Sights in Sierra Nevada
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Half Dome
According to Native American legend, one of Yosemite Valley's early inhabitants went down from the mountains to Mono Lake, where he wed a Paiute named Tesaiyac. The journey back to the valley was difficult, and by the time they reached what was to become Mirror Lake, Tesaiyac had decided that she wanted to go back down to live with her people at Mono Lake. However, her husband refused to live on such barren, arid land with no oak trees from which to get acorns.
With a heart full of despair, Tesaiyac began to run toward Mono Lake, and her husband followed her. When the powerful spirits heard quarreling in Yosemite, they became angry and turned the two into stone: he became…
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Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias
Wawona, about 27 miles south of Yosemite Valley, is the park's historical center, but the main lure really is the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias the biggest and most impressive cluster of big trees in Yosemite. The star of the show - and what everyone comes to see - is the Grizzly Giant, a behemoth that sprang to life some 2700 years ago, or about the time the ancient Greeks held the first Olympic Games.
You can't miss it - it's a half-mile walk along a well-worn path starting near the parking lot. Beyond here, crowds begin to thin out a bit, although for more solitude you should arrive early in the morning or after 18:00.
The big attraction in the upper grove is the…
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Glacier Point
Soaring 3200ft above the valley floor, Glacier Point (7214ft) presents one of the park's most eye-popping vistas and practically puts you at eye level with Half Dome. To the left of Half Dome lies U-shaped, glacially carved Tenaya Canyon, while below you'll see Vernal and Nevada Falls. Glacier Point is about an hour's drive from Yosemite Valley via Glacier Point Rd off Hwy 41.
Along the road to Glacier Point, hiking trails lead to other spectacular viewpoints such as Dewey Point and Sentinel Dome. You can also hike up from the valley floor to Glacier Point via the thigh-burning Four Mile Trail. If you've driven up to Glacier Point and want to get away from the madding…
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Yosemite Falls
Yosemite's waterfalls are mesmerizing, especially when the spring runoff turns them into thunderous cataracts (most are reduced to a trickle by late summer). Yosemite Falls is considered the tallest waterfall in North America, dropping 740m (2425ft) in three tiers. A slick new trail leads to the bottom or, if you prefer solitude, you can also clamber up Yosemite Falls Trail, which puts you atop the falls after a grueling 5.5km (3.4mi).
No less impressive are nearby Bridalveil Fall and others scattered throughout the valley.
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Mirror Lake
Any aspiring Ansel Adams should lug their camera gear along the 1-mile paved trail to Mirror Lake early or late in the day to catch the ever-shifting reflection of Half Dome in the still waters. The lake all but dries up by late summer.
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El Capitan
The most famous chunk of granite is, of course, the monumental El Capital, one of the world's largest monoliths and a magnet for rock climbers.
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Tuolumne Meadows
Beyond Tioga Rd, about 55 miles from Yosemite Valley, Tuolumne Meadows is the largest subalpine meadow in the Sierra. It provides a dazzling contrast to the valley, with its lush open fields, clear blue lakes, ragged granite peaks and domes, and cooler temperatures. If you come in July or August, you'll find a painter's palette worth of wildflowers decorating the shaggy meadows.
Tuolumne is far less crowded than the valley, though the area around the campground, lodge store and visitors center does gets busy, especially on weekends. Some hiking trails, such as the one to Dog Lake, are also well traveled. Remember that the altitude makes breathing a lot harder than in the…
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Hetch Hetchy
In the park's northwestern corner, Hetch Hetchy (which is Miwok for 'place of tall grass') gets the least amount of traffic yet sports waterfalls and granite cliffs that rival its famous counterparts in Yosemite Valley. The main difference is that Hetch Hetchy Valley is now filled with water, following a long political and environmental battle in the early 20th century. It's a lovely, quiet spot and well worth the 40-mile drive from Yosemite Valley, especially if you're tired of the avalanche of humanity rolling through that area.
The 8-mile long Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, its placid surface reflecting clouds and cliffs, stretches behind O'Shaughnessy Dam, site of a parking…
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Donner Lake
West of Truckee, 3-mile-long Donner Lake is a busy recreational hub. The Donner Party camped nearby during the fateful winter of 1846. Donner Summit, further west, has six downhill and cross-country ski resorts.
Cradled by mountains and the Tahoe National Forest, Truckee is a thriving town steeped in Old West history. It was put on the map by the railroad, grew rich on logging and ice harvesting and even had its brush with Hollywood during the 1924 filming of Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush. Today tourism fills much of the city's coffers, thanks to a well-preserved historical downtown and its proximity to Lake Tahoe and world-class ski resorts.
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Tioga Road
Tioga Road, the only road to traverse the park, travels through 56 miles of superb high country at elevations ranging from 6200ft at Crane Flat to 9945ft at Tioga Pass. Heavy snowfall keeps it closed from about November until May. Beautiful views await after many a bend in the road, the most impressive being Olmsted Point, where you can gawp all the way down Tenaya Canyon to the backside of Half Dome. Above the canyon's east side looms the aptly named 9926ft Clouds Rest.
Continuing on Tioga Rd soon drops you at Tenaya Lake, a placid pond framed by pines and granite cliffs.
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Yosemite Museum
Places of cultural interest in the valley include the Yosemite Museum , which has Miwok and Paiute artifacts, including woven baskets, beaded buckskin dresses and dance capes made from feathers. Renowned local basket-weaver Julia Parker is often around for a demonstration and to answer questions. There's also an art gallery and, behind the museum, a reconstructed Indian village c 1870.
A self-guided interpretive trail winds past pounding stones, an acorn granary, a ceremonial roundhouse and a conical bark house.
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Moon Dune Beach
- Lake Tahoe, USA
- Sights › Beach
Heading northeast of Tahoe City, Hwy 28 takes you to a string of twee, low-key towns, many on superb sandy beaches, with reasonably priced motels and hotels. It rolls into Nevada at Crystal Bay and continues south along the eastern shore.
En route, Tahoe Vista has more public beaches (six) than any other lake town, including small but pretty Moon Dune Beach with firepits and picnic tables across from the Rustic Cottages and the Tahoe Vista Recreation Area with a small grassy area and marina.
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Kings Beach State Recreation Area
- Lake Tahoe, USA
- Sights › Beach
The utilitarian character of Kings Beach belies the fact that it has some of the area's best restaurants. The town is one of the more ethnically diverse lakeshore communities with a large Latino population, many of whom work in the tourism industry around Lake Tahoe. In summer much of the action focuses on Kings Beach State Recreation Area, a 700ft-long beach that often gets deluged with sun-seekers and water rats. Concessions rent kayaks, jet skis and paddleboats.
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Historic Truckee
The aura of the Old West still lingers over Truckee's teensy historic downtown where railroad workers and lumberjacks once milled about in raucous saloons, bawdy brothels and shady gambling halls. Most of the late-19th-century buildings now contain restaurants and cutesy boutiques. The Old Jail, in use until the 1960s, is filled with relics from the wild days of yore. The visitors center inside the Amtrak train depot has free walking-tour maps.
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Yosemite Valley
This meadow-carpeted valley is 11km (7mi) long, bisected by the Merced River and hemmed in by some spectacular chunks of granite. The most famous are the monumental El Capitan (2307m/7569ft), one of the world's largest monoliths and a magnet for rock climbers, and Half Dome (2695m/8842ft), the park's spiritual centerpiece, whose rounded granite pate forms an unmistakable silhouette. For the classic photo op head up Hwy 41 to Tunnel View.
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Donner Memorial State Park
Nearby Donner Summit (7239ft) is where the infamous Donner Party became trapped during the fierce winter of 1846-47. Led astray by an erroneous guidebook, less than half survived - by cannibalizing their dead friends. The grisly tale is chronicled at the Emigrant Trail Museum inside Donner Memorial State Park, where Donner Lake is popular for swimming and windsurfing.
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Old Jail
The aura of the Old West still lingers over Truckee's teensy historic downtown where railroad workers and lumberjacks once milled about in raucous saloons, bawdy brothels and shady gambling halls. Most of the late-19th-century buildings now contain restaurants and cutesy boutiques. The Old Jail, in use until the 1960s, is filled with relics from the wild days of yore. The visitors center has free walking-tour maps.
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Meeks Bay
- Lake Tahoe, USA
- Sights › Bay
The sleek, shallow Meeks Bay, with a wide sweep of shoreline, has warm water by Tahoe standards and is fringed by a beautiful, but busy, sandy beach. There's a trailhead on the west side of the highway, a few hundred feet north of the fire station. From here a moderate, nicely shaded path parallels Meeks Creek on its way to swimmable Lake Genevieve (4.5 miles) and other Desolation Wilderness ponds.
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Tallac Museum
The Tallac Museum, inside the Baldwin Estate, has exhibits on the history of the resort and its founder, Elias 'Lucky' Baldwin. There's also the 1894 Pope Estate, now used for art exhibits and open for guided tours (around US$5). The boathouse of the grand Valhalla Estate now functions as a theater and concert venue. Other buildings contain a cultural arts store and an art gallery.
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Inspiration Point
Sheer granite cliffs and a jagged shoreline hem in glacier-carved Emerald Bay, a spot of supreme natural beauty that will have you burning up the pixels in your digicam. Its most captivating aspect is the water, which changes from cloverleaf green to light jade depending on the angle of the sun. There are plenty of pullouts along Hwy 89, including one at Inspiration Point .
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Fanette Island
Explore the 3-mile-long Emerald Bay by boat, which is also the only way to get to Fanette Island, Lake Tahoe's lone isle. It is open for exploring and swimming from 06:00 to 21:00 daily, except from February to June 15 to protect nesting Canadian geese. The nearest boat rentals are in Meeks Bay and South Lake Tahoe. From the latter you can also catch a narrated bay cruise.
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Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park
- Lake Tahoe, USA
- Sights › Other
Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park is the east shore's biggest draw. Summer crowds splash in the turquoise waters of Sand Harbor The 15-mile Flume Trail, a mountain biker's holy grail, starts further south at Spooner Lake. Conveniently, you can rent bikes ($45) and arrange shuttles ($13) at the trailhead.
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El Dorado Beach
- Lake Tahoe, USA
- Sights › Other
El Dorado Beach is a free public beach in town, just off Lake Tahoe Blvd. The nicest beaches, though, are Pope, Kiva and Baldwin along Emerald Bay Rd (Hwy 89), west and east of the Tallac Historic Site, each with picnic tables and barbecues. Fallen Leaf Lake, where scenes from The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner were filmed, is also good for swimming.
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Emigrant Trail Museum
The vehicle fee to Donner Memorial State Park includes admission to the excellent Emigrant Trail Museum, which has exhibits and a 25-minute film re-enacting the Donner Party's horrific plight. Outside, the Pioneer Monument has a 22ft pedestal - the exact depth of the snow that fateful winter. A short trail leads to a memorial at one family's cabin site.
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Hellman-Ehrman Mansion
Non-natural sights at Sugar Pine Point State Park include the modest 1860 cabin of William 'General' Phipps, an early Tahoe settler, and the considerably grander 1903 Queen Anne-style Hellman-Ehrman Mansion. Guided tours take in the richly detailed interior, including marble fireplaces, leaded-glass windows and period furnishings.
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