The Sierra Nevadas of California

Oh yeah, here we go with the second blog post in a week! I'm going to jump right in to continue our photo journey from Death Valley National Park...but first a preview...

Yosemite Valley

So as you know, we're wandering freely with only vague ideas and plans of what we want to do and see. We thought it'd be great to head southwest to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks and then north through Yosemite into northern California. Well we didn't realize that we had to cross the Sierra Nevada mountain range to get to Sequoia & Kings Canyon, in winter. The three southern passes were all closed for the winter. Though understandable, this unfortunate development meant that we would have had to journey south all the way around the mountains and then back up to enter the park from the East. At this point we had already driven 17,000 miles since Anchorage and certainly weren't afraid of a few hundred miles-humph! However, we decided to skip 'em, the biggest factor being our desire to avoid people and population centers. We're allergic.

I was bummed to miss out on the massive groves of ancient Sequoia trees, but it all worked out a-ok. (By now I'm learning to trust that our journey, our lives, will unfold without our control, in the most beautiful- if not always easy- of ways. ) We ended up heading west from Death Valley until we reached the Sierra Nevadas. This mountain range runs 400 miles north-south and 70 miles across (hence the pass closures in winter) in eastern California. Has anyone ever been out here on the eastern side? What a sleeper spot!! Wow! The eastern Sierra Nevada mountains were awesome. We drove north through Owens Valley with the Sierras to our left and the smaller but beautiful White Mountains to our direct right. 

Several of the small towns we drove through- Lone Pine, Bishop- are jumping off points for adventurers and mountain climbers heading for Mt. Whitney at 14,505 feet (the highest in the contiguous U.S.). I guess a lot of old westerns were filmed in Lone Pine- it had that feel of an old western landscape with cattle grazing and lazy rivers- and lots of memorabilia to boot. I wouldn't be upset to end up in this area, that's for sure, particularly the town of Bishop. We didn't get to spend too much time here- just a couple of nights. It was snowy and foggy so unfortunately, our photos couldn't capture the magic we felt.

The eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range near Lone Pine, California.

I found a photo on Wikipedia of the area in the summer to prove how gorgeous this place is, just in case the photos didn't fully convince you...

Little Lakes Valley in the eastern Sierra Nevada,
courtesy of Wikipedia.

Have I talked you into visiting the eastern Sierras yet? If not, it gets better! We ended up rolling through mountains and forests to spend the night at Benton Hot Springs after a vague recommendation. Boy did we hit the jackpot. We were the only ones in this small campground where we rented our own hot springs-fed hot tub. Did I mention it was a beautiful setting and a full moon? It was well worth the hour drive to find this more remote spot that is apparently a local gem. The timing was great because we were a little sore from our backpacking trip in Death Valley just a couple nights earlier- nothing 6 hours of soaking couldn't handle. :-)

Our personal cedar hot tub along a meandering hot river with a sweet fire pit.

Benton Hot Springs

Benton Hot Springs area

Heading out of the hot springs we met back up with the Sierras and headed north to Mono Lake and clear skies.

Mono Lake with the northern Sierras in the background.

Tufa formations at Mono Lake

Apparently the U.S. govt. tested missiles and weapons on the shores
 of this beautiful lake several decades ago. Shocking?

Whew, are you convinced to visit the eastern Sierras yet? I act like I'm getting paid if you go there... hey wait, is there a way I could work that out for some extra cash??

From Mono Lake we crossed the mighty Sierras heading east whereupon we headed south to the entrance of Yosemite National Park (which is in the Sierras, along with Sequoia & Kings Canyon parks too, wow Sierras...) In fact, I think that a map would be helpful at this point in the narrative:

Central-ish California map with national parks

Notice we chose to avoid Vegas (last place I'd ever want to go), L.A. (the allergy again- sorry to miss you Debbie & John) and Joshua Tree National Park (if only for lack of time). Because the Sierras are so tall and snowy in the winter, travel is a bit difficult. The three central parks are all accessible only from the west side in the winter.

Of all the national parks we'd visited, Yosemite was off the charts stunning, just as John Muir noted and Ansel Adams showed. And on that note, I'm passing the computer to Andrew for a bit...

So I must admit that I haven't posted here in quite a bit. Many thanks to Kristy for putting in the effort to keep everyone up to date. Our journey into Yosemite NP was pretty breathtaking. Yosemite valley looks a little like what one might imagine heaven on earth to be like. See for yourself...

We began our stay in the park by visiting a grove of giant sequoia trees. (Turns out there are groves outside of Sequoia NP, though only in eastern California.) Neither Kristy or I had ever seen a sequoia and we were both overly impressed by these giants. In fact, sequoia trees are the largest living things on earth, past or present. Pretty wild!

Here's one pic that gives a slight view of the actual size of these ancient trees

A woodpecker at home in the trees

On top of a fallen giant.

Kristy was so enthralled with this one she actually crawled inside. She thought it would make a good house!

Kristy shot this photo from inside the downed sequoia trunk.

Yosemite valley

We unintentionally followed this bobcat along a popular trail.  Like most of the animals in Yosemite, it had no fear of us. We were approached by coyotes and a raccoon too. Luckily no bears were interested in us, though they do ransack people's cars in the summer for an easy meal.

The famed Half-Dome peak in Yosemite Valley

Berenstein bear treehouse... that limb on the left side has a diameter of 7 feet. Diameter people!

The above tree is in the Mariposa Grove. It's the Grizzly Giant and is estimated to be between 1900 and 2400 years old. It is so huge there's no way to capture the size with a camera! The circumference of the trunk at the base is 92 feet and the diameter 30 feet!

Another Mariposa grove sequoia giant

We spent about four hours touring the grove. Our pictures don't really do the trees justice. They are huge and very inspiring to be around. We saw many 'young' sequoias as well with ages anywhere from 50 to 500 years old. Crazy to think that these trees will continue to grow for another two or three thousand years! 

It was hard to leave the park and the trees, but alas, it was time to get back truckin' on. We came down from the mountain into what seemed like minor chaos - California and I-5. I'm always amazed at how many people can drive 85mph and not get themselves killed on a four-lane highway. Regardless, we were back in the land of people and continued on our way to Oregon. But first we made a brief visit in northern California which will be the subject of our next post. Here's a small preview...

Th-th-th-that's All Folks!!!