California Road Trips Guide - 2024 - 40

ITINERARY FOR THE MOVER
Lake Mary
Tilden Park
hop back in the car for a zigzagging drive up
the western shoulder of 3,849-foot Mount
Diablo. Walk the half-mile Mary Bowerman
Trail around the summit-with every step, your
perspective changes: You'll see San Francisco,
Suisun Bay, the Delta, the Altamont Pass
windmills, even the far-off Sierra Nevada range.
Roll along Mount Diablo's southern road
and wind downhill to Danville, where a
AREA
OF
DETAIL
Oakland
Mount
Diablo
N
350-year-old oak anchors the town center.
Stop in to Danville Harvest for a sustainably
sourced, farm-totable
dinner and
zero-proof cocktails,
then head two hours
east to the Sierra
foothills. You'll
find a comfy bed
in the historic-
but tastefully
modernized-
Groveland Hotel.
The next day,
Sonora
Junction
Sonora
Yosemite
NP
Mammoth
Lakes
swoop down into Yosemite Valley for rock
climbing lessons with guides from the Yosemite
Mountaineering School. Josh Helling, who has
completed more than two dozen ascents of El
Capitan, helms a staff of pros who will show you
how to stretch your limits on California's most
celebrated granite walls.
Sleep deeply at Yosemite Valley Lodge, then
motor out of the valley on Big Oak Flat Road
and Tioga Pass Road. A one-hour cruise past
fir forests, peaks, and domes brings you to
Tuolumne Meadows, a two-mile-long expanse
of subalpine serenity. The meadows are the
starting point for more trails than you could
hike in a whole summer.
Next, roll across the Sierra's rooftop at
9,943-foot Tioga Pass, then descend more
than 3,000 feet to Lee Vining at U.S. 395. Head
south 30 miles to Mammoth Lakes and test
your mountain biking skills on Mammoth
Bike Park's world-class trails, or paddle a kayak
on the cobalt waters of Lake Mary, the largest
lake in the Mammoth Lakes Basin. Spend the
night at Snowcreek Resort so you can play an
early morning round of high-altitude golf, then
replace depleted calories with omelets and
French toast at The Stove.
It's time to boomerang north on U.S. 395,
but your first stop is only 20 miles north at June
Lake. Rent a paddleboard at the large sandy
beach near Oh Ridge Campground, or take a
brisk swim in the 320-acre lake. Then swing into
tiny Bridgeport for a road-food stop: Burger
Barn's bison burgers and sweet-potato fries. A
few miles north, turn west on Highway 108 for
another snaking mountain-crest drive, this time
over 9,624-foot Sonora Pass. The high-alpine
scenery is equally as sublime as Tioga Pass, but
the curves are tighter and grades steeper.
Push west on Highway 108 and spend your
last night in Sonora, soaking in the Gold Rush
vibes and noshing on birria ramen at Escondite
De La Torre. Plop into a cozy bed at rusticmodern
Hotel Lumberjack and dream about the
amazing journey you've taken. In the morning,
you'll zip back to Oakland, only 2.5 hours away,
for your flight home.
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California Road Trips Guide - 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of California Road Trips Guide - 2024