(c) 2010 Lydia Hinshaw
Fall colors on the Mono Pass Trail
. . .and finally, 3,000 feet below, Mono LakeYOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA -- Our return to Yosemite National Park Monday and Tuesday left us wondering what we were thinking when we spent a summer at the Grand Canyon.
When we worked here in the summer of 2008, we did wonderful hikes almost every weekend. Tuesday, we repeated a favorite, the Mono Pass trail. Eight miles (round trip) of woods, meadows, lakes and old miners' cabins with tall peaks all around.
The trail leads to a spot where you can look down on giant Mono Lake, and see as far as Boundary Peak in Nevada (although it doesn't show up well in this photo.)
There are dozens of other hikes just as scenic and just as interesting. We did lots of them.
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon has great views, but the hiking simply doesn't compare with this.
Of course, there are other considerations for choosing a summer workplace, and in many ways the North Rim had it all over Yosemite. The housing was far better, for one thing. We did not have to store all our food in inconvenient bear boxes. And the volume of tourists wasn't so overwhelming that it paralyzed the place and shortened everyone's tempers, as happened way too often in Yosemite Valley.
I'm glad I've spent time in both places. But there's only one I would return to for a hiking vacation.
When we worked here in the summer of 2008, we did wonderful hikes almost every weekend. Tuesday, we repeated a favorite, the Mono Pass trail. Eight miles (round trip) of woods, meadows, lakes and old miners' cabins with tall peaks all around.
The trail leads to a spot where you can look down on giant Mono Lake, and see as far as Boundary Peak in Nevada (although it doesn't show up well in this photo.)
There are dozens of other hikes just as scenic and just as interesting. We did lots of them.
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon has great views, but the hiking simply doesn't compare with this.
Of course, there are other considerations for choosing a summer workplace, and in many ways the North Rim had it all over Yosemite. The housing was far better, for one thing. We did not have to store all our food in inconvenient bear boxes. And the volume of tourists wasn't so overwhelming that it paralyzed the place and shortened everyone's tempers, as happened way too often in Yosemite Valley.
I'm glad I've spent time in both places. But there's only one I would return to for a hiking vacation.
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