A Granite Wonderland

I crossed Yosemite via Tioga Pass today. This route passes through spectacular granite country. Geologically speaking it is just beginning to be revegetated since the Ice Age glaciers swept it clean and scoured it smooth. One of The Old Sloat's preferred pastimes is granitic slotation (also known as granite vegging), which consists of finding a nice smooth piece of granite, lying down, soaking up the sun, reading a book, and taking a siesta. All were accomplished very nicely today in Yosemite. I'm always impressed with the tenacity of the vegetation in granite country; here a couple of small trees are growing in tiny patches of soil in the seams between the granite. Not only do these trees have very little dirt to work with, they also have to contend with five months of winter and a summer drought. But they do.

When driving the Tioga road, I always stop at Tenaya Lake for a little granite vegging. I first found the lake thirty years ago, when I camped there for a few nights, hiking in the surrounding wilderness during the day. The campground is long gone, but there are still fine picnic grounds, and you can either lay out on the granite or...on beaches! Yes, in the heart of the Sierra, 8000 feet above sea level, there are sandy beaches on Tenaya Lake. It's really a fine spot.

Yes, here in the Yosemite high country we are back in glacial erratic territory. These isolated boulders are found everywhere sitting on the granite, where a glacier deposited them thousands of years ago. This particular rock is a little smaller than a smart car; there are many stones larger than this one. By the way, notice the brown grass in the meadow. It's been drier than normal here, starting with the driest winter in a decade or so. A plus is that there are no mosquitoes.