Springtime Trip to 4 National Parks

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Part 1: Joshua Tree National Park

I had been planning this trip with PanamaRob (formerly known as Boogaman from bp.com) for quite some time. We’ve been writing and talking to each other for about a year and a half now and have become good friends. He is from Florida and had only been in LA once, briefly, so I set out to show him the best of what California has to offer!

I picked him up from LAX on Saturday the 26th of March. From there we drove up to his friend Rob’s house. Rob hails from rrbbs.com, and he and PanamaRob originally met by playing fantasy baseball. We went out to dinner with Rob and his wife Marie and I had my first taste of Sushi! It was pretty good, I ate a few of the rolls that were stuffed with raw crab and shrimp meat. We then went back to Rob and Marie’s beautiful home and watched “The Incredibles.” Then we all crashed...

The next morning we went to breakfast and then PanamaRob and I headed out east of LA on 210 towards the desert. We stopped for groceries and to visit the new REI out in Rancho Cucamonga. PanamaRob became an REI member and bought a bear canister and a few other goodies and I bought some gloves and fuel for my stove.

By the time we reached Joshua Tree National Park it was getting dark. We pulled into the Cottonwood Campground and found a spot and set up PanamaRob’s tent. Soon after a truck pulling a tent-trailer pulled up to an adjoining site. We could hear them talking and one of the women sounded like Zsa-zsa Gabor, lol It was not too cold that night and I slept well.

In the morning we packed up and backtracked to the southern entrance of the park. Here the wildflowers were in their prime – we saw at least 30 different species! It was like walking through a rock garden.

We ate lunch from the tailgate of my pickup and then we headed north through the park. Between Cottonwood and the Cholla Cactus Garden the desert dandelions were putting on quite the show – millions, billions, trillions were blooming and lighting up the desert in a pretty pale yellow hue!

We stopped at the Cholla garden and walked around. Here I saw 3 species of flowers that I’d never seen before – cholla (only saw one blooming), climbing milkweed, and thick-leaved ground cherry.

We drove into White Tank Campground and decided to stay the night. We found a nice site with a huge boulder that would block (most of) the wind and we pitched our tent to the lee side. We then set out to explore this rugged area, at times climbing and bouldering amongst the huge fantastically formed granite rocks. We found one of the tanks and the arch rock and a few more species of flowers including desert rock pea.

That night it got rather cold with the wind. We ate dinner and laughed at a strange farting noise coming from a nearby Mojave Yucca plant. Never figured out what was making the noise, lol Then we crawled in the tent and tried to sleep with it a flappin in the breeze. I ended up getting my ear plugs and then finally was able to get some rest.

In the morning I discovered that my wool blanket, that I leave in my truck for whenever I need it and had used the night before to keep warm, had blown into the fire and was half-burned. Ooooops! PanamaRob also discovered his cell phone was missing (and never found it again). We then packed up and headed west. We drove the Queen Valley dirt road to the Barker Dam Trailhead. This is one of my favorite little trails in Joshua Tree. An early rancher increased the size of the natural water impoundment with a dam and the lake right now is the largest that I’ve ever seen it. We saw a momma duck with her hands full with 10 little, really little fluffy ducklings. We heard canyon wrens with their melodic call. I took pictures of the lake and its reflections.

Also along this trail are some pictographs. We found a few that I had not seen before along with the ones that are pointed out to you and the few that I found by exploring a little off the beaten path before.

After a side trip up to Keys View where you can see across the Salton Sea to Mexico as well as Mt. San Jacinto which has one of the greatest reliefs of any mountain in the United States, we headed home. We stopped in Barstow for gas then around dinnertime pulled into Porterville. We ate at the Black Bear Diner which has great food! PanamaRob had a big burger, a really big burger, he was hungry, lol. After dinner we drove to my house and got cleaned up and played with my two cats, Sam and Hailey, and then went to sleep.



Part 2: Yosemite National Park

In the morning (lesse, this is Wednesday morning) we packed up and headed up to Yosemite. We stopped in Oakhurst for gas and the attendant inside laughed at me trying to get in and out of the sticky bathroom door. Then we headed into the park. We drove straight for Yosemite Valley and we were awarded with a beautiful afternoon view from one of the park’s most famous viewpoints, Tunnel View.

Once in the valley we drove to North Pines Campground. We found an empty campsite and set up camp. Then we drove to the campground entrance to pay, and ooooops! We saw a sign that said someone had reserved our campsite! So we packed up, I think in record time, and headed over to Camp 4 or Sunnyside Campground which is a walk-in campground favored by climbers. There we found a site, only $5/per person/per night, and we ended up staying there 3 nights.

On Thursday we went to the Visitor Center and the Ansel Adams Gallery. We then set out for Happy Isles and from there we hiked up to Vernal Falls. The Mist Falls portion of the trail is closed right now due to the ice but there were people disregarding the signs and going up it anyway. We chose not to and to respect the Park Service’s closure sign. We did get many good pictures from alongside the open part of the trail, however. After eating lunch and poking around a little, we headed back. I started feeling a little sick to my stomach so I took my time on the trip down. When we reached the Trailhead I was feeling better so we decided to walk the 2 miles or so out to Mirror Lake. I enjoyed the views of the granite rock faces reflected in the lake immensely.

On Friday we walked to the base of Yosemite Falls and there we got a refreshing blast of spray. The falls are all running extremely high right now! Then we drove to the southern part of the park. Next to the southern entrance is the road going up to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. The road is closed this time of year but you can walk up it and only encounter a few well-stomped down snowy spots. PanamaRob was struck with the beauty and size of the sequoias as I knew he would be. These were the first he had ever seen. I was struck with the quietness of the grove as the last time I was there was in August and it was a zoo! It’s definitely worth the jaunt in the wintertime but I would avoid it in the summer unless you favor the Disney-land like quality of the grove then.

We returned to the truck and headed back to the Valley. We reached Tunnel View just as the sun was setting fire to the granite of El Capitan and Half Dome. Then we returned to camp and made dinner and settled in for the night.

Camped next to us the 2nd and 3rd nights we were in Camp 4 were “The Banshees.” Or so I titled them. The Banshees consisted of 3 girls and their very loud mother. The three girls were sweet enough and they had with them a sweet little puppy named Osa, which is Spanish for bear. The puppy was certainly bear-like, she was very fluffy and sturdy looking. We laughed at them many times as there were frequent commotions within their tent. PanamaRob heard the mother say that all of us in the campground were “too quiet,” lol The 3rd night at camp one of the girls asked if we would dog sit while they went “to town” or to Yosemite Village. We gladly abliged. Osa was a very good little dog.

I enjoyed the stay in Camp 4, though. Most of the campground was populated with climbers and hikers and there was a view of Half Dome and Yosemite Falls from the campground. There definitely was a lot of good karma there.

On Saturday we walked to the base of Bridalveil Falls and across the Swinging Bridge which has an awesome view of Yosemite Falls. Then we packed up and headed home, stopping once where some others were stopped to watch a coyote in the valley. Then it was on to my house once again where we took showers and did laundry.



Part 3: Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

On Sunday we headed up to Sequoia & Kings Canyon. The skies were gray and they were calling for snow that night. We couldn’t see far past the fog and clouds but we did see several deer in the foothills of the park and lots of wildflowers! We stopped at the Giant Forest Museum and there I found one of my most favorite people, Mary Anne or Mac as she is known by. She has been working in the park for 32 years and was one of my bosses back when I worked there. We chatted for a while then PanamaRob and I drove over to the General Sherman Tree. There is a lot of snow still in Giant Forest so we didn’t walk around there very much. We then decided to drive over to Grant Grove in Kings Canyon NP. There we stayed at Azalea Campground where a few sites are plowed out in the wintertime and you can camp for free.

We set up my big dome tent in anticipation of snow and I’m glad we did. We got about 6 inches of snow Sunday night but by morning the sun had come out again. PanamaRob, with his size 15 feet, decided it would be funny to walk around barefoot and leave “Bigfoot” tracks. He did this around the campground and several of the turnouts we stopped at, lol We also had a couple of good snowball fights those two days.

On Tuesday we hiked the short Grant Tree Loop Trail which was stomped down pretty well. Then we hiked back up to the campground and got in the truck. We drove down Highway 180 to the Hume Lake Turnoff then drove up to Hume Lake. Along this road there are some pretty decent views of Kings Canyon, which you cannot drive down into in the wintertime. We then went to Hume Lake and hiked around it. This is a hike I’d never done before and I found it to be quite pleasant. My favorite section was a boardwalk and bridge across Ten Mile Creek. You can also see the Hume Lake Dam, which is a National Historic Landmark as it was the first multiple-arch dam ever constructed. It was built so the Sanger Lumber Company could have a mill pond. The company never made much money from logging and in the 1930’s the area was sold to the US Forest Service and it’s now part of Giant Sequoia National Monument.

We saw a California Gray Squirrel and several species of birds along the trail. Most of it is snow free right now. The normally bustling Christian Camp which is on its Western Shore was quiet and as there were no footprints in the snow on some sections, we knew we were the only ones to hike around the lake that day.

We headed back to Grant Grove and as we were both somewhat chilled from our winter hike we decided to eat at the small restaurant there. Not many people visit Kings Canyon NP in the wintertime and it was a nice change from Yosemite which was bustling.

PanamaRob made a great fire that night as temperatures dropped quite low. I was glad to have my –5 degree bag – even though it probably didn’t get below 15 degrees, I am a cold sleeper!

In the morning the sun was shining and we packed up and headed back through Sequoia NP. This time we could see Moro Rock, Castle Rocks, and the Great Western Divide as we drove; they were obscured by clouds on the way there. We then went into Visalia, had lunch at a good Mexican food place on Main Street, then went over to Avis where PanamaRob rented a car which he would need as this concluded my part of the vacation!

After cleaning up that afternoon, we took a drive up to Camp Nelson. The sunset framed by the Tule Canyon was beautiful. We then drove into Porterville and had dinner once again at the Black Bear Diner.

PanamaRob left, headed towards the Santa Monica Mountains and LA, on Wednesday morning. He plans to go to a Angel’s baseball game on Thursday with friends from rrbbs.com and hang out with them on Friday as well. Meanwhile I returned to work and my daily life. I now have 18 bagnights under my belt so far this year… I think I will beat last year’s 31!

Full Trip Report with (more) pictures!! http://www.tarol.com/4parks.html
last edited: 4/07/05 6:06:25 PM”

“i always enjoy your pictures. what type of camera do you use, looking for an anniversary present for the hubby. good luck with your florida guy.”

“Thanks, cyndeee. I have an Olympus C-5000 - it's a digital camera, my first digital camera, and it's great, not too complicated, small, and lightweight - it's easy to use if you're a snapshot sort of person or it has full manual controls for those that have more photography experience. I really like the super-macro mode, I use it on most of my flower shots.”

“Nice shots and TR.”

“Thanks, BC, it's nice to get a preview. We're headed to Yosemite tomorrow. This will be my first time when the waterfalls are high.”

“Really great trip and trip report. Thanks!”

“Great pics, BC.

Hazardous cactus, eh?”

“Thanks, again. I just took the time to finish reading and see all the photos. I really enjoy your TRs and pics.”

“Thanks, guys :)

Wannabp - Yosemite was busier this time of year than I thought it would be! It was hopping! Whereas Sequoia & KC we pretty much had to ourselves...”

“Nice job, BC/S and the always-great photos. :-)

I was in the area once, I think fall of 96 or 97, when Yosemite had its fire. Great area! Another fav of mine was Kernsville.. gotta be a great place to live!”

“Kernville? That's just over the hill from where I live :)”

“BearCrossing: I hate you.





:-)”

“BowlderMan: :p”

“Great trip report, and awesome pics as usual!”

“oops, the place with Lake Isabella?

Nice catch, BC/S, as I say to my editors. LOL!

(now watch, I'll be wrong on the lake, too.. phhhhhttt!!! lol)
last edited: 4/10/05 6:57:52 PM”