Real camera shots - Moro Lake and the drive to the eastern Yosemite entrance

Moro Lake is a high elevation lake with no outlet, so evaporation concentrates the mineral content that the lake receives every year from the snowmelt. Recent studies have shown some interesting microbial life in Moro Lake - bacteria that appear to use arsenic instead of phosphorous in their genetic makeup. Gotta love how life finds a way to happen in all sorts of places.

The eastern entrance to Yosemite is at nearly 10,000'. Tuolumne Meadow is at the upper part, too. One of the larger overlook pullout spots gives great views of some of the signature features of Yosemite, including Half Dome. Still a little bit of snow in the upper part, but this year was a light snowfall year (and why we got to see so much more of it than I did 14 years when I was there in mid-June and the snowmelt and water flow was so intense that the upper roads were closed to traffic).