08_11 to 19_2012 To Tuolumne by way of Lake Tahoe and other Sites

We got up early on Monday and headed out of Reno. Had a really great time there and I'm sure we'll be back. Our goal today was to get to our campsite in the Tuolumne area. Specifically, we stayed in the Junction campground behind the Tioga Pass Resort.

We decided to get their leisurely. I'd never been to Lake Tahoe so we drove there and drove south along its western shore. Beautiful place but my lord - there is more traffic there than I could have ever imagined. Can it be worse on weekends? Is there room for more cars, meandering tourists and bikes? it was a zoo!

So happy we went, but it did nothing to make me ever want to go back again. Yowza! We then continued our drive stopping in little towns and enjoy our time. We went over Monitor Pass and declared it to be a great bike ride - perhaps we'll do it next time we are in the area with our bikes. Miles of perfect pavement, shoulders, views, and elevation gain. Nice.

We also stopped again at Mono Lake. Gorgeous place, but the flies on the shore. They are just creepy! There must be billions and billions of them! Finally, we headed up Tioga Pass (we rode this a few years ago) and set up camp. It was raining. :/

We went over and found Gerry and Rick Accamazzo and met Dave Yerian. And as we were hanging out, Ed Hartouni showed up. He was returning from Vedauwoo. We coaxed him into coming out and climbing with us for the afternoon. The weather was iffy so we decided to go to Harlequin Dome to minimize epics. Yerian stayed behind as he's recovering from a nasty bike crash. Man on bike descent--->deer=bad outcome. He's doing well nonetheless.

We headed over and did several pitches. I declared them the worst in Tuolumne (sorry FA guys). They were dirty and crumbly. Bleck. Had a great time visiting and the guys did all the routes.

Our time in Tuolumne was leisurely. The weather was very unstable the entire time. Given we were already at 10k or so in elevation, going higher on formations with a bunch of metal strapped to us was not appealing. It was fun as we did things we normally don't do like go to Tenaya Lake and lounge.

Aside from disliking this particular dome, I was climbing well. Rick and Dave got in some excellent climbs too. And there was a party at Rick's cabin. It was just a great time.

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