Heading up the hill to Tioga Pass was a fun ride and I had to stop a few times for pictures and to just soak in the scenery. I saw what I am pretty sure was a Bald Eagle swooping in with his talons outstretched, but by the time I stopped and grabbed my camera, he was behind some trees. I waited awhile, but didn't see him take to the air and he was on the other side of a river, so I couldn't go searching.
Less than an hour later, I saw a brightly colored bird swoop in front of me and perch on a tree. From what I could see, he was mostly yellow with a stripe of red on his head. He was still there when I walked back there, but moving to quickly to get the camera a chance to focus so once again, I was left pictureless.
This is a great road to ride on the motorcycle. Lots of twisty sections that require active riding instead of just cruising. The downside is that you can't spend more than a second or so looking at the scenery so I found myself stopping several times an hour. Usually to take the camera out and take a few shots, but sometimes just to sit in awe of this place.
I think it was about 2pm or so when I finally made it to Glacier Point. Let me tell you that the view is worth the traffic and parking hassle once you get here. WOW! I will be posting more from this trip in my other galleries with higher resolution, but as a teaser this is one of the many times on road to Glacier Point that I had to stop.
I was going to do some hiking once I got here, but after I finished eating a sandwich, I decided the clouds were starting to look like the forecast 20% chance of thunderstorms was a greater chance of rain than when the Arizona forecasters say 20% chance of rain and decided to head for home. I figured I had enough good pictures from the day and I can always come back on Wednesday or Thursday if I felt like more (I hadn't made it into Yellowstone Valley yet) so I would keep the photo stops to a minimum.
That resolution changed when a couple cars stopped in the middle of the road and were all hanging out the passenger side of their cars with cameras. That reminded me of some advice: Look where the people are pointing their cameras, it is probably worth taking a picture of. Sure enough, there was a bear not 50 feet from the road just ambling along.
After that excitement and with the ever-darkening ominous clouds overhead, I redoubled my efforts to not stop for every picturesque view. Sure enough, partway back, I saw a few drops hit my visor so I quickly pulled over and threw my rain liner on under my jacket and proceeded, albeit a bit slower. Sprinkling rain turned into heavy rain and heavy rain turned into hail. I kept going for the lighter hail, but when it came down heavy enough to blanket the road like snow, I pulled over. There was nowhere to go, no trees for shelter or overhanging rocks, so I just killed the engine and sat there for a few minutes.
The sun had been bright enough, so the road was hot and quickly melted the worst of it and when a caravan passed me going pretty slowly (trike, motorcycle and a van), I pulled out behind them. They were taking it easy and it was nice to have someone to follow through the hills.
By the time we got to Tioga Pass, the rain had completely stopped and the wind was starting to dry some parts of my clothes. But my fingers were frozen stiff and I was happy to get some hot coffee before heading back to my campground for some dry clothes and a little fire.
Still not sure what I will do the rest of my time before I leave. There is a ghost town named Bodie I have been hearing about and the hot springs near Mammoth both sound nice. Stay tuned to find out.
p.s. I was too cold and tired to post this last night in case you were looking for this post yesterday and wondered what I was doing.
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