go there this trip! Will see where we end up.

Its time to feed and test another wine, then will pack-up as much of the gear as possible tonight so we can make a quick exit in the morning. We really like travel days because we stop for breakfast somewhere along the way!