For my 1,100th review, I am pleased to write about one of my favorite places on earth, Tioga Lake.
I apologize for the faulty map, but this place isn't really located near any city. Instead, it's in the middle of the Tioga Pass, which is the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park. If you want to visit Tioga Lake, you'll have to do so in the summer or early fall; the pass is closed the rest of the year. From Nevada or Southern California, drive on Highway 395 until you reach Lee Vining. Then take Highway 120 west. From Northern California, drive through Yosemite and take Highway 120 east through Tioga Pass.
Oh, right, the lake.
Do you like fishing? Do you like being able to relax at 9,700 feet above sea level without having trouble breathing? Do you like beautiful, quiet lakes without the noise of motorboats and the annoying waves their wakes cause? Do you love watching swarms of prairie dogs cheeping as they pop out of their burrows and spend an entire afternoon warming up to you (and your picnic lunch)? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you'll love Tioga Lake.
When I was little, my family traveled to Mammoth every summer, and we always spent one day at Tioga Lake, or Lake Tioga as my dad calls it. Although Mammoth and all of the eastern Sierra Nevada are beautiful, Tioga Lake is of another order completely. When you're here, it's very easy to forget about the rest of your life. Or maybe I should say that when you're here it's very easy to contemplate your life and discern whether you're moving in the right direction.
Even as an extremely nervous and sensitive child, I was able to appreciate the calming effects of this place. And the yearly routine of returning and seeing the water level of the lake rise and fall according to the snow-pack gave me an early awareness of the importance of the environment and its protection.
Then there's the fishing. When I started accompanying my family to Mammoth (I used to stay home with my grandma when I was too young to go), I didn't know whether I liked fishing. I liked having my own rod and occasionally catching the tiny fish, but I felt so dependent on my dad to bait my line and untangle my reel. It got to the point where I stopped asking for help because I could tell from my dad's voice that I was being too demanding. I eventually worked my way up to being able to do most things on my own, but I still needed other people. And then a funny thing happened.
On our yearly trip to Mammoth in 1985 or so, we caught 23 fish at Tioga Lake. The most we had ever caught in one day at the lake was five or six, but this year, for whatever reason, my dad, mom, cousin, brother, and I caught 23 fish among us. My sister may have even caught a fish, and she doesn't fish. We've never repeated that success at this lake or any other lake, but because of that day, we always picnic and fish in the exact same spot, and my dad now swears by the flies he bought that day from the Tioga Pass Resort just up the highway.
Beyond learning how to catch, reel in, and unhook a fish--many fish--that day, I learned about self-confidence, perseverance, hope, and trust. It may sound airy, but a lot of what I learned that day affected many of the decisions I would make many years later, at darker times in my life.
If you're coming from the east, Tioga Pass can be scary to drive. If you're afraid of heights or don't like driving on windy mountain roads, you shouldn't do the driving. If you're not camping here, the lake is definitely worth an entire day to visit. Pack a bunch of food and try to get here before noon.
You can walk around the lake, something my mom and sister love to do. It can be a little bit scary on the eastern edge of the lake, which is the farthest from the highway, and there are bears around, although I've never seen one here. You might also run into a marmot or two, which are cute and amazingly large. I always imagine there are mountain goats roaming just to the west of the highway, but I've never seen one. read more
