We began our drive back along Tioga Road. It was much nicer now without a snow storm! Traveling through this area and over the Sierra Nevada used to be quite the ordeal.
In 1833, in a trip that took more than two weeks, Joseph Walker led a party of men along a ridge near here. Nearing starvation, they eventually found a Native American trail that led to safety... but not before 24 of their horses had died (most of which they then ate).
1890s horse-drawn wagon ... Cars of the 1920s had to carry spare tires.
Today, we easily zip across many miles and over all sorts of terrain.
Click for a larger view
20,000 years ago, most of this area was under glaciers.
Glacial rocks
We stopped at Olmstead Point. Over the last million years, glaciers have come and gone across this landscape. As they receded, they randomly dropped countless large boulders.
This turnout was named after Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1903) and his son Frederick Jr. (1870 - 1957) when Tioga road was opened to automobile traffic in 1961. Both were landscape architects who worked with the national park.
