Stark, startling and vast, the Eastern Sierra is where slashing peaks - many of them over 14, 000 ft - rush abruptly upward from the arid expanses of the Great Basin and Mojave deserts. It’s a dramatic juxtaposition that makes for a potent cocktail of scenery. Pine forests, lush meadows, crystal-clear lakes, simmering hot springs and glacier-gouged canyons are only some of the fabulous wealth that Nature has bestowed upon this region.
If you’ve done coastal, cultural, creative and culinary California, it might be time to shake off all those civilizing influences and discover another side of the state altogether. This would be, of course, the nature, adventure, blue skies and sheer wildness of its dominant mountain range, the majestic Sierra Nevada. This is where you come to shed all the stresses nibbling at your psyche and to get back to some elemental discoveries about yourself and where you fit into Nature’s grand design.
The Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway, officially known as Hwy 395, runs the entire length of the range. Turnoffs dead-ending at the foot of the mountains deliver you to pristine wilderness and countless trails, including the famous Pacific Crest Trail, John Muir Trail and Main Mt Whitney Trail. The most important portals are the towns of Bridgeport, Mammoth Lakes and Bishop. Note that in winter, when traffic thins, many facilities are closed and several cross mountain byways are buried under tens of feet of fresh pow.
The Eastern Sierra is possibly the most accessible range of its size anywhere in the world and it’s certainly among the most beautiful. Classic Western towns harkening back to the Gold Rush days are its handmaidens and the portals through which an endless stream of seekers pursue their dreams: artists, fishers, trekkers, hedonists, deep-powder crowds and those who are only truly alive when belayed 1000 ft above the ground on naked granite. Each group approaches with its distinct visions of perfection and the Sierra disappoints none of them.
Skiing, boarding, dogsledding or snowshoeing in the winter. Golfing, playing tennis, horseback trail riding and swimming in the summer. Mammoth Lakes is a true year-round resort known for its legendary deep pow-pow winters with the highest average base of any North American ski resort, its ski and board competitions, its Olympic winter athletes training schedules and more in the winter, and its Jazz and Blues Festivals, Ford Motocross Competition, 4th of July celebration, arts festival and more in the summer, with plenty of mountain chalets, quaint inns, now world class hotels and historic lodges to choose from.
Yosemite (yo-sem-it-tee) is the Taj Mahal of national parks and you’ll first encounter it with the same mixture of reverence and awe. It’s also a Unesco World Heritage Site that packs in so much jaw-dropping beauty that it makes even Switzerland look like God’s practice run. Lift your eyes ever so slightly and you’ll feel your heart instantly moved by unrivalled splendors. The haughty profile of Half Dome, the hulking presence of El Capitan, the drenching mists of Yosemite Falls, the gemstone lakes of the high country’s subalpine wilderness, the giant sequoias of Wawona, Hetch Hetchy’s pristine pathways. These unforgettable sights guarantee you’ll be storing memories by the gigabyte.
In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, which eventually ceded Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias to California as a state park. This landmark decision paved the way for a national park system of which Yosemite became a part in 1890, thanks to efforts led by pioneering conservationist John Muir.
Picture unzipping your tent flap and crawling out into a ‘front yard’ of trees as high as a 20-story building and as old as the Bible. Brew some coffee as you plan your day in this extraordinary park with its soul-sustaining forests and gigantic peaks soaring above 12, 000ft. You’ll feel privileged by its discovery.
