HIGH SIERRA GRAND TOUR Story by Doreen Pankow Photos by Bill Hallier
A
group of 15 excited members started a driving adventure from Golden Valley Road in Santa Clarita, looking forward to three days of driving our Porsches through the High Sierras. Many of us had not traversed the roads outside of Lee Vining and Bridgeport before; we were looking forward to seeing some beautiful scenery and driving some challenging roads. We headed north on CA-14 and after two hours connected with Hwy 395 N, stopping for lunch at Aaron Schat’s Roadhouse in Bishop. We were now in the High Sierras and the cloud formations in the sky were spectacular as we continued our drive northbound. The clouds were massive; all shapes and sizes, and some sat right on top of the various mountain ranges. At about 300 miles, many of us stopped for fuel as we turned onto CA-120 toward Tioga Pass. We
20
DER AUSPUFF November/December 2022
drove about nine miles to Lake Ellery, which is before the entrance to Yosemite Park. It had started raining lightly so we only stopped long enough to view the lake at several spots before turning around and heading back to the 395 to complete our journey to the Walker River Lodge in Bridgeport. That evening we enjoyed dinner together at the Bridgeport Inn. On Tuesday morning, Jeff Parker led the group as we continued north on the 395. The fun began as we turned west onto Hwy 89 towards Markleeville and Monitor Pass which crests at an elevation of 8,314 ft. With its breathtaking scenery and light traffic, this route offers some of the best motorcycle riding and sports car driving in the Sierra Nevada range. We continued on our drive to Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway, which reaches an elevation of 8,730 ft.