Maybe it is just us or the comparison with the other states that we have camped in but considering it is a world renowned travel destination California was about the worst place we visited. It’s expensive (40% more) with way below standard facilities that at best are tatty and at worse don’t work or are out of action. The beast appears to result from lack of funding, although the rangers do their best (they love the job) it’s a letter to Arnie when we get back to the UK : )Having said that the guys in sharp suites, dark glasses and perfect, white teeth who make the rules have it made. Sorry, but you just have to camp in the parks (National and State) in California… they are the gateway to beautiful, accessible wilderness… Acres of forest covered hillsides gently tipping into ice cold, clear, blue lakes or pretty cascading little streams combining into raging rivers and towering, thundering waterfalls. All this colour, movement and context fringed with the ever present snow capped mountains caressed by azure skies.
It’s not really that fantastic, is it?
Well… NO… it’s even better - no words or photos can do this beauty justice.
We started by camping among sugar pines and cedars tall trees at up to 200ft but these were dwarfed by the redwoods (giant sequoia) which can reach 300ft.Our first campground in California, on the banks of Lake Tahoe, was supposed to be fully booked but we were virtually alone as the late, cold spring had caused the majority of Californians to cancel.
Lake Tahoe is surrounded by the Sierra Nevadas – still covered in snow – and looks fantastic. They get a lot of snow here at 6000ft (average 12ft) but this year the snow was deeper and had only just melted with the holiday cottages being finally made ready for the tourist onslaught. After 11 hours of unsuccessful bear watching in a frozen Yellowstone we appear to have developed a knack for walking into them Our third bear was walking towards us on the trail down to the lake… He was unimpressed and ran off – if he had waited a few seconds he would have been able to smell our fear : ) - before we decided to take a different route singing and shouting (as they advise you to do when walking in the forest) to make sure the bears know you are there. Maybe this is the reason that many Americans have such loud voices?
The beauty just kept on coming and the weather continued to improve with blue skies as we were bathed in warm Californian sunshine. We walked in the magical sequoia groves and were in total awe of these giants but more on this later. Possibly as a reward for all that snow, nature treated us to a real spectacle – the year of the waterfall - as the papers coined it. As the snow pack melted higher and higher up the mountains waterfalls crashed through every crevice creating the best display for 30 years and even new falls that had never been seen before.
Talking about waterfalls bring us to Yosemite National Park (NP). It is the hardest park to get a campsite at with the reservations often selling out within hours of release. We had to camp 14 miles outside the park and get the YARTS shuttle bus in each day – if only more people caught the bus. The incredible beauty of Yosemite was completely overshadowed by the beast that is the US citizens love affair with their cars (and trucks).
Yosemite was one giant traffic jam with the free shuttle buses struggling to cope. Just like all the other most popular parks (where you have to expect crowds) you only have to walk a short distance from the shuttle stop and you can be virtually alone. So walk we did 9 miles on the first day up to the top of Yosemite falls - what a view - what a noise and 12 miles on day two… to mirror lake, fairly flat thank God.The falls are stunning from every angle (normally completely dry by August) and this year they are really spectacular with the water crashing down the mountain and thundering into the valley with a cloud of spray and an ice cold chill that is just like entering the frozen food isle in a supermarket on a warm day. After a long hard hike (28C) to the top we ate our packed lunch (no bears here) sitting on a rock with the falls still a couple miles away but just occasionally enveloping us with a gentle refreshing spray.
Mirror lake?… just look at the photo, every picture tells a story – pure magic.
Well, not every picture – cue picture of the cotton-mouth water snake below – Jane washed her hands in the river bopping down only a few inches from this baby. Lucky for her he was far too knackered from all that fighting of the strong currents in the record volume of ice cold (4 C) water in the river. If they bite you it is serious with the potential loss of a limb… or worse. Only the third snake we have seen this trip.
Where Yosemite was picturesque but overrun by people, Kings N P our next stop was quiet and rugged. Deep canyon, the fast flowing Kings River, more falls, coniferous forest and snow on the mountains naturally. From Kings we went into Sequoia N P a short trip as they are linked and together offer millions of acres of America as it was before the white man. Having said that Lodgepole campground is more like a mini village in the middle of the wilderness – we even did our laundry here before moving on :) As you walk around the village it’s easy to forget you are in a remote, outpost. However after a 10 minute walk into the forest you quickly realise how alone and remote you actually are. The trails are pretty good but as ever the GPS tracker gave us an extra security as it is easy to get lost if you have to go off trail – like to avoid a bear maybe?
An early morning walk up Moro Rock (over 400 steps : ( with a fantastic view of the Sierras where we were joined by a humming bird of all things? Then a gentle five mile amble through the cedar covered hills, down into the towering sequoia groves and out into the flooded meadows to the ripping, snapping, tearing sound and then the sight of a big brown (black) bear about 100ft away rolling a fallen tree and ripping the bark off it to get at the insects like it was a stick of candyfloss. The ‘bear aware’ instructions they give you at the park entrance are interesting but nothing prepares you for the feeling of sheer awe. After a sniff he seemed less interested in us and more in his meal. You just have to remember to walk backwards, talking to him, making yourself as big as possible keeping him in eye contact until you can find a route around him. The urge to run like hell is very strong, believe me, but apparently it can provoke an attack and bears are big, very big and can run at 30 MPH and climb trees.
So it becomes a very simple risk… this is their home, this is where they live and you are a visitor. If you walk in this part of the world you will see bears. They are unlikely to do you any harm if you obey a few simple rules and… pack a clean set of underwear. In five hours we saw six bears including two sets of cubs. We can’t describe how exciting it was to see Mum with two tiny cinnamon coloured cubs literally weeks old and the size of a child’s teddy bear. Understandably mum was a bit nervous and ushered her cubs quickly away. As were we… a mother with young is the most dangerous encounter with any wild animal.The third bear cub was a bit older and bigger and totally disinterested in his mother’s master class on how to dig up roots in a flooded meadow, preferring to wander off and play at climbing trees nearby. We resisted the temptation to get close enough for some really great photos and this is one occasion when we wished we had a better camera.
Wow - what an unexpected privilege to spend a day surrounded by wild bears in their natural environment. They didn’t seem bothered by or interested in us and it’s not until you meet Californians and realise that they have spent their whole life there and never seen a bear do you realise how lucky we were.Sequoia and Kings NP has got to be one of our favourite parks for many reasons not just the bears. It is a really good example of what the US National Parks offer all Americans – accessible wilderness. Let’s hope that they can continue to keep development to a minimum and protect these unique places to remind us all of how richer the human experience can be when we learn to respect all forms of life on the planet.
So in summary the route…Sugar pine (slopes of Lake Tahoe), Big Trees Calaveras (sequoia groves), Yosemite NP, Kings NP (Sheep Creek, Cedar Grove and Sunset, Grant Grove), Sequoia NP (Lodge pole) and surrounding National Forests Lake Isabella and back into the Mojave desert (Hole in the Wall campground in Mojave National Preserve 38C+ … much hotter than in Jan – Kelso Dunes - when we had our jackets on!).
Now we are heading back East, back into Arizona and New Mexico but the northern section this time
Have fun - Den and Jane X
