Brian Smith's Photos

The second half of the trip — three days of high-country trails around Mammoth Lakes and June Lake, then the long climb up and over Tioga Pass into Yosemite for the drive home.

Sherwin Lake

A morning out on the Sherwin Lake Trail above Mammoth Lakes — switchbacks through Jeffrey pine giving way to open granite and the lake itself, still holding a rim of snow at the edges.

Crystal Lake Trail

In the afternoon, a second trail out of the Lake Mary basin toward Crystal Lake — a steeper climb, with the peaks around the Mammoth Crest still carrying real snowpack in mid-June.

Reversed Peak Loop Trail, June Lake

North to June Lake for a loop around Reversed Peak — wide-open views down over the lake and across to the Sierra crest, the kind of trail that keeps stopping you for one more shot.

Parker Lake

In the afternoon, over to Parker Lake in Mono County — a short, shaded trail through aspen and Jeffrey pine that opens suddenly onto the lake, backed by Parker Peak and Kuna Crest still streaked with snow.

Tioga Pass to Yosemite

The last day: up and over Tioga Pass and down into Yosemite’s high country for the drive home — alpine meadows, granite domes, and two very cooperative species along the way.

A Mountain Bluebird, Sialia currucoides, in one of the meadows near the pass — that saturated blue that never quite comes across the same in a photo as it does in the field.

And to close out the trip, a family of Yellow-bellied Marmots, Marmota flaviventris, sunning themselves on the granite — unbothered, well fed, and clearly used to an audience.

Five days, five very different landscapes, and a long list of trails to go back and do again. Home from here.