M&T Alpine-Tales: All the way to Sparks, Nevada

We've been watching the weather forecasts closely. Our final destination beyond Route 395 is to Bend, Oregon, to spend a few days with Michael's sister and brother-in-law.
A cold front has suddenly blown in to this region and in addition to colder temperatures, some areas at the highest elevations have had some snow.
Having experienced an unexpected snow event in the Carolinas a few months back, we prefer to avoid another snowy highway adventure. This is why we extended our stay in Lone Pine longer than planned, waiting for the conditions further north to improve. The weather in the mountains is predictably unpredictable and all literature warns travelers to be prepared for extreme weather changes. The good thing is that as we creep towards summer, these freak snowfalls typically are short-lived.

Today, with the forecast looking good, we left Lone Pine to continue our travels along scenic Route 395. This next leg took us out of the Owens Valley and up into the mountains then back down to the other side and into Sparks, Nevada. It turned out to be a perfect day for traveling, the scenery was spectacular, and I outdid myself by clicking over 300 photos.
Here is what I saw from my buddy seat during our 269.4 mile journey today:
We continued north through the Owens Valley, with the freshly snowy capped Sierra Nevadas to the west and the Inyo Mountains to the east of us. This high desert area shows evidence of numerous volcanic events. We passed several conically shaped mounds and an area of scorched rocks along the road to Bishop, .

volcanic cones

charred boulders

there is water here, mostly channeled into the LA aqueduct that runs through this region

Past the town of Bishop, 60 miles later, we began heading into the mountains with their fresh dusting of snow. Bishop, at an elevation of 4,150 ft, is the largest city here and lies at the northern end of Owens Valley.

leaving Bishop, a quaint little city we plan to explore in the future

Those mountains ahead of us are certainly grand and also massive. It appeared as if we were about to drive straight into a granite wall.

the massive granite wall ahead of us

From this point on, we began the scenic portion of the drive, which on an old-fashioned map is marked with dots. We followed those dots all the way to Gardnerville, marveling at the variety in the topography that we crossed. The next 150 miles took us through high elevations, more desert, patches of forest, and several spectacular lakes. This area is a hodgepodge of seismic events that have occurred here over the eons. It was quite fascinating, and a far more interesting drive than the busy I-5 corridor that we have traveled up till now.

We started the gradual steady climb, the road curving east around the mountains ahead. The road signs indicated the elevation gains, first at 5,000 ft, then 6,000 ft and finally we reached Sherman Summit at 7,000 ft.

skirting the massive mountains to our west, the desert terrain continues

made it to 5,000 feet along the rock strewn terrain

up at 6,000 ft now, and trees begin to appear

we've entered the Inyo National Forest

we keep going still higher

trees clinging to rock-strewn ground

7,000 ft and still climbing

it feels like we are driving on top of the world

and the peaks are still higher

we've entered a pretty valley in the sky

we round a bend and there are still more snowy peaks

approaching Mammoth Lakes, elevation 7,880 ft... this is a geologically active area lying
at the edge of a caldera, with hot springs and rhyolite domes less than 1,000 years old...
it is also a ski-area and where elite athletes come to train in the thin air

vestiges of snow on the ground

good grief....a cyclist along the same road (possibly training?)

surely we can't go higher than this - Deadman's Summit, 8,036 ft - we have
gained 4,000 ft since leaving Bishop

the peaks become rocky and gnarly again, hardy trees clinging to the sides

still more snowy peaks in the distance, even at this elevation

what goes up, must come down...here we go

Mono Lake sparkles up ahead

volcanic cones poke up all around - if I recall correctly, at the
Visitor Center in Lone Pine I read that there are 21 of these relics
from more explosive eras clustered around Mono Lake

Mono Lake looms large ahead of us and we speculate that the white craggy
"stuff" must be salt, which it is.... Mono Lake is indeed a large saline soda lake
that formed around 760,000 years ago