Tuesday 20 the September

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Wow what a good day we've had today. Off nice and early in Ellie to climb up to Main Lodge, which is where the scenic gondola ride commenced. In summer this gondola ride takes many hikers and bikers to the top of Mammoth mountain at 11,000 feet. The bike trails leading down are graded, but they all looked pretty scary. All the bikers wore full protection gear many looking a little like Darth Vada. We were less ambitious and just walked around to the various viewing spots. From these there were lovely views off all the nearby mountains, some of which were still covered in snow. It was amazing to think that the previous day we had been below sea level and now we were 11,000ft above.

Next it was off to Reds Meadow Valley the only problem being that the shuttle bus had stopped running on September 7th!! This is normally the only vehicle allowed into the valley, but when it is not running cars etc are allowed in. We soon discovered why. The road was extremely narrow and single tracked in places with a sheer drop to one side and high rocks to the other. Luckily there was a 15 mph speed limit at the worst parts, but it was a quiet journey down!! Although the park ranger had said there was plenty of parking, it was a tight squeeze between huge pine trees and a horse. We decided to have lunch before our hike and whilst eating a cow girl in correct dress arrived to claim her horse. We then set off to hike to Rainbow Falls. The surrounding scenery was truly magnificent and it was hard to decide what photo to take! The falls themselves were beautiful and we were commenting to each other that the rainbow colours could be clearly seen, when an American nearby came to show us his photos on his phone taken earlier this year. The rainbow effect was amazing and he explained it was all due to light angle and water intensity. We thanked him and this was just another example of many we have witnessed, of the friendliness and helpfulness of the Americans. It has reminded us very much of our time, all those years ago in Florida.

We then walked down to Lower Falls which were not so impressive, then it was another 2 miles to the Devil's Postpile. This is a National Monument and is a 10,000 year old volcanic formation of hexagonal basalt columns. It was very impressive and the walk back to the RV was again through wonderful scenery. The only complaint was the dust we were walking on, black trainers became a pale grey and had to be removed the minute we climbed back into Ellie.

Then it was time for the return journey along the nail biting road. We had figured that most people would now be travelling home, but unfortunately half way back we met another RV and this time I was sitting on the side next to the sheer drop!! We inched past only to meet a park ranger vehicle, who was so close we had to pull in the huge door mirror to prevent vehicle damage and a claim on our insurance deposit!! We survived and returned to the campsite via a ride around some beautiful lakes. The couple pitched next to us then told us of their encounter with a bear!! On the same road they had been crawling along when they saw what at first they thought was a big black dog. Then they realised it was a bear cub, who proceeded to cross the road in front of them and go down the cliff side. When they looked down they could see mum and another cub. We now have bear envy!! We can now see why on this campsite all the refuse containers have bear locks on and we have been told to leave no food or rubbish outside the vans.

Tomorrow we leave here for the famous Yosemite National Park.

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