A Road Trip Within A Road Trip

Connecting The Dots

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, the path I’ve taken across the country has been based-on visiting as many National Parks and National Monuments as I can along the way. For the most part, this hasn’t been an inconvenience and has worked-out quite well, but there was no convenient way to add Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks to my trip without doing something special. It would have been possible to visit the parks after my stay in San Diego, by driving north to Yosemite and then south through Sequoia on my way to Death Valley, but it would have been a haul. It made more sense to take a mini road trip to these parks while I stayed in San Diego and take my aunt along for the ride. This is how it went.

Driving To Bass Lake

My aunt booked a room in a time share in the resort town of Bass Lake, California, which is about a half hour’s drive from the entrance. The trip to Bass Lake from San Diego took about six hours, which wasn’t too bad. The drive started-out on the coast, then took us through some beautiful mountains before dropping us into hours and hours worth of farms where, among other things, almonds, oranges and avocados are grown. The final half hour of the drive brought us to Bass Lake, which is in the foothills surrounding Yosemite Valley. My requirements for dinner couldn’t be met by the restaurant that was open, so we settled for taking some things back to the room from the local grocery store. After dinner and watching some TV, we turned-in early in order to get out the door as early as possible the following morning.

Yosemite National Park

We were packed and on the road at 7:50 AM which allowed us to get to Tunnel View in Yosemite at about 9:00 AM. Just driving through the park is amazing and I made multiple stops along the way to take pictures of iconic views of El Capital, Bridal Veil Falls and Yosemite Falls. When we reached the parking lot where the trailhead I wanted to take was located, we managed to get one of the last remaining standard spots. What I mean by “standard spot” is an actual parking spot, because when we returned people had essentially decided to park wherever there was space, including in the lanes between parking spaces.

My intention was to hike a four mile loop around Mirror Lake in the eastern part of the valley. By looking at the topography and layout on the map, I imagined that Half Dome would tower over us the entire way. Unfortunately, my unfamiliarity with the park led us to start in the wrong place and take the wrong path. This meant we spent about two miles just getting to and from where I’d wanted to start the hike, and ultimately meant we couldn’t complete the full loop. Regardless, it was a beautiful hike and we saw a lot.

On the way out of the park, we stopped at the grocery store to pick-up some items and get my standard souvenirs for my post trip project. That led us to the picnic location below El Capitan to eat, keeping our heads on swivels for bears because we’re both sure they’re around every corner in the park. After eating, we exited the park and headed to Visalia, California, for the night.

Sequoia + Kings Canyon National Parks

On the third day of the trip, we visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, which are adjacent to one another. While I’m no expert on the National Park system, this park seemed to follow the same concept as Colorado National Monument and Petrified Forest National Park, in that the main feature is a road through the park from which you make stops and easily visit the main attractions.

My plan included a short hike followed by visits to General Sherman in Sequoia and General Grant in Kings Canyon, as well as some stops at overlooks marked on the park map. The first hike I wanted to take got canceled because the area looked deserted, possibly due to things being closed and/or rebuilt in the area, as well as the fact that I downloaded the trail map to my hiking app, but when I tried to retrieve it I couldn’t find it. This all infuriated me and put my already tenuous grasp of a decent mood out of reach.

The area where General Sherman was located also threw me for a loop. Reaching the tree required a bit of hike downhill through a family friendly path that consisted of paved trails and steps. Fortunately, the entire way passed numerous sequoias, so I didn’t miss-out on seeing those after having my initial hike canceled. But, due to my mood, I basically fast tracked my way through the area, preferring to shoot videos and photographs for viewing later.

The rest of the trip involved snow and overcast skies through large swaths of trees which had incurred severe wildfire damage. It was shocking how bad the damage was in places. Many trees resembled towering, black toothpicks emerging from scorched, vegetation-less ground. Similar areas could be seen throughout the hillsides in the distance by their brown coloration, though I learned after the trip that drought was a factor as well. It was impossible to imagine what the scene must have looked like while the fires were raging.

Returning to San Diego

While the distance through the parks wasn’t that long, the extreme switchbacks and speed required a driving time of about four hours. By the time I got to the Kings Canyon visitors center to get my passport(s) stamped, the weight of the previous two days’ travel, combined with the current day’s experiences and the drive I faced getting back to San Diego, led me to bail on visiting General Grant. This is something I’ll never not regret, but once we reached an area where my cell connection was restored, I found-out I had a seven hour drive ahead of me that wouldn’t get me back to San Diego until 7:00 PM and felt a little better about the decision. Still, the drive was stressful and it was a relief to get back home.

Zero Mile Day

Today, as I’m writing this blog, is Wednesday the 11th, and I decided not to go anywhere. It was a fortunate situation given the fact that I have a new project which has to be done by the end of the month, so it was good to be able to spend a solid eight hours working on it and getting a feel for what will remain and how I’ll approach it over the next two weeks. The weather was perfect outside and I was able to stand the entire time which was a relief after so much sitting in my car over the previous three days.