Cows/Lee Vining, CA - Yosemite National Park/Mono Lake (Part 2)

Yosemite National Park is a national park located in California that stretches eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in the central eastern portion of California and covers around 761,268 acres or 3,080.74 km² of land. Yosemite National Park is best known for its waterfalls, deep valleys, grand meadows, giant sequoias, giant wilderness area, and much more. Mono Lake, a salt lake east of Yosemite National Park that is located in Mono County, California, covers a total of 45,133 acres or 182.65 km². The lake is famous for its high salt content and its tufa formations. I have visited both of those areas and are here to show you some of the photos I took at these two places along with some other photos I have taken along the route. These photos will be divided over several blog posts. I hope you enjoy the photos! If you would like to get notifications when I do post, you can Like/Follow me on the following fan pages: Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best Yosemite National Park photos from 2012, use this link. To view all of my photos from Yosemite National Park photos from 2012, use this link.

Parts: Yosemite Falls Comparison | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | HDR Compositions | Panoramas | 

Now let's introduce you to the photos for today. I took these photos on the way to Mono Lake (my first destination). I don't have the exact locations for these photos, and there wasn't really any names for the landmarks. I drove from the SF Bay Area to Mono Lake not crossing Yosemite. I first went onto Highway 108, and then switched over to Highway 395. The photos for today and the next few parts were taken at turnouts on one of those highways. I think the photos for today is on Highway 395, but it could be from Highway 108, but I think I already exhausted the Highway 108 photos in my last post. I also have photos from the small town of Lee Vining, CA which is near Mono Lake. That was where I stayed at night before I visited Mono Lake and entering Yosemite National Park.

Wild cows on the side of Highway 108 (I think). 

These photos were taken near the Mountain Warfare Training Center. There was some kind of US Marine Corps installation near the highway. Nice place to build a training grounds... There is not a single person with  in miles of that area. We were like the only car passing by on the highway near the area. They had no stopping signs posted on the strip near that section of the highway, so I got no photos of it. They probably don't want anyone taking photos of the training grounds anyways. 

I say these cows are wild because they had no tags on their ears. Plus they seemed pretty aggressive toward me when I stopped to get photos. I just quickly took some shots and left. The high noise was due to the area being shady and my high ISO. 

I think the looked pretty aggressive because there was a young calf there. 

The view of Mono Lake from my room at the Yosemite Gateway Motel. The motel is really nice. This was the same motel I stayed at in 2010. You can see my 2010 photos here.
Update 10-16-2012: I only did a panorama from my motel room. This was actually the view from the Mono Basin Visitor Center (National Forest Scenery Area)

I normally don't like taking photos of man made objects, but here is a photo of the Lee Vining sign. It's the small town I stayed in. It's a really nice tiny town and I enjoy how the sign is pretty artistic. 

This was on the way to Mono Lake driving down a dirt rode. I walked in a bit to do a panorama and some other wide angle shots of the mounts in the back. The panorama will be posted later. Check for the link at the "Parts" section at the top of this post to see if I have posted them yet. 

Alright guys, this is all the shots for today. Next time, I will start you off on the photos from Mono Lake and possibly some photos from on the way into Yosemite. Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Yosemite National Park/Mono Lake (Part 1)

Yosemite National Park is a national park located in California that stretches eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in the central eastern portion of California and covers around 761,268 acres or 3,080.74 km² of land. Yosemite National Park is best known for its waterfalls, deep valleys, grand meadows, giant sequoias, giant wilderness area, and much more. Mono Lake, a salt lake east of Yosemite National Park that is located in Mono County, California, covers a total of 45,133 acres or 182.65 km². The lake is famous for its high salt content and its tufa formations. I have visited both of those areas and are here to show you some of the photos I took at these two places along with some other photos I have taken along the route. These photos will be divided over several blog posts. I hope you enjoy the photos! If you would like to get notifications when I do post, you can Like/Follow me on the following fan pages: Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best Yosemite National Park photos from 2012, use this link. To view all of my photos from Yosemite National Park photos from 2012, use this link.

Parts: Yosemite Falls Comparison | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | HDR Compositions | Panoramas | 

Now let's introduce you to the photos for today. I took these photos on the way to Mono Lake (my first destination). I don't have the exact locations for these photos, and there wasn't really any names for the landmarks. I drove from the SF Bay Area to Mono Lake not crossing Yosemite. I first went onto Highway 108, and then switched over to Highway 395. The photos for today and the next few parts were taken at turnouts on one of those highways.

This was when I first entered the forest. Decided to take a rest. There were a small village with some restaurants and houses there.  

 Scenery from Donnell Vista in Stanislaus National Forest.

Donnell Lake scenery from Donnell Vista in Stanislaus National Forest.

Donnell Lake scenery from Donnell Vista in Stanislaus National Forest.

A bit more down hill, I saw a turn out for a stream. Since the stream was not that deep, I decided to take my tripod and camera into the river to take a photo. The water was very refreshing! It was slightly hot outside, and my feet got dirty from wearing flip flops, so the water did a good job cleaning my feet and also cooling me down.
Update August 6th, 2017: I've taken a few more trips to Stanislaus National Forest, and being more grown up and armed with a GPS, I have the locations on some of these spots I visited years ago. This was on the side of State Route 108 in the Stanislaus National Forest.

 The whole trip to Mono Lake was all up and down and up and down on the mountains. Here it is up on the mountains again. Took a photo of what I assume is a rocky peak.
Update August 6th, 2017: This was on the side of State Route 108 in the Stanislaus National Forest.

Saw a turnout that was next to a giant meadow. I think this was on the side of Highway 108 because according to my photos, I didn't cross Sonora Pass yet. I went down to take some panoramic shots and some wide angle shots of the place and to see what the area has to offer. Loved the open land! Didn't see any animals though. It was extremely quiet and peaceful in the great outdoors! The only thing I heard was a hawk chirping off in the distance. I will post the panoramic photos later. If you want to check if I have posted them or not, see if you see a "Panoramic Shots" in my Parts links at the beginning of the post. I plan on posting them at the very end when I have exhausted the rest of my my Yosemite photos.
Update August 6th, 2017: This was on the side of State Route 108 in the Stanislaus National Forest.

Not too sure what type of flower this is.

At the open meadow, I saw some flowers on the ground. I decided to take some close up photos. Took me quite some time as I had trouble hand holding the shots, so I had to use a tripod. I did not have a flash yet at that time, and there was a light breeze going at that time. Did not work too well for me. Wasted a lot of shots. HAHA 

Another flower in the meadow. Not sure what it's called.  

 Not sure what this is either.

This begins my photos at Sonora Pass and the entrance into the Toiyabe National Forest. The elevation at which these photos were taken is 9624 feet. I know this because I took a photo of the sign. XD Great tip to remember. You can also add a GPS device or get a GPS logger, but I find taking a photo of the signs in the area to be good enough. I sometimes forget like I did for the photos above, but that's just me. HAHA Bad memory, plus I sometimes get lazy.

The view at the top of the mountain was amazing. Again, very peaceful except a few birds squawking. Took photos of them after I spotted them. Got some wide angle shots at this location and one panorama! I will post the panoramic photos later. If you want to check if I have posted them or not, see if you see a "Panoramic Shots" in my Parts links at the beginning of the post. I plan on posting them at the very end when I have exhausted the rest of my my Yosemite photos.
Update August 6th, 2017: This was on the side of State Route 108 at Sonora Pass in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

Here are the birds I heard squawking.
Update August 6th, 2017: This was on the side of State Route 108 at Sonora Pass in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

The birds were too high up in the trees and too far away for me to get a clear shot. Can't see enough details to know what bird this is.
Update August 6th, 2017: This was on the side of State Route 108 at Sonora Pass in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

This is all the photos I have for today! I hope you have enjoyed them. If you can help me out with the names of the flowers or birds, please leave me a comment below! Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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