Joshua Tree National Park

We've been in Indio, CA the past couple of days.  We are in a beautiful RV park in a city.  We hear sirens & helicopters often...a big change from the past month!  (Thankfully, things quiet down at night.)  But, we've also been able to do the stuff we all have to do, i.e. hair cuts, grocery shopping, etc. 

Today was play day.  We visited Joshua Tree National Park.  I wasn't sure what to expect...would it be just like the desert we spent time in last winter?  The answer:  yes and no.


We entered the park from the southern entrance which is in the Colorado desert.  This portion of the park was very similar to our prior desert experience.  We visited the Cottonwood Springs area where there are trees, flowers, and palm trees.  It is always interesting to see palm trees in the desert.

A little further into the park we came upon the Chollo Cactus Garden, a short trail through a grove of chollo cactus.  "Grove" may not be the correct word...but you know what I mean.

Our next stop was the White Tank area.  I was surprised to find these rock formations in the park.  We felt like kids climbing all over them. 

 

 

Farther along the road, the elevation began to climb into the Mohave Desert.  This is where the park's namesake, Joshua Trees, begin to show up.

And we actually saw a little wildlife.

 

One of the main attractions in the park is the "Keys View" overlook.    The overlook is at an elevation of 5,185 feet, and we could actually see the San Andreas Fault.  I guess this is where California will break off and fall into the ocean. : )  The dark line going across the center of the picture is the fault line.

Our final hike was through the Hidden Valley area.  Once again, we were walking through all kinds of rock formations. 

But, the most amazing thing we saw was rock climbers.  Apparently, Joshua Tree is a popular area for rock climbers.  Why anyone would do this is beyond me, but it was awfully cool to watch them.

 

And don't think the climbing is left to the guys.  Here is a female climbing with her partner already on the top.

 

We enjoyed our day in Joshua Tree.  We checked out the campgrounds while we were here and found one that we could fit in.  Who knows, maybe we'll come back one day and play on the rocks!

Sequioa and Kings Canyon National Park

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park is actually two parks managed as one.  Since we had just one day in the park, we spent the majority of it in Sequoia.  This park is most known for its groves of large sequoia trees.  When I say large, I mean LARGE!  You'll see what I mean in just a minute.

As far as wildlife goes, we were hoping to see a black bear; we didn't see a bear, but I'm satisfied with what we did see.  For the first time, I saw a tarantula.  

He greeted us just as we drove into the park.  Thank goodness Bill saw this fellow and didn't run him over.  Although they look pretty menacing, they are actually very bashful creatures, and their bite is no more harmful than a bee sting.

Our first stop, after the visitor's center, was Moro Rock.  Moro Rock is a granite dome in Sequoia.  The trail is actually a series of steps built into the granite. 

I counted 123 steps before I had to stop to catch my breath.  We actually climbed 400 steps to reach the top.

Once we reached the top, we enjoyed the 360 degree view...

 

 

...before heading back down.

 


But, the main reason we came to the park was the trees.

And since we were playing tourist, we couldn't pass up the Tunnel Tree.

 

The fallen Tunnel Log of Sequoia National Park came into being after an unnamed giant sequoia fell across the Crescent Meadow Road in late 1937 as a result of "natural causes." The following summer, a tunnel was cut through the fallen log as a visitor attraction. When it fell, the tree stood 275 feet high (83.8 meters) and was 21 feet in diameter at the base (6.4 meters). The tree's age when it fell has not been determined, but probably exceeded 2,000 years.

   (National Park Service) 




But the main attraction at Sequoia National Park is General Sherman, the world's largest living tree.

General Sherman has a circumference of 103 feet and a height of 275 feet.  To put it simply, this tree is just awesome!  If you ever find yourself feeling really, really important, take a trip and visit General Sherman.  Believe me, standing there looking up at this guy that has been standing there for about 2,500 years makes one feel pretty insignificant.  

After our much too short visit to Sequoia/Kings Canyon, we headed back to the rig where we enjoyed a nice campfire.  And to make the night just about perfect, coyotes began to sing in the distance.  I must admit, that is not a bad way to end a day.

A Short Day's Drive

We left Bass Lake, CA this morning and had a nice drive to Lemoncove, CA, not too far from the entrance to Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park.  

Most of the drive was through California's San Joaquin Valley, the central valley where they grow lots of produce.  We saw fields and fields of grape vines, which I first assumed was to produce wine.  But then we saw a sign that said we were in the home of Sun-Maid Raisins.  Have you ever thought about how many grapes must be grown to provide all the raisins needed...from households to restaurants to cookie manufacturers?   I know I grew up with Sun-Maid raisins in the house, and I still keep some around for our cereal and oatmeal.


We also saw what we think was cabbage, and then we came upon orange groves, grapefruit groves, and then lemon groves.  It is amazing to think about the process it takes to get the produce from the fields to the supper table.  And most of us take all of this for granted.

We are staying in Horse Creek Campground, a Corp of Engineer Campground.  Most COE campgrounds have at least water and electric hook-ups, but this one has no hook-ups.  So, we are dry camping for a couple days.  Come on solar panels!  We were in our site and set up before lunch.  Not bad!


Tomorrow we will spend all day in Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park.  We've seen some big trees on this trip, but I'm looking forward to see these really big trees, especially the General Sherman that supposedly has a circumference of over 100 feet!

Now This is More Like It!

In our quest to find a little solitude in Yosemite National Park, we were up and out early.  We are staying in an RV park outside the south entrance of the park.  We had decided to head to the northern side, bypassing the Yosemite Valley altogether, which meant about a 2-hour drive.

We had researched different hikes and found several that sounded interesting.  We had two options:  One, we could do a nice long day hike, maybe climb a nice peak.  Or, two, we could do a few shorter hikes and see more of the park's diversity.  We chose option #2.


Our first stop along Tioga Road was at Olmsted Point.  This point is named for Frederick Law Olmsted who served as the first head of the commission dedicated to preserving Yosemite Valley.  Interestingly, he was also the architect for Central Park in New York City.

There were a few other folks at the overlook, but when we took the short walk to the point, we had it all to ourselves!  Just like we like it!

 

Our second stop was Tenaya Lake.  

We parked in the picnic area parking lot and took 2-mile hike around the lake.  The scenery was beautiful and other hikers were no where to be found.

 

The downside to this hike is that we had to take the park road to get back to the truck.  But, even that wasn't too bad.

Not much to speak of in the way of wildlife, but we did see this Stellar's Jay on the way back to the truck:

While we have been enjoying beautiful sunny days, there are signs to remind us that winter could come back at any moment:

 

Our third hike, Pothole Peak, turned out to be our favorite.  This was just a mile long hike, but most of it is climbing 200' to the top of Pothole Peak.  

 This is the experience we were hoping for.  Again, we had the place to ourselves, and the views were unsurpassed.  What a great place to enjoy our lunch.  We hung out a while and just enjoyed the 360 degree views & solitude.

 

Before heading back down, we walked over to the edge and took this picture of our truck.  It's hard to see, but trust me, it's down there.

Since we were already on Tioga Road, we decided to continue our drive east and go over Tioga Pass.  The scenery was breathtaking.  We went up and over the 10,000 pass.  This is an altimeter we bought at Walmart back in 2002.  We paid about $20 for it, and it works like a champ.  Best twenty-bucks we've spent at Wally World!

We knew we needed to start heading home.  We had a 3-hour drive ahead of us on curvy mountain roads, and soon the sun would be setting.  We reluctantly headed back to civilization.  But what a great day!  Today we discovered the "real" Yosemite.  I know John Muir would be pleased.

Yosemite National Park

Today we visited Yosemite National Park.  Bill had visited the park twice before, but this was my first time.  Because of my love of national parks, many people were surprised that I had never visited Yosemite.  I've seen many beautiful pictures over the years, and the Park did not disappoint in that regard.  We didn't have the best light when taking these photos, but you'll get the point.

Half Dome from Glacier Point:

The famous El Capitan on the left, Half Dome in the distant right, and in the shadows on the right Bridalveil Falls:

Here's a better view of Bridalveil Falls from its scenic viewpoint:

And here is the massive El Capitan.  What you don't see in this picture are the couple of folks we saw scaling the side of El Capitan.  Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me!

I knew Yosemite was crazily crowded during the summer months.  And let me tell you, after what we experienced today, I would hate to see the park in the summer months.  Although there was parking available at each vista, there wasn't much.  And I was surprised to find most of the short hikes were paved.  But I suppose with the large number of visitors this park receives, the trails would be destroyed if they weren't paved.

Even though I enjoyed our visit, I need to get away from the crowds.  Today we bought a hiking book, and this evening we did some research on-line.  Tomorrow our goal is hike on dirt with no crowds.  Check back and see how we did!

Lassen Volcanic National Park

We had a wonderful day today!  We visited Lassen Volcanic National Park, one of America's least visited national parks.  It is a hidden gem!  There are beautiful forests, hydrothermal features, and of course the lassen volcano that erupted last in 1915.  

We did a short fun hike, Bumpass Hell.  Let me explain the name...this hydrothermal area was first discovered by Kendall V. Bumpass (yes, that's his real name) who had plans to establish a hot spring/spa tourist attraction.  However, his plans were never realized because one day as he was walking in the thermal area, the crust broke & he fell through into water of more than 200 degrees.  He ended up losing a leg due to the accident.

Back to the hike...this is one of the most popular hikes in Lassen National Park and is the largest hydrothermal area in the park.  Here is Bill coming down the trail.

                        

 This little guy didn't care that we were around at all.  He posed for lots of pictures:

The trail was just 3 miles round trip with beautiful views throughout.

 

We finally made it the basin.  You can see all the steam billowing up; too bad you can't hear it.  We could hear it before we saw it...at first I thought it was a jet engine flying overhead.

To keep everyone safe, the Park Service has provided a boardwalk that took us through the basin.  We enjoyed this hike very much...couldn't help but think of it as a mini-Yellowstone.

After our hike, we found a nice picnic area to have lunch, and we had the place to ourselves.  Later, we drove through one of the campgrounds, and it was nice!  Every site had a bear box...every site!  In Yellowstone there is a bear box for about every 3-4 sites...and Yellowstone has grizzlies!  Doesn't make much sense to me.

Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit, albeit a short one.  I put this on our "need to visit again" list.  Lots of hikes we need to check out!  But for now, tomorrow we are back on the road.

                                  

                                 

The Long and Winding Road

I'm not really a Beatles fan, but this song title fits today perfectly!  We left Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, OR around 9:30 and headed towards Red Bluff, CA. less than 300 miles.  But we didn't know about Hwy 299....

If you have never driven Hwy 299, the next time you have spaghetti, look at your plate of noodles...that's what Hwy 299 is like!  We went over more passes and through more loopy-di-loop curves than we could count.  Thank goodness Bill is such a competent driver!  We finally pulled in to our RV park around 4:30.  

Oh, and I forgot to mention...we saw clowns & witches driving cars, and Bill even saw a gorilla on a bicycle...it is Halloween, remember.  

After getting set up on our site, I started laundry while Bill did a quick wash on the rig.  While I was folding the laundry, Bill went to Pizza Hut and brought supper home.  Now we're just kicking back & relaxing.


Tomorrow we will visit Lassen Volcanic National Park.  I hope to have some good pictures to post!  And I have to mention the weather...how does 70 degrees with sunshine sound???

Happy Halloween!!