Yosemite In The Rain

Yosemite Falls

I was last at Yosemite when I was still in grade school. Many years ago. It was on my bucket list to see again. Our last weekend before we were leaving California there was rain in the forecast and we were trying to decide if we should cancel this planned trip. We finally decided to just go for it. Better to see it in the rain than not at all. The first day it was very cold and cloudy but very beautiful in the foggy backdrop.  It was also not as crowed which we appreciated. The falls in the park are all truly amazing.

Yosemite Falls

 We treated ourselves to a scrumptious lunch in the Ahwahnee Lodge restaurant. The lodge was built in the early 1900's to attract tourists to Yosemite Valley. It was very rustic with lots of rock work and beautiful wood beams.

 Even the floors of the lodge were decorated with these beautiful native American inspired motifs. Being an avid art quilter I photographed several of them.

Mist Trail Yosemite National Park

 On the second day we decided to do a short hike and chose the Mist Trail. This trail was also built many years ago and the beautiful rock wall blended beautifully with the natural surroundings.

Illilouette Falls Yosemite National Park

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 Looking back from the Mist Trail to Illilouette Falls.

Nevada Falls Yosemite National Park

 Nevada Falls were amazing but it was a long hike there and we did not have enough time. Seeing them from the distance had to do.

 I loved the colors in the roaring stream. We spent two days in Yosemite which was not near enough but better than not going at all. We also wanted to see Sequoia so headed out mid morning to see the tall trees.

  Sequoia did not have very many people likely due to the cold and all the snow still there in late April. I estimated the snow on this road is 6' to 7' deep!

General Sherman Sequoia National Park

 General Sherman tree. Said to be the most massive tree on the planet. This is the base.

 Look at the man behind the lady taking the photo and he is still 20' in front of the tree!!!! Just wow!

 Looking up at this grove of sequoias.

 We left the park gong out the South entrance via the Generals Highway. We quickly descended in elevation and lost the snow. The road was very windy and scenic. There were amazing wildflowers everywhere...........oh to spend more time photographing all the beauty.

 Wish we could have lingered but as it was we did not get back to the RV till around 9pm that evening. It was a fun adventure in spite of the cold, rain and clouds.

  

 

 

California Poppies in April

Living in the Mojave Desert for four months was not all bad. I have always wanted to see the poppy fields in full bloom and we were they when they bloomed and this year was an especially good year for them due to the extra moisture. We went to the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve and were not disappointed.

There were people everywhere in the fields. You could see those who were taking photos of each other to put on social media and some just looking at the flowers.

The park was so full and there was no parking so we opted for this area, it was also full of people so we figured two more would not matter as the sign did not seem to be doing any good.

The profusion of the color was amazing, the entire hillsides were bright orange.

You could see the orange color in the hills from miles away. Quite a beautiful sight!

Lone Pine and Alabama Hills

 After our Death Valley visit we drove up to Lone Pine to see what was up there. It is just West of Death Valley in Southern California and a place were tons of old western movies were filled. The place was quite spectacular and I can see why it is the backdrop of so many movies.

 You can almost see the gunfight in these rocks or the ambush.

 We drove as far as we could up towards Mt Whitney from Alabama Hills till the road closure gate. There was snow past that point and in early April there was still plenty of snow up there.

 The vistas looking  back down were really pretty!

Death Valley

 Not all of Death Valley is barren of plantlife. Our visit in April was quite pleasant weather wise and there was some greenery especially on the southern end of the park where we came in.

 Our dog Tobi enjoyed getting out of the truck for a little bit of a romp right before the entrance.

 There was a lot of industry in the valley in the past couple of centuries and many of the structures are now in ruins.

 Zabriskie Point had some incredible vistas. The erosion on these hills makes for some interesting views. There is so much color in such a barren landscape.

This is looking out from Zabriskie Point. 

 We also did the Artist's Drive. There were some amazing colors.

 This was a popular place to get out for the view and the sky was amazing against that landscape.

The colors of this section are quite amazing and I can bet that at sunset they would be much more intense.

All Roads Lead To Oregon

I can't beleive we have been in Oregon for over a month now living in our RV. There sure are adjustments to be made living is such a small space with three large dogs but we are doing it. We took 4 days to drive all the way up here and stopped at Arches National Monument enroute. Below is Double Arch. It is gigantic. There are some people in the photo but they are dots.

Arches has amazing sandstone formations in every direction. I really love this twisted dead juniper.

One of the first sights we saw here in Central Oregon is Lava Butte. You wind around the lava cone twice and get an amazing 360 degree view. The day we went there was not a cloud in the sky and we saw the Cascade range in all itsGlory. The grey stuff on the right side is a huge lava flow.

Mount Bachelor on the left and the Sisters on the right.

Mother's Day we took a little drive after an amazing breakfast. This is the Deschutes River. I hope to do a float trip later this summer. Right now it is still a bit chilly.

The Lava Cast Forest is pretty unique. As the lava flowed 7000 years ago it was cool enough that it did not incinerate the trees but flowed around them. All that remains today is holes where the trees used to stand.

Fort Rock to the Southeast of where we are is one of the little visited places. This was made 10,000 years ago when lava shot straight up in a large glacial lake. It formed a ring 500 feet high. Today it is missing one side and is only 300 something feet high. It is a very interesting place to walk around. You can see all sorts different shapes and movement of flow in the lava. The lake is long gone and this can bee seen for miles out in the flat desert which was the lake bottom.

After the desert we too a detour on the way home to Newberry Crater and had lunch by East Paulina Lake. There was still plenty of snow and I bet the water was freezing.

The top of the mountain and heading home. We will be back to this crater for sure. There is so much to do up there, mountain biking, hiking and boating.

Hiking on Tree Spring Trail

 I had a great day hiking with my neighbor on Tree Spring Trail on Sandia Crest. The weather was perfect and the wildflowers were really out strutting their stuff.

Happy New Year

 Another year starts! That is always an exciting thing to imagine the new adventures and accomplishments in the year to come. This Holiday season we went to Southern California in our new to us 36 foot Raptor Toyhauler. How fun to have all that space when we set it up in the campgrounds. We are so used to the little 22 foot Terry with no sliders that we felt like it was very spacious and the four of us were not crowed at all. Leaving California we had winter storms chasing us across Southern Arizona and New Mexico. We spent one night at Organ Pipe National Monument. This is a beautiful park in Southern Arizona. We will defiantly visit again when we have more time.


 Next stop on the way home was Kartchner Caverns near Benson Arizona. We got a dusting of snow overnight the first of the two nights there. I took a hike with my daughters around the hills where the cavern is. It gave us a nice perspective after the cavern tour.

 Our last stop was Cabello State Park in New Mexico. You can see from the photo that the snow storms finally caught us. This is a beautiful park and is know for the birding. We did not have time to do much other and stop for the night. In the morning when the snow melted a bit we hightailed it north to Albuquerque and then to the East Mountains home.

This was a quick trip to visit relatives and did not offer opportunity to do much in the way of hiking. We did squeeze in some nice walks and short hikes. It was great in that there were some nice places we know we need to go back to and spend more time.

Now that the new year is here it is time to work on my bucket list for 2015. I gave up resolutions some years back and went to goals. This year I am doing a "bucket list" for the first time. I have a few ideas already but will spend a little time thinking and beginning to plan some great adventures. With the new toyhauler we will really have a great home base when we go off to have some fun times.