Racing for the Holiday

After Kings Canyon, I found out that my possible Thanksgiving in Phoenix was not possible. So the Road Trip has become a cannonball race home. It is more important to be with family for the holiday than to be meandering across the country. The end of the road trip is approaching.

Thursday night was in Las Vegas (no comment), Friday night I slept in Kingman, AZ, and by last night, I had made it to Gallup, NM. While in AZ, I sped in and out of my former home town of Phoenix stopping only long enough to cram Pre to the max with stuff from my storage space, and to drop by TreasonPal's for a brief hello.

Tonight I have made it as far as El Reno, OK having driven I 40 for nearly 10 hours, and close to 700 miles. It wasn't awful, just a bit monotonous. I expect much of the same for the remaining 1,500 miles. But this will get me home by Thanksgiving and also give me a bit of prep time before heading out on my next adventure. Unless plans change, I will be joining family and going abroad to Honk Kong, China and Bali, Indonesia.

(BTW, I stopped here in El Reno because it is the home of the Onion Burger. Of the 3 onion burger joints here described in the Road Food book, I chose Johnie's. The cook took a handful of burger meat, not a ball or patty, but a handful, and threw it on the grill. After a quick tap from the spatula, an equal sized handful of onions were dropped on top. With a few squishes of the spatula, the sliced onions were half combined with and half hanging out of the burger. When nearly cooked through, the burger was flipped in order to brown the other side and caramelize the dangling onions. As an onion fanatic, I was thrilled to experience them in an original and delicious new way...I'm going to try to do this at home.)

I may blog again before going, but if I get the chance I will blog from overseas also. Bon Voyage!

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park(s)

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks were made national parks separately in 1890 and 1940 respectively, but sharing a large common border, they began being jointly administered in 1943. I don't know whether I was in one or two national parks today, but it doesn't matter because either way it (or they) was (or were) so much better than expected.

Sequoia was the second National Park ever after Yellowstone, but it's remoteness and the fact that it is close to amazing Yosemite have perhaps left it a bit unknown. And Kings Canyon is pretty cool, but compared to Bryce or Grand Canyons, it just doesn't compare. Add to that, 99% of the two parks are not accessible without overnight hiking and camping, , heck, a backpacker can hike to a spot that is farther from a road than any other place in the lower 48. I really didn't think I would be amazed. Especially after Yosemite.

But turn after turn on the General's Highway was stunning, and multiple short hikes provided spectacular treats. Perhaps the best treat of the day was hiking up Moro Rock. The hike was only about a quarter mile, but included steep inclines and over 400 steps. It was straight up - not a rock, but a mini-mountain. The whole hike was precarious and provided above-the-clouds views of the valley before summiting with an endless panorama.

After Redwoods and Yosemite, with their immense groves of giant trees, I didn't think I could still be awed by more trees, but I was wrong. In these parks are some of the worlds largest and oldest living things. At 2,200 years old, a birth date around 110 BC, the General Sherman tree is the world largest and, depending on the way you measure, the worlds most massive living organism. (There are arguments about the great coral reef, as well as some mushroom in Oregon, but Sherman stands as an individual specimen.) Likewise, the stroll to Grant's Tree, America's Christmas Tree, proved perhaps more impressive. It's a more aesthetically pleasing tree.

Add to that a few other stunning treks and scenic viewpoints, a fair amount of deer and millions of non-human fearing squirrels, and it was a complete day of wonderful National Park excursions. Were it not for the expected sub-freezing nightly temperature, I would be camping out. Alas, I am in a Motel 6 in Portersville, CA. Having started out this morning in Fresno, I only covered 60 miles as the crow flies, but more than 200 miles were covered most of it switchbacking along beautiful mountain sides.

Yosemite!

Here's the new Top 5 list of my favorite National Parks:

5. Carlsbad Caverns

4. Big Bend

3. Bryce Canyon

2. Yosemite

1. Yellowstone

Yosemite has bumped the Grand Canyon off the list and jumped to number 2. From the moment I entered Yosemite Valley it was immediately a place of wonder. Like Yellowstone, it is plentiful in variety, curiosity and stunning views.

The immense El Capitan and Half Dome tower over the valley, majestic waterfalls storm out of the glacier carved mountains, hikes into the wilderness are filled with ever changing dramatic scenery, and in the end, just as I was heading for the southern exit, they threw in a dizzying grove of Giant Sequoias.

I camped out last night in the Upper Pines campground with Glacier Point as my backdrop. The stars came out early and brilliantly. The milky way was clearly visible all night. And the night was capped by watching the meteors of the Leonid shower burn up on entry into the atmosphere. I'd been hoping for a night of star watching since I began this trip, and I can't imagine I will ever beat this night. Really it was a stellar evening of camping.

I could write so much more, but I am exhausted and will let the pictures do the talking.

Redwoods and SF

During this second road trip, I've averaged around 7 hours of sleep a day. But since I've arrived here in San Francisco, I have been down for 11 hours a day. I'd love to blame it on the endless energy of niece and nephew RiMax, but I think I may be a bit under the weather, and catching up on Z's while warm and cozy in the cave suite in the basement. I've even decided to stay a day more than planned, and play a bit more soccer with Max, and read a few more princess stories to Ries before heading on the slow route to Phoenix.

Getting here to this rambunctious oasis, I did pass thorough another majestic Park, Redwoods National. As far north and west as you can be in California lies a coastal redwood forest that is well deserving of National Park status. Driving along the park routes is dizzying as I nearly brushed my side mirrors from the towering monoliths of coastal redwoods. If I had a convertible, I could have seen the treetops, but even craning forward I could see just the bases of the massive trunks. But when you park and take just a few steps into the groves of redwoods you begin to swirl while looking straight up.

"THIS is the forest primeval," said both Longfellow and Looney Tunes. And Redwoods NP is a pristine example of old growth forests, and easily gives you the feeling of walking into another era, which in fact you are as some of these trees were here when that guy Jesus walked the earth. And the environs of this park may be no different from when dinosaurs roamed through them.

Besides the groves of giant redwoods, this park is also on the Pacific Ocean, providing completely separate astounding views. You get two-for-the-price-of-one stunning and solitary beauty. I wouldn't include this in my top 5 parks of all time, but it is in the top ten, and I'd love to revisit it during different seasons of the year. Just walking through the towering redwood groves and scanning the immense Pacific is both humbling and exhilarating.

Anyway, tomorrow I will be getting on the road again after a wonderful family visit, and if the weather is good, I should be camping out tomorrow night in what many consider the second best National Park in the lower 48 - Yosemite!

Crater Lake Redux

This day consisted of non-stop scenic driving. From start to finish I was following the little green dots on the map that indicate beauty and more beauty followed by beauty. But today's main event was a return to Crater Lake NP.

During Road Trip part 1, I wrote the following: "In my ranking of greatest sites I've visited based mainly on their aesthetic beauty, this (Crater Lake) is now number 2, behind only the Grand Canyon Southern Rim, and moving in front of Monument Valley." While Monument Valley has been bumped by the caldera at Big Bend, the Big Room at Carlsbad Caverns and multiple sites at Yellowstone, the top two remain as is. Besides the first breathtaking views of the Grand Canyon, nothing compares to the first peeks over the volcanic rim and into Crater Lake.

The first time I was here it was summer, and the big change to this visit is the added tranquility of the winter setting. First I was subdued by the snow capped fir trees on the approach, but the idyllic nature of the snow encircled lake nearly brought me to my knees. Sure, the Grand Canyon is better...I doubt it can be beat...but Crater Lake has a majestic halo that must be seen to be appreciated. The rim road that circuits the volcano was closed by snow, and the campground was also closed, this left me with just a short stroll around the entrance area. None the less, experiencing the tranquility in winter of this special place was well worth the diversion. Make an effort to get here...it's worth it.

Continuing my National Park-a-day routine of late, tomorrow I will be seeing some big trees. In dark I drove through a route I am sure to retrace. Following that, I'll be visiting with the Sis and family for a few days.

Click on the following links for my RT part 1 descriptions of the amazing Crater Lake:

Crater Lake Part 1
Crater Lake Part 2

Seattle Rain and Rainier

The road into Seattle, I 90, felt less like an interstate and more like a precarious drive through a mountainous rain forest. Actually, it felt a lot like what I expected the Grand Tetons to feel like. I was dwarfed by the immense Cascade Mountains, one after the other, for many miles as I wove through mountain passes. This stretch is perhaps the most entertaining and white knuckled drive on any of the major cross country interstates, made all the more difficult by the weather changing from drizzle to rain to thunderstorm to snow to sleet and back again, ending in a steady drizzle that would linger for the next 3 days. Hey, it's Seattle.

Mr. and Mrs. Battlestar swore that this much rain was uncharacteristic, but why would there be so many jokes about Seattle's rainy weather? I arrived at the BS's early enough on Friday to enjoy dinner. We ordered superb Thai food, and it wouldn't be until Sunday morning before I had a full meal of anything but Asian cuisines. It was delicious and I probably haven't had better since I was last in San Francisco a year ago. Thanks to the Battlestars' for being superb hosts and I wish them the best on their upcoming adventures...before weeks end, they will be in Australia, and BS himself will have turned 41 (happy b-day!).

This morning, I exited rainy Seattle with weather forecasts at all possible destinations calling for constant precipitation again in the drizzle to snow range. The best places to explore were also at the highest elevations, so snow and closed roads were on the agenda, and the forecasters were remarkably accurate. After combating Seattle's rush hour traffic that was as hectic as Philadelphia's is, I wound my way to the only entrance still open at Mount Rainier National Park.

Mt. Rainier was the fifth National Park ever established and encompasses all of the 14,410 foot eponymous peak. Unlike the Tetons, the base of this behemoth starts near sea level, and pyramids upward. I wish I could describe its majesty, but I could see no further up the slope than perhaps 100 feet. Fog and rain and eventually snow obscured the heights. Yet its' presence was easy to perceive by the switchback turns, tumbling waterfalls and old growth forests. A couple of short hikes into the forests yielded a shadowy spongy existence that declared that this place was unique and special.

If I could have ventured further into the park, I am sure each change in elevation would have provided more unique adventures, but the road to scenic Paradise was closed and I had to turn back. And just an hour later I ran into similar road blocks as I tried to scale Mount St. Helens. This time the much shorter peak (8,365 feet) halted me just 8 miles from the drives summit as the underside of Pre was sheering off the grooves of snow accumulated between the tire tracks. The road wasn't closed and I was tempted to push onward, but a sportsman applying his tire chains informed me, "There's 3 feet of snow up there, you're not going to make it, you gotta turn back or they'll be pulling you off the side of the volcano."

Still, each of the aborted mountain climbs were well worth the journeys and having to come back the same road just provided double the scenic driving. Following another fearsome drive at high altitudes as I passed south of Mount Hood, I at last arrived at Madras, OR where I am calming my nerves. I hope the forecasters remain accurate as I am expecting 50 degrees and partly sunny for a repeat visit to one of my favorite National Parks.

Wy Id Or Wa

It's been a couple of days since a post. That's because when I finally get to be with family or friends, it is much more important to be with them. And I just spent a fantastic, rejuvenating couple of nights with my cousins Bill and Lisa and family in Eagle, ID, just outside of Boise. I got to have two home cooked meals, fun and play with the kids, and I took scenic tour of the surrounding area. I felt totally welcomed and comforted and even got to help out nephew-once-removed Ian as he was working on a project that needed a picture of a sunset. It was great to be with family again after 10 days on the road....if the Phillies hadn't lost, it would have been a perfect layover.

In order to get to Eagle, I exited Jackson, WY (BTW, the title of this post refers to the 4 states I have traversed). I headed out for a couple of scenic drives in making my way across Idaho. Besides seeing the back side of the Grand Tetons (which are equally beautiful, yet too far away to be awesome), the highlight of the trips were the Upper and Lower Mesa waterfalls. For the Upper Mesa Falls, the short trek took me to within spitting distance of pour over, and it was great. Perhaps it's always there, but in the early morning when I was there, a constant rainbow was wafting in the mist.

I then cruised across Idaho off the main highways in order to see the Craters of the Moon National Monument. The monument is a 25 mile stretch of the Oregon Trail made up of the remnants of earlier volcanic activity. Early travelers across this stretch of the trail were lucky if their wagons survived the landscape. It was the last great scenery before arriving at Eagle, ID for the aforementioned couple of nights with family.

Today I left the Boise area and quickly entered Oregon. My route across eastern OR was leisurely and scenic taking me through both the Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests before straddling the Blue Mountains, again along the Oregon Trail. Nearly every mile of the drive presented new and changing scenery and was thoroughly enjoyable.

I entered the state of Washington, passing through Hermiston, OR where cousin Bill and I had gone fishing on my first road trip. From there, I just followed the highway into Washington's large wine country, and followed Bill's recommendation...I sampled the wine. Then I sampled more. Before I was done, I had gone to 5 wineries, and decided that it might not be a good idea to drive anymore.

So I checked into the nearest hotel, and am now chilling in Prosser, WA. I bought 6 bottles of wine. (I expect they'll all be opened at my next couple of stops in Seattle, Portland and San Fran.) Every winery I was at recommended the same place for dinner, Picazo, and two of them said the Paella was the meal to order. They were right, and the baby clams, muscles, fish and perfect shrimp added to the complex flavors.

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As my next few stops will likely be with family and friends, posting blogs may to be sporadic over the next week or so, but I do hope to fit in at least one more National Park before I hit San Francisco next week.

Not so Grand Tetons

The drive across Wyoming incrementally built up the excitement as I approached the Grand Tetons National Park. It started on flat farm land filled with cattle. The Rockie Mountains were visible as specs in the distance. After Casper, WY, the road was still straight, but the landscape became spotted with irregularities - some caverns, some rolling hills, and occasional eye-catching ridges and crevices. Eventually, the road began to meander as it followed the Wind River, all the while the Rockies were growing. Finally, at the cowboy town of Dubois, it was up and away climbing 3000 feet in elevation in short order.
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At the crest, and around a few curves, the Grand Tetons only 40 miles away presented themselves for the first time. And I was underwhelmed. I kept expecting as I got closer that their colossal 13,770 feet of elevation would be breathtaking. But it just never happened for me. I think part of the problem was that the base of the mountains was already 7,000 feet up, so only 6,000 feet were above the high plateau they rested on.

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Many other National Park aficionados have ranked this park as one of the best, and sometime it has been their favorite. But Grand Tetons doesn't even crack my personal top 10. I should add that I was deprived of some of the best views because the most exciting road in the park was (prematurely in my opinion) closed for winter.

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Essentially, the park centers around 3 mountains, Grand, Middle and South Teton. And they really are stunning. But from a distance, once you appreciate them a few times, they don't get any better. In order for me to have had a more dramatic experience, I should have: come 2 days earlier while the best road was still open, then gone directly to Jenny Lake and caught a ferry across it to the base of the mountains, then hiked up Grand Teton until the altitude and beauty made me dizzy. That might have put it in my top 10, but it would never break into my top 5. I even ended up driving through the park at dusk, and didn't encounter a single animal, which extended my lack of enthusiasm. I suppose this could all just be a case of hyped up expectations not being met.

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After completing my tour of the park, I intended to head north, and re-enter my number one park, Yellowstone. But again I was stymied as the only road between the parks was closed for repairs, and I quickly went from 5 to 300 miles away from a Yellowstone entrance.

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So I am holed up in Jackson Hole, WY, a pretty ski resort town just south of the Tetons. Perhaps my biggest expectation beater for the day is that I am staying at a Motel 6, and this is by far the best I ever stayed at...they even gave me slippers upon registering.

Teddy and the Wind Cave

I won't bore you with any details about the drive across North Dakota, because for the most part it bored me. But at least it was mostly sunny and warming up. It even got so warm that as I was nearing the end of the day, I felt I could comfortably (and at long last) camp out. There's not much in ND, but I ended up at the best of it...the Teddy Roosevelt National Park...it's a return trip for me, but really, I had no other options.

Road Food note: In the book I use that guides me to some of the great meals I have had (Road Food by the Stearn's), the only state with no entries in the lower 48 is North Dakota.

After setting up camp, I figured I had enough daylight to drive into the park just a bit and visit a prairie dog town (they're so darned funny). But as I went along the entry road, I was confronted by a herd of bison (American buffalo). They were littered across the road, so I came to a halt. As they were grazing on their dinner, they were moving toward me. I backed up a bit, but they kept coming. After backing up some more, a pickup truck approached and I hailed the driver.

I informed her of the approaching herd, and she said she had been here in a car as small as mine, and had turned around in a similar situation. But in her truck, she could honk them away, and I could follow. But as she moved slowly through them, they immediately closed the wake behind her and I was stifled again. LOL, I sheepishly returned to camp.

I spent the night completely alone as I was the only camper in the park that night. In a small cottonwood forest, with the babble of the Missouri river, and a few far too close snorts and heavy foot falls of bison, I sat and watched the sky waiting for the clouds to break. This would have been how Teddy experienced the region, other than he probably sought out the bison rather that wishing them away (his purpose in coming here in the first place was to "bag a buffalo").

I awoke with the intention of quickly doing the 36 mile driving loop, and heading for my next destination. It was up at daylight and still before sunrise, as I started the loop. I quickly realised I would be spending a bit more time as the wildlife was out in force. Around turn after turn I stopped to appreciate multiple sightings of (from small to large) rabbits, pronghorn elk, mule deer, wild horses and bison. They were practically posing for me, if not outright obstructing me. The only animals that seemed to sleep in were the prairie dogs. Combine that with the stunning badlands scenery, and I was quickly behind "schedule" by a full hour. But my plan still had a nice margin of error.

The goal was to get to Wind Cave national park by 1PM at the latest. The only way to see Wind Cave is by a guided tour, and during this off season they only have tours at 10AM, 1PM and 4PM. All I had to do was drive due south 200 miles in 4 hours. Knowing there was nothing to see along the route, I had 40 minutes to play with averaging 60 MPH. The first mildly pleasant 75% of the distance put me well ahead of schedule, so I decided to take the more scenic route for the remainder. And that is where the schedule became tight.

While the majority of the final stretch was on roads of 65MPH, the delays and the distractions quickly ate up my advantage. First I surprisingly came to the Geographic Center of America. I had to stop for that, didn't I? Then there was a long slow stretch through Deadwood. The frequent 20 MPH hairpin turns were no help, and I had to stop for a long distance view of the slowly progressing Geronimo-on-horse monster sculpture. Tediously slow drivers, a few pulling trailers, seemed often to pull out in front of me from nowhere. Shockingly, a ram, an actual ram, brought me to a halt as he meandered across the road (I stopped for 5 minutes for him because I'd been hoping to see one since my first trip). He waited near my car for the rest of his family to catch up.

But it was at the very end where I made the mistake that would get me to the 1PM tour too late. With 20 minutes to go, I passed the sign that read "Wind Cave National Park". I then passed the sign that read "blah blah Bison blah blah" or something like that, and as I rounded the corner, there they were in the road, staring me down again. I inched forward. They inched toward me. I inched and honked. And they froze. So I inched and held the horn. And, to my amazement they relinquished the road to me!

I was so thrilled by my victory over the massive beasts that when I passed the sign that said "Wind Cave Visitor Center," with an arrow pointing in the direction, I didn't see it. Five slow miles later I realized my error when I saw the sign announcing my departure from Wind Cave NP. I sped back, but I was too late by 10 minutes. It was the best mistake I could have made.

I entered the Visitor Center, which is also the start of the tours, and the ranger was as disappointed as me that I had barely missed out. I gave her a briefing of my day's tale, as well as my longer journey. I also told her that I was on my way to Yellowstone, and wanted to get a good start on the trip there, and I (honestly) wasn't sure whether I would wait til the next tour. I had expected that I might head out and see the grounds above the caves, which are supposed to be almost as impressive, but after my diatribe, Mary proffered if I were there at 2PM (when the current tour let out) she'd be free to give me a quicker version of the hour long tour of the cave if I would keep pace. I enthusiastically accepted!

I decided to go back to the bison who made this possible to thank them and get a couple of pictures and in the 20 minutes I was out, I saw the bison as well as a herd of pronghorn elk, a plethora of mule deer and even a photogenic and funny prairie dog.

Back at the VC at 1:50, the other tour was done early, and my personal park ranger tour guide Mary and I were taking the elevator down into Wind Cave. Having done Carlsbad Caverns a month ago, I knew I would enjoy it, but didn't expect Wind Cave to match up. And it didn't match up, only because it was such a drastically different kind of cave system. While Carlsbad was about enormous rooms with infinite decorations, Wind Cave was constricting passageways and boxwork. And it was awesome.

Flashlight in hand, frequently crouching and bending to avoid the low ceilings and jutting formations, Mary led me through what she described as "a three dimensional maze." We dallied at all the highlights of popcorn and frostwork, and lingered at the boxwork. Boxwork is a very rare cave formation and Wind Cave has the best in the world. It is a calcite formation sometimes resembling honeycombs...spectacular is what it really is. Mary gave me the full explanation of how it forms (it's the precursor to the caves themselves) but this blog is getting long enough as is. So go see it for yourself.

Upon exiting, and after my many thanks, Mary said, "I'd have made you wait and go on the next tour, but you're exactly the type of guest we like to entertain." I hope to get the opportunity to pass on that service (when) if I become a park ranger.

I sit here tonight in Douglas, Wyoming still thrilled by all I saw today. From TR to Wind Cave, a neighbor to the wildlife, and a special guest of the park it was a wonderful day. Doing this blog, I try not tell too much about what is really coming next. My path does have some randomness, but in general I have a route's big picture and I do a lot of nightly planning for the next and future days. For example, I never mentioned Banff, until Canada turned me away, yet that was really the whole purpose of going to Canada. Now that Banff's out, and I've already mentioned Yellowstone, from where I am, there is only one good way to get there - through the Grand Tetons NP. So that is the goal for tomorrow. It's a grand goal, but perhaps a bit premature. I am not close enough to enjoy it properly, and the weather looks to be incompatible with camping there to permit a full day of exploration. So, I'll probably zoom in close, and play off the cuff for where I end up. Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do between Douglas, WY and the Grand Tetons?