Tuolumne Meadows - Olmstead Point and Tenaya Lake

After hearing so much about the beauty of Tuolumne Meadows we got on the Tioga Road and decided to check it out while we’re in Yosemite valley.

Tioga road offered us spectacular views of rugged landscapes, glacier carved granite peaks, pristine lakes, wildflower covered meadows, and lush evergreen forests with giant sequoias groves.

 Our first stop on our way to Tuolumne Meadows was Olmstead Point. Since we travel early in the morning traffic was very light and the parking lot at Olmstead Point was almost empty (that gave us enough choices to park our car).

  

Olmstead Point offered us a breathtaking view of the southwest Yosemite Valley particularly the northern side of Half Dome (peak in the canter) and Clouds Rest (peak on the left). 

 There was a series of steps that leading down on a short hike to different point of view but since time was of the essence we skipped that short hike and enjoyed the view from the parking lot area which was very interesting and included lots of striking glacial erratic boulders lounging on the hillsides there.

At first we didn’t recognized Half Dome since we viewed it from an angle we didn’t have before, but sure enough it was Half Dome which is one of the most prominent peaks we could see from our 
viewing area.

 Continued our drive we stopped at Tenaya Lake, a beautiful alpine lake just a few miles before Tuolumne Meadows.
We saw the lake basin which was formed by glacial action that left a backdrop of light granite rocks.

 
Although this lake is very popular for water activities we didn’t see any because we were there early in the morning and that gave us ample opportunities to get a picture of this beautiful lake before the buzz start.