We left Yosemite today via Hwy 180 East, past Tuolumne Meadows and over Tioga Pass (at 9900ft, the highest point we've been all summer). We went south into Devil's Postpile National Monument. They don't allow cars into the park, so we left the car in Mammoth (a pretty cool town, I'd love to go back in the winter sometime) and took the bus into the park. We hiked out to the postpile, then beyond to Rainbow Fall. It was a REALLY hot, dry, and exposed hike (90% of the park was burned in a wildfire about a decade ago), but worth it for the view of the fall (we timed it just right to see 2 huge rainbows)! Before we headed back into Yosemite, we went by Mono Lake (a place I had noticed on my cross-country trek from Florida to California back in 2001, but didn't have time to stop and see). What a unique park! The place was covered in alkali flies. Jay was a good sport and tried the water (so bitter), both alkaline and salty. We watched a huge storm crashing over the mountains in Yosemite and figured we could put off the drive back into the park (at this point, we were getting a little worried about our planned 2-day backcountry hike scheduled to start tomorrow morning), so we grabbed some hot food that wasn't freeze-dried (hotdogs and milkshakes). We made it back to Tuolumne Meadows just in time to get one of the last open camping spots! We purchased a couple beers from the store, then walked out to the meadow to watch one of the most amazing sunsets we'd ever seen. It lasted forever and it looked like the trees were on fire! The background was just amazing. And on top of all that, we got to sit and chat with a PCT hiker.
Jay sits on top of the postpile as a size indicator for the honeycomb-shaped stones
The hot, dry, barren hike out to the falls
In front of Rainbow Falls at Devil's Postpile National Monument
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