You are viewing June Lake and Silver Lake from the top of June Mountain Ski Resort. You can see Mono Lake in the distance. June Mountain and June Lake are a short drive north of Mammoth Lakes and Mammoth Mountain, Calif., on U.S. Route 395.
I visited June Lake and Lundy Lake at different seasons. A friend and I went exploring in the autumn and drove around Lundy Lake. Here, below, are rabbitbrush blossoms. Rabbitbrush is a member of the daisy family. It is not related to sagebrush.
The road to Lundy Lake, above. The 10-foot tall stakes at intervals along each side of the road are there to mark the road when it snows. On the ground today, at the end of March, beginning of April, they have 91-100 inches, that’s around eight feet.
Autumn on the road to Lundy Lake; quaking aspen leaves turning gold, and white fir trees.
When the leaves of quaking aspen trees, above, change color in the fall, they look like gold doubloons shivering in the breeze.
Tule fog on sagebrush along the June Lake Loop. Obscured in the distance is Mono Lake.
Tule fog crystals on sagebrush, above.
June Lake Loop and rabbitbrush flowers. Rabbitbrush is a member of the daisy family.
Below are scenes we passed along the way.
Lodgepole pine, above. Lodgepole pines grow straight, so they make good lodge poles.
Glacial moraine.
Minaret Mountain vista, in the distance.
June Lake.
Dead lodgepole pine.
June Lake.
June Lake Loop and Carson Peak.
–Samantha Mozart
For some reason the images no longer show here, but when you click on the question mark, it links to my books on Amazon.
That lake looked beautiful during the winter. Such lovely photos.
Blog: QueendSheena
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Thank you, Sheena-Kay. Thanks for coming by.
All that open sky, so blue, above those mountains. A lovely place that helps rest the mind with its beauty. Place of inspiration, introspection. The yellow flower and the Tule fog crystals on sagebrush — such contrast. There is nothing like natural beauty, the majesty and bigness of it, to put everything into perspective. The pines remind me a bit of what we saw in Yosemite. Thank you. Happy to have taken a shorty trip to June Lake and Lundy Lake with you.
Last week we went for a hike up Malibu Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains. Didn’t go all the way up, but high enough on the rocky path where every step was an exercise in balance. We were just commenting, once we reached the top, on the natural beauty here in CA. So many hidden spots.
You have said that so well, Silvia, painted a beautiful picture. Even just around L.A., how high those mountains are and the hidden beauty they hold.
Thanks!
Beautiful, Samantha. Simply beautiful. Your blog theme takes me back to the lovely times that I have spent in the regions that you have shown so far. This one takes me back to Monterey and Carmel, 1974. I was stationed in Fort Ord, which was in Monterey, and very close to the Pacific Ocean. I woke up every morning looking at the blue ocean and dreaming. I visited Carmel. There I fell in love with the homes and the many beautiful yards filled with flowers and large trees. I was able to revisit in 2008. It was still beautiful.
Thank you.
Shalom,
Patricia @ EverythingMustChange
It is beautiful, I agree Patricia. The awesome evidence of the upheaval caused by subduction earthquakes — begun when dinosaurs roamed the area. Dramatic. I wish to visit again.
Back in those days when you were at Fort Ord, I, too, was waking up every morning looking at the blue Pacific, down in Redondo.
Thank you for visiting and commenting. It means a lot to me.
Shalom,
Samantha
I always thought those rabbitbrush plants were yarrow plants. I am learning something new here! I love the mountains. There is nothing quite like a good majestic peak.
I thought they were sagebrush flowers, Mary, until I looked them up. I had never heard of rabbitbrush before. Nothing like a majestic peak — you are right. They are awesome.
How lovely to see these photos Samantha and take a trip along with you! Those autumnal colours are beautiful – are they really called quaking aspen? June Lake looks and sounds mysterious … and that fog seems to be so low-lying .. and the photo of the crystals on the sagebrush is an award winning photo.
Thank you so much for the road trip vicariously much enjoyed!
They are called quaking aspens because the leaves quake — shiver in the breeze. In the autumn it looks like someone is shaking a tree loaded with gold doubloons. Tule fog means ground fog, Susan. Tule is a Mexican-Indian word incorporated into Spanish, meaning low-lying, and used in Northern California. Several scenic loops exist in that area of the Sierra. Since most of those little towns have one way in and out, they built scenic routes as a means of secondary escape routes, since that area is extremely earthquake prone and prone to escaping volcanic gas — and, of course, very deep snowfall. Being a tourist area this is not advertised — just beautiful scenic routes.
You and I do have our penchant for research. I am fascinated by the geology of that Eastern High Sierra and after my first visit immediately researched more about it, so fascinated was I that I bored people with my geological conversations. 🙂 Given the wherewithal I would move there in an instant — and you could come visit and we’d tour the area.
Thanks for the compliment on my photo, too. That is one of my favorites. I use it on Christmas cards.
I never traveled up into that area of California. Your photos are lovely. I have a friend who lives up in that area so now when she talks about it, I will be able to see what she is describing. I still laugh that it actually can snow in California! Beautiful post!
At an elevation of 14,000 feet, you bet it can snow in California. There are glaciers in the Sierra that never melt, living glaciers that feed the waterfalls year round. My next place to visit is wine country in Calif. Can you believe that I have never been to wine country? 🙂