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Yosemite National Park
Until the arrival of the " White Men " the indians were living a happy life in this valley.
In 1849, the gold rush attracted thousands of miners, and as usual, the indians were deported far away from their ancestral lands.
The geological formation of the " Yosemite Valley " is not volcanic but is the result of the shock of two techtonical plates.
Tourists from all over the world come to Yosemite to admire the majestic waterfalls.
Bad luck for us, october is not the right month to visit the park. Only a few drops of water run from the 436 m higt fall.
Of course we're very disappointed...
We, however, hike four hours amid theses impressive granitic summits.
We end the day at " Mariposa Groove " which hostes 500 giant sequoias.
Mono Lake
We don't want to get out of the bed : - 11° C is the outside temperature !
Unusual for us, we don't take all our time and hurry up to go to " Mono Lake ".
The salted lake of 180 km2, an old ancien sea, offers spectacular tufa towers.
It's an unreal scenery, with snow caped mountains in the background.
We leave Mono Lake and take the " Tioga Road " at an altitude of 3 000 m, in a high summits landscape with a vast number of small lakes.
Once in Yosemite National Park, it's impossible to find a place to stay overnight. All the campgrounds are full.
We finally find an horrid campground 40 km outside of the park.
We wake up this morning with a sand wind and we hardly can see the dunes.
We cross a last pass towards west to turn a page on " Desert Valley ".
The price of the diesel at the gas station is so ridiculously high ( + 50 % more than anywhere else) that we take the minimum to reach " Mammoth Lake ".
The way down west to the meadows is beautiful but very different from the east side.
Mammoth Lake on the foofhills of the " Sierra Nevada " is the favorite californian 's ski resort.
We find a place to stay overnight, in the forest, continuously watching the temperature dangerously dropping down.
8 pm : it's already - 4 ° C !!!!
ROAD BOOK 024
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