From the Eastern Sierras to the Old West!

Momma here: seeing so much beauty in a few packed-full days should be criminal, but we indulged! This is Mount Williamson, the second highest peak in the Lower 48. As we drove out of the town of Independence toward the valley below Mt. Williamson, the scenery grew even more breathtaking (and that's no joke!). We were headed for the Kearsage Pass trailhead in Onion Valley (9200 feet) and hike up to Gilbert Lake (at almost 10,000 feet), so the thinner air really did take our breath away. The dogs did really super - it was as if they'd lived here all their lives. Okay Sammie... take it away.

So the above picture is where the trail started and this is Onion Valley. See that ridge up there? That is where we were headed - to a lake. The slideshow at the bottom of this post has lots more pictures of the trail and lake.

On another day, we roadtripped up to Bishop and headed for Rock Creek. No hiking today but a ton of swimming and leaf-peeping for Mom and Dad. Lake Sabrina is a pretty alpine lake that we drove to.

After we left the Bishop area, we headed back to Lone Pine, our HQ, and decided to check out the film museum there, cause on the way to Mount Whitney on the Portal Road, there are a bunch of rocks, collectively called the Alabama Hills. 100s... maybe 1000s of movies and TV shows have been shot there and the museum has a lot of media memorabilia in it. Afterwards, we actually went and explored in and about the rocks and had a great time chasing all manner of furry creatures heheh!

There was a spectacular sunset, and even though it wasn't all pink and orange and rosy, it was very dramatic, just like those spaghetti westerns. You'll see some pictures of that in the slideshow too. The next morning we had to pack up and leave...

This is the cool highway we've been following almost ever since Mohave.

Here we are, traveling north and climbing a pass as we leave Mono Lake, which sits in a valley just east of Yosemite National Park.

That evening, we reached Virginia City - our final destination before driving home the following day. This guy doggehsat us for a while. Look at that gun!

He wasn't a very good doggeh nanny, cause we escaped for a while and got Mom in trouble. Uh oh.
In addition to what we barked below, we suggest you might like to view the show enlarged by clicking on the double squares, lower right. Enjoy!

We know this is a huge post and don't expect you to look at all these pictures, but for those of you who might like to see more of the Eastern Sierra... well, we wanted to share our adventures.

A moment around the campfire... above... and...

...in the spirit of Halloween - the "Bucket of Blooooooooood"!