...and SNOW! In June.
First stop of my road trip was Yosemite National Park. My plans to hike in the Tuolomne Meadows area were immediately dashed when the ranger said it was snowbound, with feet of snow still on the ground (makes trail finding a bit difficult, and setting up camp nearly impossible). So I went with plan B, which was a quick hike around the Hetch Hetchy area. The snow line was at around 8,000', so I only went up to about 7,500'.
The hike was gorgeous, as Hetch Hetchy is known to be. I started the trail late in the day, at 5pm, but made it up the side of the reservoir valley to the meadows beyond. I camped beside a small lake in the crest between two hills. 
There was a perfect campsite already established, with a sandy spot for tent pitching, logs to sit around a fire, and a small established fire ring. Someone had also left firewood stacked by the ring, which was helpful when I arrived right after sunset, as darkness was setting in. 
I had a perfect fire, completely alone in the middle of perfect scenery, with perfect weather, and the perfect amount of gear and clothes. It was quite an amazing trip. It made me want to go camping every weekend. There's something about a campfire that is so alien to regular life.
The next day, at Beehive Meadow, I happened upon large sheets of white. At first, I thought they were large slabs of granite, peeking through the ground. Then I got closer and realized they were snowdrifts. In June. Awesome. 
The weather didn't feel cold at all, but I was hiking rather quickly, so I kept myself warm. It was pretty neat to see snow. That further threw off my concept of seasons, and now I have no idea what 'regular' weather would be like, in whatever part of the world I'm supposed to use as reference. I couldn't even pick a hemisphere to start...
Besides snow, I saw plenty of lizards (at lower elevations), a startled mule deer just coming to drink, the horns and head of a fleeing mountain goat, butterflies and dragonflies and a mother bear and her cub. 
In total, it was 15 miles of hiking with about 3,000 feet of elevation gain, and I was back at the car by noon. It was a great itinerary, and a great start to an across-the-country odyssey.
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