Just got back from going over the hill[10,000ft]Tioga Pass got its name long after Tioga PA.The Sierra,start at about sea level and and climb easterly to the crest in about 60 miles.Granite is the rock and rain and snow is the climate--snow at 8000 today and up--,at the Pass the most precious pass in the world,one step down from heaven,the moisture is over 80 inches,in 7 miles through volcanic you are at 4500 in high desert where there is less than 10 inches of moisture,it has only been that way in the last 300 years.Saw Friends,Relatives and went to LONGVALLEY the most active Earthquake area in the World-if interested I will send the URL-- and went from Mono Lake --the only inland ocean that has a active volcano--to the Caldera of LongValley and up Rock Creek where the earth is emitting CO2 and killing living things in spots of 1/4-1/2 acre,it just seeps out of the ground.The electricity for Mammoth comes from geothermal.Tired.R