I saw the largest herd of elk on HWY 395 that I have ever seen. Like almost 100 grazing under the blue sky with the snowy Sierra as backdrop, it was quite distinctive. We pulled over and watched, there’s clearly a dominant chief, with the most magnificent antlers, shepherding his herd around. It became a highlight of my HWY 395 drive.
While cruising the smooth ride on 395, I am amazed to see the blackened volcano rocks spread out and piled up randomly before the snowy peaks, quite a contrast. Like nature couldn’t decide on fire or ice.
While checking in the hotel in Bishop, we asked, “It seems like less feral cats than last year?” “A mountain lion took care of most of them”, we were told by the desk clerk. “What?! Where? Here in town?” We were planning on walking around after dinner. “Mainly behind the Vons, there’s an open field where most of them lived.” was the response. Yikes! Didn’t realize they came that close. There goes our night stroll.
Another set of adventures awaited us on our drive back home over the Tioga Pass on HWY120 in Yosemite. As we were near the top our maps app popped up a “Unplowed Road Ahead” warning. Huh? Just then we hit rain, which quickly changed to snow flakes. Another minute later and the ground was white all around us. Those vibrant wild flowers became snow covered, carrying two seasons in one bloom; hope they can recover from this passing storm. A layer of steam hovered over the top of the lakes, like a fairy world, romanticizing the stormy Yosemite. In less than 20 minutes, we had crossed 3 seasons: we were rubbing on sun lotion on the June Lake loop, then hit Tioga pass and can’t get out of the car without a heavy jacket, then back to summer as we descended down to the valley. I guess the moody Sierra got bored with summer and played a trick on us.
After we started down the pass the sky cleared and the sun came back out, like nothing had happened. Just when everyone was relaxed and getting sleepy, we rounded a curve and suddenly came eyeball to eyeball with a golden bear cub right in front of us. It’s clearly a baby. I’ve never seen bears in this color, so light, like soft gold. He is almost hopping like a kid on the swing, a joyful rolling ball with four legs. Not sure who was more shocked, us or the bear! At that moment, my mind was running in three directions: don’t hit the baby bear, hopefully the car behind won’t hit us, and locate the Mama Bear, make sure she won’t hit the car. Then the delightful golden ball disappeared into the woods. That marks my new record of a close-encounter with a bear. This time it’s really close.
If memories are packed in sacks, these are definitely the handles; if life is a trail, these are surely breadcrumbs for the marking.
