California

After having played around with the idea for a year and a half, my friend/longtime travel companion Danni and I finally embarked on our road trip around Wetern USA. Our starting point was San Francisco. Here, we spent three days wandering around the hills of the city warming up our legs getting ready for the hikes and ascends we had waiting for us in the many national parks that make up our route. 

Having bought sunscreen, granola bars and a strong supply of pasta, we headed east in a rented car to our first park: The great Yosemite. Here, we ran into trouble right off the bat. The only first-come, first-served campgrounds in the park were inaccessible due to snow and every other campground in and around the park was full. Fortunately, we were saved by the immense kindnesss of one campground manager who let us pitch up our tent on a small lot on his own site for three nights. 

El Capitan

Yosemite Falls

This gave us two full days in the park. We used one of them exploring the famous Yosemite Valley. The road going into the valley led us by the monster that is El Capitan. Further in, we hiked the Four Mile Trail that took us all the way from the valley floor past the source of Yosemite Falls up to Glacial point where we had the most extraordinary panoramic view of the valley with Half Dome right in the center. At night, we went a mile up to road from our campsite to Evergreen Lodge to enjoy a nice, well-deserved beer. 

 

Four Mile Trail

Half Dome

The second day, we explored a less crowded corner of the park further north called the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Here, we crossed the O’Shaughnessy Dam and walked along the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Wapama Falls. It being early summer, the waterfall was still being fed by melting snow and it was pure joy getting soaked in its cool mist. In the evening, the sky was covered with just the right amount of clouds for a glorious sunset. 

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

Trail to Wapama Falls

After Yosemite, we continued south along the Sierras to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. We camped out in the former on the edge of the roaring South Fork of the Kings River. Prescribed fires were burning in the forests surrounding the campground which blurred our starry night skies and decorated our tent with ashes. 

 

One of the many old seqouia trees. 

Walking in Giant Forest, Seqouia. 

In Seqouia, we walked beneath the giant sequoia trees that have been around for thousands of years and hiked a small portion of the High Sierra Trail. Back in the less crowded Kings Canyon, we followed the Paradise Valley Trail to Mist Falls through flooded patches on the canyon floor and across smooth rocks on its walls. 

 

Paradise Valley Trail

Our last national park in California was Death Valley and this name is rightfully earned. Day temperatures this time a year rise well above 40 degrees celsius and nights are only a few degrees cooler. We stayed at a deserted campground in Furnace Creek, altitude below sea level, and limited our time in the desert to one night. When the sun had set, we drove to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America. The moon lit up the salty basin and it felt like walking around on a different planet. Early next morning, we walked around Artist’s Palette, a multicolored area one the face of the Black Mountains that gets it many colors from different metal elements in the soil. 

Wandering around Artist’s Palette 

Leaving Death Valley, we drove west to the pacific coast where we have spent the past weekend in San Luis Obispo celebrating the college graduation of an old friend. Today, we say goodbye to California (for now) and then southeast towards Nevada.