Sometimes, the best laid plans are the ones that are worth changing.  As I mentioned in my last post, we have an 18 month-old and he absolutely loves camping.  When we arrived at our campsite north of Lee Vining, CA last week, he was as excited as any little boy can be.  However, he doesn’t know he can’t play as hard at 10,000′ elevation as he can here at nearly sea level.  After a long night, we decided to break camp (at 3:45 am) and drive into Lee Vining (3,000′ lower) to give our son a break from the altitude.

We ended up getting a hotel room (yes…amazingly enough) so wife and son could sleep.  Since I was awake, I drove up to Tioga Pass for sunrise.  The glacial tarns there have amazing reflections at dawn, and I was able to get into the spirit of the Sierra:

Tioga Pass sunrise, August 2009

A new day dawned on Tioga Pass and I could tell it was going to be an amazing trip!  More images to follow…