Bill and Eileen's Travels

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP's (6/7-6/9)

Today is Monday 6/9/2014. We arrived in Visalia, Ca. a city of about 120,000 people southeast of the National Parks. The town is mainly supported by agricultural businesses in the area and it is a very nice town. We arrived Saturday late in the afternoon after a 400 mile ride. Getting out of Death Valley proved to be a little more difficult than we thought. The most direct route was over some very steep mountains so we opted to "go around". This was the correct decision but it added about 90 miles onto our trip. Needless to say it was a long, hot day.

Yesterday we chilled if you can do that in 105 degree heat. We went to church at St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. This church was quite different than our experience last week. The parish has something like 1500 families and the mass was jammed. Nice people.

Today we left early and drove to Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP's. Visalia is about 40 miles from the Ash Mountain entrance in the south end of the park. We climbed from 300 feet to about 6100 feet to our first stop at the Giant Forest Museum. The road up this mountain was very challenging with switchback after switchback. The views just got better and better. Absolutely beautiful. These mountains are unbelievable.

We entered the first Giant Sequoia grove just as we arrived at the Museum. After visiting the Museum we drove toward Moro Rock stopping at Tunnel Log (You can drive through it) and other beautiful groves of these giant trees. The last stop on this loop was Moro Rock. Moro Rock is a granite dome at 6,725 feet, with a 1/4 mile staircase that goes up about 300ft. When you get to the top of this climb you can see for a hundred plus miles in all directions. The pictures are below but you can't capture the beauty of this place. Well worth the climb.

After a nice lunch at Wuksachi Village we backtracked and took a short hike to the General Sherman Tree. This tree is estimated to be 2200 years old and stands a mere 275 feet tall. In volume of total wood the Sequoias are the largest trees on earth and The General Tree is the largest of them all. The Sequoia is shorter than the Redwood trees found on the coast of California. In all other areas the Sequoia's are older, weight more, thickest bark, and larger in diameter. In all respects this is an incredible living thing.

We kicked around the mountain in other areas and went down another, less windy, route. The round trip was about 130 miles and the scenery in all areas was unbelievable.

We returned from the 72 degree woods to the 103 degree campground. I think the temperatures in this drought stricken area are hitting new highs this week. I guess were just lucky.

Tomorrow we leave for Yosemite NP were we meet the Ekman's for a few days of camping and exploring. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone. Can't wait.

Life is good!!!!!

On the way up the mountain!

After the museum. Drive thru!!

This is Tunnel Log!

Grove of trees!

Taller than her!

Taller than me!

Moro Rock!

On the way up the 300foot climb!

The summit. Endless view!

Biggest tree in the world!

Volume of wood!

Endless View!!

General Sherman!

Endless View!!

Friday, June 6, 2014

Las Vegas and Death Valley (6/5 - 6/6)

Tonight is Friday 6/6/2014. Yesterday we moved from St George to Las Vegas where we met up with Kathie and Mark. The Las Vegas Motor coach Resort has changed considerably since our last visit in 2008. They have basically redone the entire resort and the sites are really nice. We finally had the bus washed. Then yesterday we took a ride to Red Rock Canyon and then to downtown Vegas. We ate at PF Chang's then we went across the street to see the water show at Bellagio. Vegas is just not for us. It's a crazy city.

Today we drove to Beatty, Nevada which is the small town just east of one of the entrances into Death Valley NP. We only had about 5-6 hours to see some of the park. We rode up to Scotty's Castle which is a big estate built in the desert with the money from a Insurance millionaire from Chicago. Scotty was the one who pushed the investment by telling people he had discovered gold in the valley. The estate was certainly unique and ahead of its time. It was never finished because of a title dispute that was later settled and the fact that the owner ran out of money due to the stock market crash of 1929. It was an interesting place, but we all agree we would never live there.

We then went to Ubehebe Crater. This is the site of a volcanic explosion about 2000 years ago. The explosion blew debris into an area about 6 square miles. There is very little vegetation in the area and the crater is about 400-500 feet deep and very interesting.

This park is enormous and we saw about 2% and yet we drove over 110 miles. The temperatures were excessive for us today but in the normal range for this valley this time of year. We didn't get to the lowest area because it was too far away but the lowest spot is in Badwater Basin which is 282ft below sea level. This will probably be the last time I come here, but we all agree that it was a place we had to see.

Tomorrow we head west to Visalia, Ca. which will be our base for visits to Kings Canyon NP and Sequoia NP. Then on Tuesday we head up to Yosemite where we will meet up with Magnus, Jen, Sebastian and Sofia. We are really looking forward to that.

My refrigerator worked well until late this afternoon but right now it is not cooling that well. We will see.

Back in the campground we are greeted by the wild burrows that roam this area. The campground host puts water out for them and they show up every morning and evening. They tend to eat the planted flowers so I'm not sure I would feed them. they seem to be healthy. The fat one is really pregnant and the two others are her offspring.

Enjoy the Pic's

Scotty's Castle!

Upstairs music room!

Above the Crater!

The crater!

Not real crowded!

The 110 in the middle is my car thermometer

during our ride in the park.

I think the one on the right might be a male.

Momma in the middle!

The campground host said she's probably due

any day now!

Resort flowers are tasty!

Our view tonight!

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

St George ,Utah (6/2 - 6/4)

It's Wednesday June 4th and we have been in St. George waiting for parts to come in to fix our refrigerator. Camping World screwed up the parts order twice so we just hung out here and waited. St George is basically a hugh Snowbird place. Basically most of the Snowbirds are gone, they leave here in March and April because the temperatures start going into the high nineties and above. The day we got here it was 99 degrees. But it's a dry heat.

They installed our refrigerator fans today so we are off to Vegas in the morning. In addition to the two days I cut out of our Bryce Canyon visit we lost another day so we cut one out of Death Valley NP. The temperatures there are in the 115 degree range so cutting a day is probably not a bad idea.

Mark and Kathie have gone on to Las Vegas and we will join them tomorrow.

Life is Good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bryce Canyon June 1st

On Sunday June 1st we moved to Bryce Canyon. We had originally planned to be here for three nights but we have been having Refrigerator issues and I have scheduled a repair job at St George, Utah for Monday 6/2. It didn't happen, Today is June 3rd and we have been here in St George for two days waiting for the parts that were supposed to be here on Monday. Hopefully we will get our repairs tomorrow and move on to Las Vegas on Thursday. Mark and Kathie stayed in Bryce Canyon for the three days and hopefully had a great visit. We will meet them in Las Vegas.

Our ride from Torrey to Bryce was beautiful but unbelievably wild. Highway 12 is a Scenic Byway that goes through what is called the Grand Staircase-Escalante. This is a series of canyons that step down giant valley to giant valley. It is magnificent. The road is very windy and narrow and at one point we were driving on a ridge that was slightly wider than a two lane road, with no guardrails and drops of 600 to 1000 feet on each side. Needless to say I saw very little of the beautiful scenery due to the fact that
my eyes were glued to the road. Eileen who has a fear of heights was taking pictures at the same time that she was helping me drive. We stopped shortly after crossing this ridge to take a deep breath and stop the shaking of our hands.
Although Eileen did take many pictures you can't get the depth perception from the top of the ridge. Just another gorgeous part of this beautiful state.

I came to Bryce this one day to walk in the Hoodoos. These are formations of tall spires of red sandstone that have been eroded over millions of years. These are the formations that make Bryce Canyon what it is. Eileen stayed in the Bus due to her altitude sickness, but Kathie, Mark, and I did a 2.9 mile hike down about 400 feet into the canyon on a portion of the Navajo Loop trail returning to the top on the Queens Garden Trail. We were all sucking for air when we got back to the top but the experience was everything that I had hoped it would be. I had been thinking about doing this hike ever since 2008 when I passed it up. I sure hope my pictures will give you some idea of the beauty.