High Sierra Camps

In the morning we are off on the loop of all five camps, going to Glen Aulin first, then May Lake, Sunrise, Merced Lake, and Voglesang (about a 4,000ft climb from Merced Lake).

http://www.yosemitepark.com/accomodations_highsierracamps.aspx

So we'll be out of touch until the evening of the 1st. We are all packed and acclimated to the altitude after being here at 9,000+ft for four nights. The scenery will be beautiful. Get ready for some good photos.

http://www.yosemitepark.com/accomodations_highsierracamps.aspx

There's hope for all of us. We had breakfast with two young climbers this morning and thy had just climbed Whitney (14,000) They said they took the climbers route and summited around 12:30 midnight in a hail storm. They were pretty beat up. When they crawled up to the summit there sat a 70 yr old man saying welcome to the top boys! Truly an old goat! A good goal for us. DB

Tuolumne Meadows

We're staying in tent cabins around 9,000 ft. It has been getting around 35 degrees right before sunrise. So I have been starting a fire at 5 or 5:30 in the small wood stove in the tent. Then crawling back under the covers while the tent heats up.

The stars have been really spectacular. The milky way is like We haven't seen in a long long time. The moon is headed for a new moon in a few days so the stars will be great while we're up high.

We will be leaving to hike the five high Sierra camps in the morning. The camps will provide breakfast and dinner and a bunk to sleep in. The hikes between the camps will be hard but we think we're ready. Altitude issues have faded over the last couple of days.

Our day hikes have been spectacular. I'll try to get some photos in here but it is a slow connection. We just can't believe we are getting so used to being away from home and living on the road. We are getting stronger and younger every day! Stuff that used to seem so important ... Well are just never thought about but used to cause such stress .. No more. We have tried to identify anything that is causing us stress on the road and have made up little sayings to defuse or to blow it off and laugh about it. That is working well.

It's a good life! We do miss all our friends and really enjoy hearing from you when you write to us. See you all later.

Lundy canyon walk

We hiked up Lundy Creek today - following Lundy Creek.  It is a hike very close to Lee Vining and goes up toward Yosemite high country.  The road to the trail head was very rough but we made it and started hiking.  It was immediately beautiful - as was the one lane dirt/rock road up there.  As we climbed I realized that I should name this post "the W and W Hike"  Waterfalls and Wildflowers Hike.  Below are some photo examples.

Happy Hikers

Beaver dam pond -- the backed up water killed the trees that it covered.

Bodie

Bodie is an old ghost town near Lee Vining - maintained by the State of California.  We made a half day trip there and below are the photos.  At it's hey day in the gold rush the rangers said it had 76 bars and 30 bordellos.  There were around 13,00 inhabitants with one, one armed sheriff.  Pretty lawless place.  There were around 3,00 building - now there are a couple of hundred buildings.  The family that ended up owning the town after the boom went bust and everyone moved out left everything the same as it was when folks moved out -- so we have photos through the old wavy windows showing the bars and the roulette wheel and the pool table etc.  It was really interesting.

The ranger said that the lawlessness ended with the formation of a vigilante group called the 601s.  They lynched the bad guys that were getting away with murder.  One man was killed daily in Bodie.  Apparently 601 stood for 6 feet under, no trial, and one rope.

Methodist Church

Old wheels and a Maxwell radiator in front left.

Looking north on Greene street

This house continued to add additional out houses - the winters were so bad at 8,000 ft that this probably made sense but most houses didn't have these additions.

 An old gray bearded character actor at Bodie said the old gold cigarettes motto was "not a cough in a car load".  If you remember this you should be retired too!

 Fire hall

Looks like a fine bar -- shouldn't have closed like this!

In Lee Vining

On the way out of Susanville we came on this old church and old truck on the side of the highway in Doyle California that made good photo subjects - but no one was around and we didn't go looking for the story or origin -- just took photos.

Now we are in Lee Vining and seeing the sites here before we go up highway 120 to Yosemite tomorrow.  We went for a hike on the Panum Crater just outside town yesterday.  Really interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panum_Crater  shows a satellite photo of the crater.  It is next to Mono Lake so the views are great. 

The cinder cone rim of the volcano is on the right and forms a ring around the lava plug on the left in the middle of the ring.  We walked the rim and we went up on the plug.
Mono Lake in the background.  Also flowers on the rim.  I haven't found their names yet.

Then we went down to Mono Lake for a look at the formations and the migratory birds.  The formations were interesting and unique.  The birds were too.  The  Phalaropes were the most interesting and amazing birds. 

Female Wilson's Phalaropes leave the breeding grounds after they finish laying eggs. Males follow as soon as the young are independent. They migrate to staging areas on large western lakes (Summer Lake and Malheur Lake in Oregon, and Mono Lake in California) where they molt before their long journey to South America.  http://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id=184

These limestone formations are called tufas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufa
Wherever you find a tufa in the lake you know there is a spring feeding it, since Los Angelos has been taking water from the lake the tufas are being left above the water line.  Actions are being taken by the state to stop the shrinkage of the lake.

There  were several Osprey nests on the formations in the lake and we could see the adults going and coming from the nests.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen was beautiful! We went to the camp ground we thought we wanted to stay in and the sites were very very close together but we found one somewhat separate but as we were deciding where to put the tent clouds of mosquitoes descended on us and it was mid day! So we picked out two hikes to do and leave.  The end of  the Bumpass Hell hike was a big volcanic steam vent (largest in the world) and boiling mud pits. The steam vents sent clouds of steam that was very sulfur laden.  We, once again walked many long snowfields with warning signs that the park service put up.  When we got to our next overnight we really smelled like rotten eggs .. So laundry time again!

Lassen Volcano Peak

Bumpass Hell Steam Vents and boiling lake.

Steam Vents

So we left Lassen and stayed in Susanville then moved on toward Lee Vining but not without one terrible night in a small town on the way.  An Historic Inn and we got the Mark Twain Suite.  All seemed well until it became apparent that the air conditioner would not be able to overcome the heat in the second story room .. so it was too hot until about 2:30 or 3 in the morning but that was not the worst.  The manager gave us something to read and it turns out that a young lady hung herself in that room - in the 1880s but still - in the room we were supposed to sleep in!  And her ghost is seen in the room.  Not much sleep was had by us - pretty restless night! 

Well on to Lee Vining and the Mobile gas station -- OH boy the Whoa Nelly!  Next Blog --

Bend and Crater Lake

We went to the REI in Bend and bought new boots for Darryl because the soles on his boots were coming off.  The boots fit so much better than the last ones.  Ready for the rest of the trip now.  The Deschutes River runs through Bend and in the summer is full of paddlers and tubers etc.   We met up with Katheryn and Marshal in Bend - had dinner and breakfast - a really nice visit. 

Deschutes just outside of Bend

We drove to Crater Lake where we wandered around most of the day.  The lake was fantastic.  The color was sooo blue!  It surprised us that the elevation was 7 to 8 thousand feet - windy and cold with snow fields still all over the place.

From Crater Lake we drove to Klamath Falls where there are are several national wildlife refuges.  Most notable were the white pelicans that nest there and raise their babies.  We see the white pelicans in the Gulf of Mexico in the winter.  They are huge birds that dwarf the brown pelicans. 

Then we headed for Redwood National Park on the Northern California coast where we camped for three nights.  The Redwood park is just beautiful with so much diversity.  From the sea shore with Elk roaming around to the deep forests full of huge Redwood trees.  We felt like Hobbits wandering around in there.  We managed to get about 8 mile hikes in every day while there. 

Elk on the beach -- the beach is just at the horizon behind the Elk.

Camping on the beach with the waves of the Pacific as our background music.

Sunset

We have come over to Shasta and the Trinity Alps in mid state California.  The temprature is around 100+ and we're wimping out here and heading for Truckee - Lake Tahoe area via Lassen Volcanic National Park.

More photos to come