June 2010 Vacation Cont'd: Yosemite-Day Two: Big Trees!

Okay, back to our tour of Yosemite!  We had talked about visiting the Sequoia National Forest and/or  Sequoia and King's Canyon National Park on this trip, but that proved to be just a little too far out of the way for us, so we were psyched when we found out that there are sequoias in Yosemite!  Who knew?  Well, probably lots of people, but still.  It was a happy surprise for us!  So, after a nice rest in Mariposa (point C on the map below), it was back into the park and down to Mariposa Grove (point E) (Don't worry about point D--it doesn't correspond to anything.)  Parking was full, so we were looking at having to park and walk a fair distance.  Luckily, a shuttle bus came by just about then, and we were able to jump on.  Yay!

Once we got up to the grove, we did what we never do, and jumped on one of the trolley tours.

This way we knew we would get to see the whole grove, make it back in time to catch the shuttle bus back down to our car, and still have time to check out the park some more.  Although we would have liked more time to meander among the trees, this was still a nice tour.  We did get to stop and walk around at a couple different locations.

We even saw a deer!  I would have gotten a cool shot of him (her?  I can't tell) framed up in the burned out portion of the tree, but when the other people with cameras started running toward him to get a picture, he took off.  Go figure.  See what I mean about people ruining my wilderness?   

Anyway...we saw a deer!  And the Grizzly Giant. 

See that giant limb on the left?  It is 6+ feet in diameter!  I feel so insignificant!  (By the way, this shot of me would have been centered better on the tree, but someone started running after me with a camera and a got spooked and started shuffling off to the side.)

From here we left to head back into the valley to see what else there is to see.  Join me tomorrow for the wrap-up.

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June 2010 Vacation Cont'd: Yosemite-Day One: Orientation

After a stunning lead-up to Yosemite National Park, we were starting to get excited.  If it was this pretty on the way to Yosemite, Yosemite itself must be amazing.  And it was.

We came in on the eastern side of the park, from Lee Vining (see map below, point A), and even though it was toward the end of June, there was still plenty of snow and ice floating in the water.  After about half-an-hour of driving, we caught our first glimpse of one of Yosemite's famous landmarks, Half Dome.

Wait, where is it?

Oh, okay, got it.

Along with Half Dome, we saw some more impressive cloud formations.  

So, after this, our first official sight-seeing stop in Yosemite, we wound our way down into Yosemite Valley (point B).  Somewhere along the way, we detoured and found the sad remains of a forest fire.

Upon closer inspection though, it was clear that this area was making a comeback, slowly but surely.

By the time we got into Yosemite Valley (map), it was nice and warm and not snowy.  And packed to the gills.  Oh my God.  I hate people in my wilderness, and this place was swarming with them!  Seriously.  The area is beautiful, but once you get into the heart of the valley, where all the lodging, shopping, and food is, it is absolutely stressful.  Maybe the newly implemented park and ride program will help with some of this, but I think it is still going to be chaotic.  If we had driven straight into this (i.e., entered the park from the west side), I think our whole trip would have been tainted.  I don't know if we would have even come back the next day.  (Okay, we totally would have because they have sequoias, and we wanted to see those, but otherwise, we totally wouldn't have come back.  Maybe.)  

It was sort of late in the day by the time we made it into the valley, and we needed to figure out where we were sleeping that night, so we didn't spend a lot of time looking around, but we knew we wanted to come back the next day.

Let me take a minute to say this:  Accomodations in Yosemite are no joke.  You had better have a plan if you are going there for a visit, at least during the peak season.  There was no lodging available in the park, AT ALL.  We ended up having to drive almost 30 miles west to the town of Mariposa (point C), and I think we literally found the last room that they had avaialable in town.  There were a few sketchy looking motels along the way that we didn't bother to check with, and they may have had some availability, but I'm guessing not.  The upside was, we really enjoyed Mariposa.  It's a cute little town, and we had some awesome pizza from the the Pizza Factory.  I appreciate a place that doesn't mess around with their toppings.  I ordered pepperoni, olives, and mushrooms, and you couldn't even see the pepperoni for all of the olives and mushrooms!

Tomorrow we'll go back into the park to check out the trees, and you know I love me some giant trees!  

   

(If you're like me, you'll go crazy combing through this post, trying to figure out what point D corresponds to.  It doesn't correspond to anything.  I just had to put that in there as a waypoint to get my route to come out correctly.  I apologize for any distress this might have caused!)

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June 2010 Vacation Cont'd: Jacksonville to Yosemite

Now that I have finally updated you on the rest of last year's mainland summer vacation, it's time to start wrapping it up with our trip to Yosemite.  Like me, I'm sure you've seen pictures or video of Yosemite on TV, online, in your friends' vacation photos, etc., but I'm telling you right now, unless you've been there, you have no idea how spectacular it is!

We drove from Jacksonville, OR back to Sacramento, CA, and on the way, we decided to stop through Yosemite--might as well, right? It was a little bit out of the way, but not nearly as out of way as it would be once we got back to Hawaii!  We had a nice view along the way.  Nothing special, nothing special, then, ooh!  Something pretty is coming into view!

Well, hello, Pretty! 

After our scenic drive past Mt. Shasta, we continued on the eastern route, which would take us through Carson City, NV.  Along the way, we went through Lassen Volcanic National Park. I'm sure if we'd had time to stay there and explore it a little bit, we would have loved it, but it was sort of a half-assed decision to go there, and we ended up just staying there the night, camping with 53 of our closest friends, you know, exactly the type of camping I don't like, and by the time we got back on the road the next day, we were both just...grumbly.  We were wondering if maybe we'd made a mistake, tacking on this extra portion of the trip.

At some point, something shifted, and by the time we came around to Honey Lake, we were in a better mood.  This is a dry lake, something I'd never seen before, and it was surprisingly pretty.  It's hard to describe, and it's one of those things that doesn't show up all that well in pictures, but the whole thing had a soft, pretty feel to it that was completely different from everything else we'd been seeing.

A little ways past the lake, dust devils started kicking up like crazy in front of the mountains. 

A little further on, and we were starting to see some interesting cloud action and hints of more mountains on the horizon.  

And, we didn't realize it at the time, but we were getting our first glimpses of Yosemite

A little further on, we'd passed through Stanislaus National Forest (OMG, longest URL ever!), and after a few more bends in the road, the mountains were getting closer and now we had a beautiful view of Mono (rhymes with "oh no") Lake as well.  Mono Lake is a saline lake (roughly three times as salty as the ocean), and, among other things, it is home to about eight hundred bazillion alkali flies.  When I first heard about this, it sounded disgusting, but now that I've read a little bit about them, I have to admit, I'm kind of intrigued.   

For some much more stunning photography that probably was not shot out of a rental car window, please check out the two short promotional films that have been put together to promote this beautiful area. 

We knew that Yosemite would probably be amazing, but we had no idea that our drive there would be so spectacular.  Every place that we drove through had a beauty all its own.  If you're thinking about a road trip, you could do worse than this. 

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Tomorrow:  Yosemite!

Humboldt Redwoods State Park

I love the redwoods.  I explained why when I wrote about our August, 2008, visit.  I won't go into all of it again, but I will say that I am continually amazed when I am in their presence.  Like anything else, I suppose if you live in a coastal redwood area, you might grow accustomed to the grandeur that surrounds you, but for me, I never stop saying, "Look at THAT tree!"  "Ohmygosh!  Look at THAT one!"  "Look at how tall THAT one is!"  "Wow, that tree is HUGE!"  The fact that they all start out like this is even more amazing. (Yes, this picture is as close-up as it appears to be.)

I won't bore you with the nearly 400 pictures from our June, 2010, trip to Humboldt Redwoods State Park (map here), most of them of trees, but here are a few highlights. Hubby on the bridge below for scale.

This four-sided fireplace stands in the California Federation of Women's Clubs Grove, and is one of the many things to see along the Avenue of the Giants.

Here's some information about its designer, Julia Morgan (click to enlarge):

Scale is always hard to capture in pictures, but the fireplace is huge, as is this picnic table that is situated next to it. 

For scale, here is a normal-sized picnic table.

 I thought it was funny that in the middle of the giant picnic table, surrounded by giant trees, was this little oasis of teeny tiny plants.

Just down the road from our camp, was the Cuneo Creek Horse Group Camp.  We hiked over there from our Hamilton Barn camp one day.  We picnicked and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and chatted with the camp host.  I didn't know there were such things as camp hosts, but this seems like a great way to see some beautiful places at a minimal cost.

One of the last hikes that we did was up to Look Prairie.  There is, as the name suggests a large prairie area, which is a nice contrast to all the forest.  

Along the trail, we found these crazy-looking little sombrero flowers.  I have no idea what they are, but I would be remiss if I didn't include them here, seeing as how Hubby spent a good 10 minutes trying to get a good shot of one for me.   

Although there were a lot of burned areas, some of which weren't too pretty, overall this was a beautiful hike, and the charred remains managed to highlight the beauty of what remained.

We hiked all around the Humboldt Redwoods State Park area, checking out all the shorter little loop trails and groves along with some of the longer trails, like the Bull Creek Trail North and South (loop) which took us across the Eel River.  That water was cold, but boy did it feel good to stick our feet in it about half-way through the trail!

I can't recommend this area highly enough.  If you've never seen the coastal redwoods, put it on your list of things to do.  If camping's not your thing, that's OK; you can easily tour the redwoods by car.  Driving through is still impressive, but do stop along the way to walk among the giants.  

 

Where do People from Hawaii go to Vacation?

I get asked this question on a fairly regular basis, and the answer, mostly, is Vegas.  We, however, are not Vegas people.  We tried that a few years ago with fairly disastrous results and have no real desire to head back there any time soon.  (Also, I just realized I am nothing if not consistent.  If you don't believe me, go read the opening sentences of the post I just linked to.)  So, where do WE go to vacation?  Well, last year, we did a west-coast trip that involved a paragliding clinic, a paragliding competition where we met some of the nicest people ever, and camping in the redwoods.  I've already told you about the first two, and I figured it's finally time to tell you about the third.

If you're like me, your idea of camping is being able to drive somewhere remote where you can set up a tent and be alone in nature. Although state and national parks offer great access to some of the most beautiful places in the country, camping in these places tends to be in designated areas only; and while the conveniences of a campground are great--I like running water, indoor toilets, fire pits, firewood, and bear boxes--the 53 campers who are crammed into the campground with you--RVs, generators, radios, screaming kids and all--are not.  If I wanted all that, I'd stay home and drink a beer in my driveway.

On the other hand, if you're like me, camping does NOT include hiking into a remote campsite where you'd better have everything you need with you because civilization is a three-day hike away.  Well, have I got the perfect solution for you!  Environmental camps are the perfect blend between car-camping convenience and remote getaway isolation.  The trade-off?  There are a limited number of spots.  I don't know how many of these exist throughout the country or if this is just a California thing, but in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, where we camped, there are five.  Not five campgrounds, but five campsites, located in the Hamilton Barn and Baxter camps.  You park your car in a parking area and then you have to hike your gear in to your campsite, which is anywhere from 50 to 200 yards away.  There is a pit toilet, and no running water, but hot showers are available at the nearby Albee Creek campground.

We were in the Hamilton Barn camp, and we picked the campsite that was closest to the parking area (and the pit toilet)--still remote, but not as far to carry everything.  We had the entire place to ourselves for a couple days and then other people moved into the other campsites.  The downside to being closest to the parking area is that you get to see everyone coming and going to and from their campsites, but overall, we were still pretty secluded.  Unfortunately, I only seem to have two pictures of our campsite, but this at least gives you an idea.  The big tree on the right in the first picture is the big tree on the left in the second picture.

We also had a picnic table, fire pit, and bear box, so you can see we had plenty of room.  I can't prove to you that we had a picnic table, but I did take this picture on one of our benches.

We also had a stream nearby, so in the morning, Hubby would get up and go purify some water for us so we would have water for coffee, hiking, and brushing our teeth.

So, that's where we lived for a week in the redwoods!  Remember:  Environmental camps are the way to go!      

Non-surfin' Turtles at Laniakea Beach

This is one of my favorite places to bring visitors.  The turltes come up and lounge on the beach, and it's always fun to see somebody discover that not all of those "rocks" on the beach are actually rocks!

Mahalo (thank you) to the Malama na Honu (Protect the Turtles) volunteers who are always on hand to educate the public and help keep our beautiful turtles safe while they rest on the beach.  Many of the turtles are tagged and identified.  I didn't get everyone's name today, but I do remember seeing signs up for Olivia-Dawn (Hawaiian name: Ipo, Tag L-04) and Wooley-Bully (Hawaiian name: Lopeka O Holokai, Tag L-07).