Hey guys,

I am planning a trip for my wife's birthday up through Tioga Pass and down to Mammoth / Bishop / anywhere over there. Trip is about a month away.

I've been to Tioga pass twice while I was a teenager and have always wanted to return. My wife has only been to Yosemite valley a few times when we were dating. I've only been to the 395 up north in Carson City, and from the south I've only come up as far as Ridgecrest (for annual Panamint Valley Days 4WD events). So there is a vast section of the eastern Sierras that I've never ever seen before and now it's time!

Wife's BD is June 30, a Tuesday. I'll be at Rubithon the weekend prior. We'll most likely take Thurs and Fri off and make this a Thurs (7/2) through Sunday (7/5) weekend. Yeah, I know, 4th of July weekend. July 7 is also our wedding anniversary so we always have a lot going on around this time of the year.

The goal:
Wife is from Japan and it is amazingly beautiful over there. So I'm always trying to show off how beautiful it is here with big vistas like Yosemite and Yellowstone (drove there last year and loved it!). I definitely remember Tuolume Meadows being extremely beautiful which is why I'd really like to take her there. Also I know there are amazing places near Bishop, CA so combing any activities from between these two locations in one trip seems like a good idea.

Our interests:
I'm always down for anything. Have hiked Half Dome 5 or 6 times, done a lot of rock climbing, lot of mtb biking, and have camped in the sierras for most of my life.
The wife: Loves camping, fishing, out door cooking, cooking in general, and can do some hiking but gets tired easily. I've never seen her on a Mtb bike, and I have taken her rock climbing before and she pretty much did it only because she loves me As she is from Japan, she  l o v e s  hot springs and so far the only one in the Sierras that I've taken her to is Mono Hot Springs near Edison Lake (not that great but still fun). I've heard there are some good ones on the eastern side...

Basically, as mentioned, I'm looking to show her just how beautiful the High Sierras are and anything else is a bonus. In addition to hot springs I know there are some old ghost towns and probably also mining towns, that would be really cool to see. She loves vintage things and does a fair share of antique hunting so I'll be researching this as well.

Any hiking trail that leads to a nice waterfall is always a bonus.

So far my plan is scarce:
1. Wife drives to Fresno Wed night.
2. Get up early Thurs and head up from Fresno to Tuolume Meadows. I've never been to Mariposa so I figured I'd go hwy 41 to hwy 49 and enter Yosemite via hwy 140. Then climb up and out of the valley and head for Tioga Pass.
3.

That's my plan so far

We could stay in Tuolume meadows Thurs night, then Bishop area Fri night, then Mammoth area Sat night, then back home to Fresno by Sunday night. Flexible on all this so far... Might also be able to take Wed off too (pending her vacation availability)

I'm looking at some nice cabins we could stay at at the Tioga Pass Resort (http://www.tiogapassresort.com) (https://reserve3.resnexus.com/resnexus/Reservations/Lodging/51742FAE-BD79-454C-92C7-19C6F2884C71) but rentals are for 2 nights and we don't have much time. They do offer 1 night motel lodging.

So we could stay a night in Tuolume Meadows and make the most of it up there. Any simply trail/hike recommendations that maybe lead to nice lakes, vistas?



Current list of things I've randomly been researching...

• Hot Creek looks awesome -- http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/long_valley/long_valley_sub_page_25.html
  
  Reminds me a LOT of Yellowstone
  
  
  
  
• Reds Meadow, Devil's Post Pile (I've heard of this before), Rainbow Falls looks amazing -- http://www.visitmammoth.com/things-to-do/summer-activities/reds-meadow/
  
  How long of a hike is it to the post pile?
  
  
  
  I imagine Rainbow Falls is seasonal? Doesn't help that we're in a record drought...
  
  
  
• Bodie Ghost Town - A friend of mine organize an annual MTB trip to Bodie that I've always wanted to do so definitely gonna check this out. -- http://www.visitmammoth.com/things-to-do/summer-activities/bodie/
  
  
  
• My uncle told me I must go on the "June Lake Loop". I looked up the lake and it looks beautiful
  
  
  
• Little Lakes Valley Trail looks fun and from the reviews is sounds like something my wife could hike, http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g32083-d3491124-Reviews-Little_Lakes_Valley_Trail-Bishop_California.html
  
  
  
• We've both done horse back riding before so that's an option and is something few of her friends have ever done. Something like http://www.redsmeadow.com/horseback-rides/
  
  
  
• Found Keough's Hot Springs -- http://www.keoughshotsprings.com. Looks interesting. Definitely doing more searching on this. Prefer the more remote, authentic, hot springs experience over some big commercialized setup but who am I to be picky; We'd definitely enjoy any hot spring we can find
  
  They have Tent Cabins which is appealing to us. I took her to the Tree Bones Resort in Big Sur and camped in Yurts which we both really loved.
  
  
  
• Read a bit about the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, but not exactly sure what to do there

Ok will reply back with some more as I do more research. Looking forward to some amazing Alpine vistas and fun. Thank you for any suggestions you can offer us!

Regards,
BigMike

Found a picture of North lake. There's a campground, trailhead, and pack station (horse riding), no store, and it's on a dirt road that scares the timid, ha ha.

Sounds fun Mike.  You need a chauffeur?