HEAVEN

Sunrise in Lee Vining

Tenaya Lake

DATE:  Sun, Oct. 17, 2011
HOME: Yosemite Valley, Ahwahnee Hotel
DISTANCE: 66 miles
ALTITUDE: 3,030
WEATHER: PERFECT
NARRATIVE: 
Today was spectacular, from the beautiful sunrise that greeted us in Lee Vining, to the stunning scenery all along Tioga Road, to our final destination in Yosemite Valley, The Ahwahnee Hotel.  Today’s ride will forever be in our memories as our most spectacular day of riding – ever!  Then to end the day with our best dinner yet and a room with a view of Yosemite Falls – HEAVENLY!!

We began our ride at Tioga Pass Resort (TPR), which looked a little sad to us all boarded up.  During the 80’s and 90’s the wonderful owners opened it to Winter skiing.  Every year on our annual Holiday visit to SoCal we would spend a few days skiing up Tioga Pass Road and stay at TPR.  The owners transformed the place from its summer tourist center to a ski Chalet by literally moving all the furniture to the valley and replacing it with its winter décor.  Then, they retired and sold it to a SoCal enterprise that kept it operating in the winter for a few years, but they ultimately failed, in part because they wanted to turn it into an extreme skiing and snowboarding mecca.  They also had no clue as to how to make guests comfortable and welcome.  Enough on TPR

We biked from TPR to the Yosemite entrance, passing Mt. Dana (which our dog, Dana, is named after).  Then it was on to Tuolomne Meadows, Tenaya Lake, Olmstead Point, views down the valley to Half Dome, Clouds Rest above us.  While we ultimately dropped 6,000ft to the Valley, our total drop was 9,000ft.  It was a day of long rollers that culminated with a steep and beautiful drop into the valley on Hwy 120 (a road I would NOT want to be on with lots of traffic).  With the valley below us and the valley walls as our backdrop it was a fabulous downhill. 

Tomorrow is a lay-over day; we look forward to a restful day in the valley as we plan our next week’s biking, which will take us to Sequoia National Park.