An excellent mini-series I highly do NOT recommend to any northern Californians right now...

 Chernobyl

Sonora Pass country

I camped up there for a couple of nights last week. The high country along the Pacific Crest Trail is now pretty desolate, the snow largely gone, but the rocks, lichens, and chilly blue lakes remain impressive. Little plants eke out a living, including thistles, gentians, and Whitney's milkvetch (Astragalus whitneyi), a prostrate legume that produces peas in a funny ballon-shaped pod. 

Down the hill to the west, a hike from Kennedy Meadows to Relief Reservoir is a nice workout up a Yosemite-worthy granitic canyon, carved by tributaries of the Middle Fork Stanislaus River. The reservoir itself, filled behind a 1910 dam and part of PG&E's hydroelectric system, is in a spectacular setting, although artificial lakes in beautiful canyons make me sad. The Kennedy Meadows Resort is the kind of place where you see a lot of oversized pickup trucks, enormous RVs, State of Jefferson signs, and not too many masks. I'm sure folks there are friendly. I didn't hang around long enough to find out.