Different forest~Devil's Postpile

You know, this vacation was pretty laid-back. Hubby and I rented a studio cabin up in the Mammoth Lakes area (Tamarack Lodge at Twin Lakes) for 4 nights and we basically just...relaxed. We got up at 4 a.m. one morning to drive over the Tioga Pass to Yosemite, and one afternoon we drove up to Mammoth Village to catch the mandatory bus shuttle down to the Devil's Postpile. We had driven that road the previous night (the bus in only mandatory from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., so we drove in at 7:30 p.m.). The shuttle only costs $7.00 and was quite an enjoyable ride! We teamed up with a family with 3 girls and watched their excitement while viewing the animal furs at the ranger station and exploring the postpile. Other than that, we stayed in and around Mammoth. One day, for lunch, we drove up to Lee Vining for lunch at the BBQ place, but we didn't drive out to Mono Lake. We prefer days with some clouds and it was clear until July 4th, when an Atlantic tropical storm moved clouds into the southwest. So, instead of knocking ourselves out every day, we paced ourselves and hubby got plenty of rest! :-) I noticed how different the forest was near Mammoth. Lots of water in meadows and flowing in rivers. Our local mountains are dry right now, except for the sprinkles they received from the tropical storm. There are a lot more deer, too. I actually had one cross the road in front of my car a couple of weeks ago here! And, it wasn't far from where CALTRANS was working on the road! Good thing I wasn't speeding!!! Here are some photos from the area around the Devil's Postpile, which is off the road to the Minarets, beyond Mammoth Village. Our driver even pointed out the avalanche and landslide which happened last winter. I love to see and explore forests in different mountains! We were often entertained by young gray squirrels and the chipmunks were adorable! We saw two families of marmots in Yosemite and got up close to them. We saw a dozen deer out in Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite grazing early in the morning. Forests are a wonderful place to explore nature!