MONO LAKE - YOSEMITE NP

SUMMER 2022

Mono Lake

Anyone who has seen Polanski's Chinatown knows about the Los Angeles "water wars," the far from noble effort to secure water rights in the Owens valley and build the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Not as well known is that after draining Owens Lake completely dry, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) moved farther north and secured the water rights to the streams that feed Mono Lake.

Mono Lake was headed for the same fate as Owens Lake when the Mono Lake Committee was formed in 1978 and began the legal fight to save it. We are contributors to the Committee and took a tour of the diversion projects that LADWP built and heard an account of the mitigation efforts that have been instituted. It's a fascinating story even if it isn't quite as dramatic as Chinatown.

It's commonly acknowledged--even by Angelenos--that the Department of Water and Power is just plain evil, but no one can deny that the aqueduct project is a brilliant piece of engineering. From the diversion dam on Lee Vining Creek just outside of Yosemite National Park, it's said that the water flows south to Los Angeles by gravity alone without the need for any pumps. In fact, the only pump in use in the system is at Grant Lake and was added as part of the legal agreement to send water from the reservoir down to Mono Lake (even though the Return Ditch is a far from ideal method).

Return Ditch

Our tour was primarily on Aqueduct Road, a dirt road that is literally on top of the aqueduct which is totally underground in this northern section. We viewed the intricate construction projects that now control the flow of water in those places where it actually leaves the natural streams and enters the aqueduct.

View of Mono Lake from Aqueduct Road on Williams Butte

Diversion Dam

The legal agreement now sets a minimum level for Mono Lake and limits the amount of water that can be exported to Los Angeles so these control dams are vitally important. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, the continuing drought conditions mean that the lake level continues to fall.

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Yosemite National Park

Obligatory Photo of Half Dome

Our last visit to Yosemite Valley and Wawona was ten years ago and things have changed a lot since then especially at the Mariposa Grove of giant redwoods. In 2016, access to the grove was changed to better protect the trees from the increasing number of visitors. A welcome center was built with bus access to the grove and a raised walkway was built to allow for a more natural setting for the trees.

Mariposa Grove Walkway

Following last year's devastating fires in Sequoia National Park, Mariposa Grove suffered its own fire earlier this year and was only opened to the public recently. The damage was obvious in the burnt-out pine stands and the charred sequoias.

Fire Damage 2022

One change at the park that was a little unsettling was the addition of signs installed on the entrance roads that inform that the wait to enter the park from those points was 60 or 90 minutes. I don't know exactly when these were put in place but we had one of the new Entrance Reservations and didn't have much of a delay and easily found parking spaces unlike during our last visit. I'm convinced that Covid-19 is the best thing to ever happen to the National Parks.

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Autocamp

We are both fascinated by Airstream trailers and when we saw that there was an Autocamp in Midpines, about an hour west of Yosemite, we took the opportunity to stay in one without all the nonsense of towing it down the highway.

Autocamp is a nationwide chain that provides a 'glamping' experience--Airstream trailers and fully furnished cabins and tents. I jokingly referred to it as KOA for hipsters but it seems that's an accurate description since this site was previously Yosemite West/Mariposa KOA.

Autocamp

Unfortunately, these Airstream trailers were slightly modified which really took away from the experience. On the one hand, an excellent modification resulted in a nearly full-size bathroom instead of the closet that is standard. But, this reduced the available space and the dining area disappeared, replaced by folding TV trays. The kitchen cooking area was removed (probably for safety reasons) and replaced with a small microwave oven.

The worst modification was the air conditioner. The Airstream has the standard, rooftop air conditioner but this has been replaced with a ductless Fujitsu that sits on the wall opposite the door and blows cold air down on anyone sitting on the sofa. No cold air gets into the sleeping area, but the bathroom gets more than it can handle.

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Going Home

The ride home was interesting. CA-120 (Big Oak Flat Road) is the Merced River entrance to the park and is subject to massive rock slides. One massive slide was so severe that there is now a short section of road on the opposite bank with two bridges to bypass the rock-covered roadway.

CA-49 (The Golden Chain Hwy) is the main route through Gold Rush country and we have driven portions of it throughout the years. So, we were a little surprised at the section between Mariposa and Coulterville that was anything but a pleasant country drive.

CA-49 Between Mariposa and Coulterville

We stopped to eat in Angels Camp, a gold rush town famous for Mark Twain's jumping frog, and then headed east on CA-4. It doesn't have one of those cute names but the route from Angels Camp to the Bear Valley ski area is one of my favorite rides. Murphys is famous for its caverns, its wineries, and the Murphys Hotel whose claim to fame is that Mark Twain brought Ulysses S. Grant to stay there during the ex-President's world tour (but then, he also visited the Steamboat Hot Springs just down the road from us). Farther up the road is Calaveras Big Trees State Park which has its own grove of giant sequoias. And finally, there is Bear Valley where we enjoyed skiing on quite a few Christmas days.

In the winter, the road beyond the ski area isn't plowed and is closed to all traffic. As for the rest of the year, I like Wikipedia's understatement: "Through the mountains, SR 4 is not suitable for large trucks, buses, or RVs, as it becomes very steep and eventually single-track, with no center dividing line shortly after the Mount Reba Turnoff to Bear Valley Ski area, with tight switchbacks."

The reality is a very long and very tense 37 mile trip to Markleeville.

CA-4 Between Bear Valley and Markleeville

Fire season is beginning earlier and earlier. There were two wildfires burning in Yosemite while we were there and fire crews from California and Nevada were being housed and fed in the Lodge area. We had seen the previous damage at the Mariposa Grove, but for the first time, we saw the aftermath of a fire in the valley itself.

These, however, pale in comparison to the massive destruction we saw once we got to Markleeville. We had followed the progress of the fire in the news last year, but it's hard to imagine the effort that went into protecting the town when everything around it is simply gone. We've seen burnt out areas before but seeing this one was a sobering experience as we finished our drive home.

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