Update and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

I am sorry if I created some worry with my post yesterday about the problem with our home. We are doing just fine and I am sure there was a reason we were stopped here in Pahrump, Nevada. I think I am beginning to learn what that reason is.

The issue with the trailer is a crack in the frame right between the wheels on the door side. It was very fortunate that I saw the problem before it became worse. Here is a picture of the crack:

I called the manufacturer of the frame of our trailer (The manufacturer of the trailer itself is out of business) and they were very helpful. We are set for a full repair on Monday(4/10) of next week. In the mean time we will enjoy our stay in Pahrump.

On Friday, March 24, we decided to get going early and head up Highway 198 to Sequoia National Park. We had great weather as we headed out. The drive up the canyon was beautiful with all of the red buds blooming and the water cascading down the valley.

We went through the gate of the NP and they told us that for now the road was open between the parks and as long as we had 4X4 we would be fine. I have heard from other travelers that since we were there, they had to have chains and the road was closed again by a snow storm. We were very lucky this day.

Everyone has to stop at Tunnel Rock:

Once you leave the entrance station, the road gets even more curvy and steep. The views are amazing. We had great visibility at the overlook.

You can see the road we just drove in this shot:

We just kept on climbing. About this point you may be wondering where are the big trees? Well the Giant Sequoia only grow in very specific places with the right climate. Sequoia was one of the first areas to get federal protection to protect these awesome trees. We finally entered the area called the "Giant Forest". We parked at the visitor center and walked all around the area.

This is a shot of Kim and I in front of the Sentinal tree. This tree is right in front of the visitor center. It is "only" 24 feet at the base. Many of the trees are as large or larger.

Taking pictures of these trees is difficult. It is really hard to capture the scale. We have found you have to put a person in front of them to get the massive size. We also like to hug trees.

Periodically one falls down. They can last for a very long time laying on the ground. The root ball is massive.

We walked through the snow on a fairly flat trail through this massive forest. We almost had the place to ourselves. It was a magical experience.

We then drove on dry roads and stopped to pay our respects to General Sherman. This is the largest tree by volume in the world. It is about 40 feet across at the base.

We each had to take our turn in front of the awesome tree.

The roads were still good, but it started to snow. The snow was deep in the parking areas and along the road.

We drove through the beautiful area and enjoyed the solitude this time of year. We were able to drive all the way to the Kings Canyon Visitor center. We watched an excellent movie about the entire park. Almost all of it is not accessible this time of year. We knew then that this visit would not even count as a drive-by. We will certainly try to come back, ready to backpack into the wilds of Kings Canyon.

The one thing we did get to see was the Grant Grove of giant trees. In this grove lives the third largest tree in the world, the "General Grant". We were once again in awe of the massive size and over 2000 year age.

We had an amazing day with good weather and the road being clear. As we hoped, there were very few people around the parks. We just loved it. They have removed many of the buildings that were built around these giant forests to make the area more natural and to protect the trees.

We then had to drive back down the mountain and it was starting to snow harder. I knew I just had to get to lower elevation to get out of the snow. Well the plan worked except I had to drive through the clouds. We were in this pea soup for about 15 minutes.

After leaving the snow we drove about 50 miles and we were in orange and lemon groves. We drove through the valley by almonds and a number of other trees that we could not identify until we read all about them in another blog. We learn so much that way.

Well that was it for this area, we now were heading to Death Valley NP, but we had one other stop on the way. We even had a surprise visitor. I will write about that in my next entry.

Coulterville, Horse Creek and OOPS!

We are now in Pahrump, Nevada. It looks like we will be here for a little over a week. We have to get some work done on the trailer and the shop we have chosen, can't do the work until next week. I will write more about the problem in a later post. Let's just say it is a MAJOR problem. We will just stay positive and enjoy our stay in Pahrump. The cool thing is we actually have friends here. I will bet we will make some more.

We stayed at Horseshoe Bend Campground near Coulterville, California until Wednesday, March 22. We really enjoyed our quiet time there. We had the park all to our selves other than two guys that were staying there to do some logging in the local area. I spent some time talking to them. Really nice guys.

I took a ride on my motorcycle around the area. I stopped in the town of Coulterville to check out a historical museum. There wasn't much to it, but here is what is left of the Coulterville Hotel that was built in 1849. As you can see in the windows, it is missing a roof.

This was a mining area and Coulterville at one time was a significant town. They had a number of historic vehicles and machinery.

Town Hearse on the left

Cool old Dodge Fire Truck

Horse Drawn Road Grader

We had a serious hail storm come in, but we did not get any damage.

Next up was a move down to a place that would hopefully allow us to check out Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. They are way up in elevation, so taking the trailer up there was not an option this time of year. I found a COE park outside of Visalia called Horse Creek. We got hooked up and dumped the tanks and headed out. It was a 165 drive through rolling hills and along the Merced River. Then we hit the very busy Highway 99. I was happy to exit at Visalia and head east up into the mountains. Just past the little town of Lemon Grove, that was aptly named as it sat in a area full of Orange and Lemon Trees, we made a short climb to the dam of Lake Kaweah. On the far end of the lake is the Horse Creek Campground. The set up is confusing. We normally love COE parks, but this one is older and just strange. Of course my feelings about the place went from strange to bad with the next sequence of events. The park roads are very tight and lined with concrete curbs. They look like this:

We found a nice site along the lake. The road leading to the site was tight, but I should have made it easily. I for some reason lost concentration and made a mistake. I ended up hitting one of those &%$#@ curbs. I ended up blowing a tire as it hit on the sidewall. I was right next to the site, so I backed in with one blown tire.

After taking a few deep breaths and having a beer, I took a walk to enjoy a nice sunset in the beautiful valley.

The next day was a good weather day, but we had to spend it in Visalia getting a new tire and doing laundry and grocery shopping. While I was removing the tire, I took some shots of the lake and surrounding mountains.

It really was a nice site

We did have limited OTA TV and good Verizon 4G cell signal at this Horse Creek. The cost was $20 per night with no hookups. They do have a dump station and bathrooms that are in need of repair.

We were watching the weather forecast closely and it looked like a major storm was coming in the next evening. We decided to get moving early on March 24 and head to Sequoia and see as much as we could see. At that point the road between Sequoia and Kings Canyon was open. I will write about that awesome day in my next post.

Yosemite Falls Hike

I wrote this entry on March 31, but was unable to upload it due to internet connection issues in Death Valley. We are in Pahrump, Nevada now.  That seems like a long time ago. Much has happened in the past two days. I will write more about that soon, but first, I want to get this entry published.

When we left Yosemite NP on March 15, Brian and I spent much of the time driving back to our camp discussing our plan for our next visit. We decided that we would take the following day off and then return to Yosemite NP on March 17 and do a hike. Brian was set that he wanted to do the Yosemite Falls hike all the way to the top. That hike is only 7.2 miles, but gains 3700 feet in elevation. The good news is that it is an up and back, so I could always just stop and wait for Brian to return... or could I?

Brian is 20 years younger than I and is in much better shape. My problem (and it is purely my problem) I am way to competitive to quit even when it everything is telling me it is time to stop. That character flaw would bite me on this day.

We made the drive to the park. I got a decent shot of the rock you have to go under at the gate on this end of the park.

We were at the base ready to go about 10:00 AM. This trail was originally built in 1871 and has been in service since then. It is amazing to think how many other people have done this hike. The guide said 6 to 8 hours for this hike.That turned out to be just about right. The first part was dry and very steep. We read that there were about 70 switchbacks. It was all very steep and very rocky.

It was not long and we started getting some nice views of Yosemite Valley. You never get tired of those views.

Half Dome in all of it's glory.

The wall above us was daunting:

The snow on the far side of the valley was a sign that I missed. Would there be that much snow on this side also?

We hiked for a long time and when we stopped I was amazed that we had only gone a mile. We could see our progress measured in vertical feet looking out over the valley. This was going to be a long day.

We made it to the overlook at just over a mile. This would have been plenty, but we soldiered on. Here is Brian looking fresh at this point.

The views are amazing up and down the valley:

View of the village from above.

The hike then took a diabolical turn. You go down about 300 vertical feet and make a traverse to get near the base of the upper falls. It feels good at the time, but you know this will not be fun later in the day. This is the first time you get to see the falls. The views of the falls are beyond awesome.

Just after the base of the falls we hit our first snow pack.

We crossed an ice bridge, it was half that thick later in the day.

There was this ever present wall above us that reminded us how far we had to go.

We were right along the waterfall when I got the perfect angle to get Half Dome and the water fall in the same frame. My favorite view of the day and why it is now the header on this blog.

This shot shows you the angle we were climbing. There was hikers around us all day. Most of them college kids. Everyone would do a pitch or two and stop and try to catch our breath.

The snow then became constant. It was icy and slick. It really made it much more difficult. My quads were burning because I had to be careful not to slip and lose ground I had just made.

I didn't take many pictures in that last section. It was tough, but you could see the wall to the left getting shorter and blue sky up ahead. Here is the top. What a view!

My legs were pretty tired, but there was no way I was going to quit before I reached the top. Now the problem was, I had to go back down. I ate a granola bar, some trail mix and some beef jerky.That gave me a shot of energy.

The trip back down through the snow was more difficult. You had to kind of slide/ski and try not to fall. I did take one fall and caught my bad leg underneath me. I may have gained a couple of degrees of ROM on that one. I do think I strained my calf, although I did not know it at the time.

Brian was ahead of me and waited for me at the base of the waterfall. He is a great SIL.

When I got to the falls the sun was hitting it just right, forming a rainbow. I sat and rested and enjoyed that place for a long time and ate the last of my food.

I then knew the uphill section was next. I struggled through and then only the 70 or so switchbacks to the bottom. I think they went on for ever. The trail was full of large rocks and it required you to hop from rock to rock. That was a lot to ask from my old legs.

Kim walked up the trail a ways and boy was I happy to see her. Brian and I celebrated with a high five when I reached the bottom. It was 5:30 PM. Brian had completed it about a half hour earlier. It is also possible that some beverages were enjoyed when we got back to camp.

I have to admit, I was sore for about a week in all of my legs and that is when I determined that my calf was more than sore. It took about 2 more weeks to return to normal.

I am so glad that Brian talked me into this hike. I still carry that feeling of accomplishment. It will help me understand better my capabilities and push me to do more.

Before I left the park I had to pay my respects to my favorite rock in the park. Here is a shot of El Capitan:

Early the next morning, Brian, Shannon and Amelia headed to the airport in San Francisco. I said good bye and then headed back to bed. The next few days were tough. We were blessed with awesome weather in both San Francisco and Yosemite for their visit. We paid for it after they left with some rain, hail and snow at camp. That was fine with me, I couldn't do much anyway.

Next up for us is moving south to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon in the winter. I will write about that in my next entry along with a little mishap or two.