Lake Tahoe & Mono Lake

August 22, 2015

Goodmorning, goodmorning, ladies and gentlemen!

We just woke up from our first experience with dispersed camping. We slept in a coyote’s den and woke up to a lovely sunrise above the mountains. But more on that later.

I happened to have lost my ID the other day in Sonoma Valley, so yesterday morning we trekked back up there (the opposite way of Yosemite) to find it. Thankfully we found it in a flowerbed where I had squatted down to take a picture, and the picture was great so it was all worth it in the end. Heading that way gave us the option to stop by Lake Tahoe on our way to Yosemite, which wasn’t previously in our plans! We settled down on El Dorado Beach and soon decided we’re going to live on Lake Tahoe one day. Welcome, all friends and family, to visit.

After Tahoe we headed to Mono Lake to spend the night camping wherever we plopped down. Mono Lake is only a few miles from Yosemite, but tourists were pretty scarce. We made it in time for sunset over South Tufa, which is an area of rock sculptures that have been revealed more and more since the water level dropped, starting in 1941 I think.

We were in a crunch after that to find somewhere to set up camp while we still had some sunlight, but we found a flat area in the middle of some shrubs that would act as our cover from all things not allowed in our tent, such as coyotes, bears, snakes, etc. We put up the tent and headed straight to the Mono Market to pick some essentials (chips, goldfish, peanut butter/jelly goober jar, and an Arnold Palmer for Tay). On our way back to our tent, the sun dropped and it was dark. And we couldn’t find our tent.

We drove past the area we thought we camped in at least four times, and it wasn’t until Taylor got out and searched with a flashlight did we find the tent. We had hidden it well. We are proud.

It wasn’t our best night of sleep, but it was cozy until coyotes started howling in the middle of the night and Taylor woke me up to ask me if I kept hearing it. I would also rub my toes together in my sleeping bag so that he’d ask me, “Is that you?” I think we see now who was afraid. Mmhmm.

Alas, the sun arose and we packed up  for Yosemite, but not before taking a few photos of the sunrise over the mountains. And it was a happily stay ever after.