The TJs Travel: July 2025

Day 1

When planning our trip along California's Highway 395, we realized we'd be within a day's drive of Great Basin National Park. So, it seemed logical to add this national park to our trip. After 4 days exploring along HWY 395, we spent most of the next day driving across Nevada, arriving at the Whispering Elms RV Park just outside of Great Basin National Park at 4:00pm. We quickly set up camp and then drove into the park to tackle the Bristlecone Pine Glacier Trail. This is a 3.7-mile roundtrip hike that cuts through a grove of ancient Bristlecone Pines (approximately 4000 years old) and then continues to the nation's southernmost glacier - Wheeler Base Glacier.

Bristlecone Pine Glacier Trail

An ancient Bristlecone Pine

We finished the hike by 7pm and headed back to the campground for dinner and showers.

Day 2

Today we were up early to get in line for Lehman Cave tickets at the visitor center. We were able to get tickets for the 9:30am tour.

During our tour we learned that Lehman Cave was discovered by Absalom Lehman in 1885. This soon led to cave tours and designation as a national monument in 1922. In 1986, Lehman Cave was incorporated into the newly established Great Basin National Park. We have taken many cave tours previously, but we both agreed that this cave was very unique.

There is a lot of candle graffiti on the ceiling of the cave done during the time of the early cave tours where people used candlelight to illuminate the cave

Lehman Cave has over 500 of these unusual formations called cave shields

We were done with the cave tour by late morning, went back to the campground to hitch up to the trailer, and were on the road before lunch. Although it was a quick visit to Great Basin National Park, we thoroughly enjoyed our time at our 36th national park.

Day 1

Although we have lived within 1.5 hours of Yosemite National Park and have visited the valley floor of the park many times, we haven't spent any time along Tioga Road. So, in planning our trip to Highway 395, we decided we would explore Yosemite via Tioga Road.

We left Fresno around 8:30am with our travel trailer in tow, driving northeast via Mariposa through the El Portal entrance into Yosemite National Park. Then, we drove along Tioga Road with a lunch stop at Olmsted Point. After a lunch in the trailer, we enjoyed the views of Clouds Rest and Half Dome. There was a ranger at Olmsted Point who had a scope set up through which we could see hikers ascending Half Dome.

Clouds Rest to the left and Half Dome in the distance on the right

We continued along the scenic drive enjoying the views of Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows. After exiting Yosemite, we made our way to the Golden Pine RV Park in June Lake, arriving around 3:30pm.

We got our trailer set up in the RV park and then set out to investigate the area. We drove the June Lake Scenic Loop which travels past 4 lakes in just 16 miles. We stopped at Silver Lake to scout out a fishing spot but ended up at June Lake where Jim fished while Beth enjoyed reading a book alongside the water.

Looking for a good fishing spot along Silver Lake

Jim fishing at June Lake

Day 2

The next morning, we headed north of June Lake to the historic ghost town of Bodie. Bodie became a boomtown when a profitable gold-bearing ore was discovered in 1876. By 1879, the town of Bodie had over 2000 structures and a population of 8000 people. It was a bustling mining town containing many shops, a bank, saloons, hotels, churches, a school, in addition to many houses. However, over time, the supply of gold began to dry up and two large fires ravaged the town leading to a drastic decline in population. The town was virtually abandoned during World War when mining operations were suspended.

Main Street

Jim standing in front of all that remains of the bank vault.

After a picnic lunch in the truck. We drove to the south end of Mono Lake to the Tufa State Reserve. This is a state park meant to preserve the "Tufa Towers" which are calcium-carbonate spires that are formed by the interaction of freshwater springs and the alkaline lake water. The towers were unexpectedly pretty surrounded by the blue lake water and mountains in the distance. We walked along the short path that winds amongst the towers.

The black color that rings the shoreline are actually thousands of alkali flies. Luckily, they stayed on the sand and didn't bother us a bit.

Our last adventure of the day was a 3.6-mile roundtrip hike to Parker Lake. It is an absolutely gorgeous lake with a mountain backdrop that reminded us of Switzerland. Jim brought his fishing pole and enjoyed fishing from the shore.

Heading back to the truck we had a great view of Mono Lake down below

Day 3

The following day, we backtracked a bit in order to further explore the Tioga Road portion of Yosemite National Park. We started our day by hiking Lembert Dome. Although it is a much shorter hike, it reminded us of the sub dome section of the Half Dome hike.

On the top of Lembert Dome

After another picnic lunch in the truck, we launched our paddleboards on Tenaya Lake. Jim fished from his paddleboard while I paddled around the lake and then, later, enjoyed reading by the shore.

My view while reading a book - beautiful!!

Day 4

Today, we drove south from our June Lake campground to Mammoth Mountain. We boarded the shuttle that took us to the starting point for the short hike to Devil's Postpile National Mountain. Devil' Postpile is a geologic wonder of basalt columns that tower 60 feet high.

Beyond Devil's Postpile, we continued along the trail to Rainbow Falls.

On the way back to the shuttle, we took the trail that goes on top of Devil's Postpile where we could walk on top of the columns. From the top, the columns make a surprisingly uniform pattern that look like floor tiles.