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2 0 1 7 T R A V E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A 151 » The Wild, Wild West Bodie, possibly the Old West's most notorious mining town, now exists in a state of "arrested decay" on a high, windswept plain northeast of Yosemite. It's one of America's most extensive ghost towns. › www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509 » Mountain Light The late adventure photog- rapher Galen Rowell was the Ansel Adams of the Kodachrome era. Stop by his Mountain Light gallery in Bishop to see mountain images both iconic and unusual. › mountainlight.com » Climbing Half Dome The hardest part of hiking to the top of Yosemite's Half Dome might not be the mile of elevation gain or the vertiginous metal cables covering the last 400 feet: It's scoring the coveted, mandatory permit. Only 300 per day are given out, and they're issued via an online lottery. › nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdpermits.htm » Biggest Tree Tree-huggers, don't bother trying to wrap your arms around the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park. With a cir- cumference of 102 feet, the giant sequoia is the largest known tree on the planet. While not quite as tall as its coastal cousins, its staggering girth more than makes up for it. › nps.gov/seki/naturescience/sherman.htm » Long Live Mono Lake Set in a brooding, volcanic, Tolkienesque landscape, Mono Lake is one of the most otherworldly sights in California, with spiky tufa towers rising out of an alkaline lake. Explore it by kayak or canoe, or take a guided naturalist walk along the shoreline. › monolake.org › calderakayak.com CANOEING beneath the Sierra ramparts, opposite; cross-country skiing in Yosemite, above leV. MUST DO SEE, » The range is home to three national parks, 15 state parks, two national monu- ments and 20 officially designated wilderness areas. Hikers get itchy feet at the mere mention of its celebrated walking paths: the John Muir Trail; the Tahoe Rim Trail; the Pacific Crest Trail; the Tahoe- Yosemite Trail. At the drop of winter's first snowflake, skiers begin making plans for the three premier ski resorts on America's West Coast: Squaw Valley (site of the 1960 Winter Olympics), Heavenly and Mammoth Mountain. Streams rushing down the range's sheer east slope into the Owens Valley are renowned for their fly fishing. Geographically speaking, the mountain range is pretty much one big chunk of granite tilted like a badly placed brick in a cobblestone street: It's gently sloped on the west side and quite steep on the east, lower in the north and higher in the south. Keep that in mind when choosing a hiking trail: for an easier amble, look to the north and west; for a challenging ascent, head south and east. City & Town Now connected by gondola to the Heavenly ski resort, the bustling town of South Lake Tahoe, located on the lakeshore and the SPECIAL EVENTS 2017 » "LIGHTS ON THE LAKE," held each Fourth of July at South Lake Tahoe, is the largest synchronized fireworks show west of the Mississippi. July 4 tahoesouth.com With past participants such as Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Elway, South Lake Tahoe's AMERICAN CENTURY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP has been called the "Super Bowl of Celebrity Sports." July 19-24 tahoecelebritygolf.com The LONE PINE FILM FESTIVAL highlights the astounding number of Hollywood westerns and other movies filmed in and around this tiny Owens Valley town, from 1925's Riders of the Purple Sage to 2008's Ironman. Oct. 5-8 lonepinefilmfestival.org