California Spring Break 2019 Day 7

Day 7 – March 16, 2019 (Saturday)

We begrudgingly left Rush Creek Lodge at 7:30 this morning and drove to Pinnacles, opting to enter from the east side since the caves are the west side are closed for flooding.  

When we first pulled up, a police officer directed us to park in the overflow parking as no cars were allowed in the park due to the crowds of people already there (it was about 11:30 am).  We went ahead and parked in the overflow parking by the Visitor Center and had a quick picnic of whatever we had left.  Then we grabbed our hat pins and got in the very long line for the shuttle bus.  We were waiting for quite a while, realizing that the shuttle was fairly small so we decided to walk the 2.6 miles over to the Bear Gulch Day Area, which is where the hike was that we actually wanted to do.  The hike started out rather plain and boring – we joked that it looked like we were in Texas.  It was also a little bit hot compared to the weather we’ve had the last several days.  We did see a few California Condors (giant birds).  We finally got over to the day use area and began the Bear Gulch Cave Trail.  It was very pretty and when we got to the “caves” they were amazing.  They were wet and dark and small.  

At one point we were basically on all fours and our backpacks were still hitting the tops of the caves.  At the end of the caves, up one set of steep stairs was the Bear Gulch Reservoir and it was neat.  

We also saw people rock climbing all around the place.  The caves were pretty cool.  Otherwise I’m not sure that this should even be a national park.  It’s way down on my list.  We went from my very favorite (#34) to my 2^nd to 3^rd least favorite (#35).  We opted for the Rim Trail back to the day use area because there was no way we were going to try and go back through what very much seemed to be one-way caves. 

Once we got back to the Bear Gulch Day Use Area, we were able to catch the shuttle back to our car and left a little bit after 3.  From there we drove to Carmel.  We grabbed a parking spot right along the beach and walked up and down the sidewalk a bit, admiring the houses and guessing at how much they cost.  The water was so turquoise – I don’t think I’ve seen the Pacific like that before.  We were also able to see Pebble Beach golf course – wow.  I’d been wanting to see Carmel since I was in the 8^th grade.

From there we drove back into town and had tacos at Island Tacos, then we drove a very short distance to the Point Lobos State Nature Preserve.  My parents had told us it was worth while but we got there 15 minutes before the entrance gate closed so we just stayed in the car and drove around – very pretty. 

Then we drove down the 1, over those two beautiful bridges and towards Big Sur.  

We turned around at Big Sur (which seems like an amazing place to camp) and got a few gallons of $5.00 gas (note it’s about $2.15 in Dallas).  We drove back up the way we came, watching the sun set and singing along to the radio.  And we finally pulled into the Best Western Plus in Salinas around 8:15pm. After some trouble at the front desk (I’ve apparently paid for this room twice now) we are now settled into our room and are very tired and smelly.

It’s about 9:30 and we need to leave by 7:30 to catch our noon flight that lands in Dallas at 5pm.  I’m not going to write anything tomorrow so I’m signing off tonight.  The trip was amazing.  Everything other than a few trail closures was pretty much perfect.  The kids are 13 and 11 and have been to 35 parks.  President Trump created two new ones – one in the past few weeks (one in Indiana) and apparently the St. Louis Arch is now a national park as of 2018.  So there are now 61 parks. 

California Spring Break 2019 Day 6

Day 6 – March 15, 2019 (Friday)

Today we had no flirts with death which was good!  But it was a wonderful day.  We drove back into Hetch Hetchy this morning and parked at the damn.  

Then we went on the most amazing hike (actually my favorite of the trip!).  We crossed the damn, then walked through a tunnel then started the 2.5 mi hike to Wapama Falls, passing by several small falls along the way as well as the much taller Tueeulala Falls.  The weather was amazing and the hike had ups, downs, water crossings, lots of water falls, shade, sun and a perfect distance.  The kids continued the trip-long exchange of dirty “that’s what she said” jokes as well as a barrage of puns – Ryan’s very spot on and funny and Grant’s slightly missing the mark, making them equally funny. 

At the falls we ate a snack then headed back.  The canyon really is a mini Yosemite canyon.  It’s just beautiful.  It’s a shame they had to damn it up.  There are too many people in this world.  I hate to think of what it’ll be like in another 30 years.

We got back to the lodge around 1:30 and just enjoyed the rest of the day here.  The kids played pool and Nick and I sat by the fireplace in the game room and I read and Nick read his phone and we had a drink.  Grant and I played pool again – he’s gotten much better then we came back to the room for a while.  Nick took a nap and I finished my book while the kids hung out on their computers. 

The kids ate s’mores before dinner, yes before dinner then we had a wonderful meal at the lodge dining room then after one more game of pool, came back to the room for the night.  The stars have been amazing every night and I’m sad that this is our last night here.  With the exception of a few trail closures and a brush with death, this trip has been pretty perfect. 

Tomorrow we have to leave really early to make it to Pinnacles.  I don’t want this trip to end.  I’ve really enjoyed it and everyone.

California Spring Break 2019 Day 5

Day 5 – March 14, 2019 (Thursday)

Today was hopefully our only brush with death.  We got up early with the goal of being at the Upper Fall trail head around 8 am. This was to be a 7.2 mile hike and we were mentally and physically ready.  

The first hike is to Columbia Rock and it’s about a 1 mile up the trail.  So far so good (but yes incredibly steep).  It had taken about 1 hour to get to this point so we got water, oranges and pictures and kept going. 

The next .5 miles were not as steep to even downhill then the trail forked.  We stayed to the left but just ahead the trail appeared to disappear in the snow and ice.  A NPS trail walker said there’d been an avalanche a few days before and that he thought the rest of the trail was closed.  We were disheartened as this is the same thing that had happened yesterday.  We walked back down to the fork in the path and took the right trail to the most beautiful overlook of the falls imaginable.  There are actually three falls but as far as I know the middle one cannot be seen from the road.  While there was a guard rail, it was a straight drop down and Grant made a comment about being scared. 

Ryan was very determined to take another look at this snow-packed trail so she went back up there and determined that it was actually a switch back and that we could keep going.  We dropped down to the lower part of the trail and began crossing the snow and ice that way, with our shoe grips on.  It was very scary because we were walking along a very narrow flat edge and one slip and we would have fallen a very long way.  When we finally got across, Grant was almost in tears – he just put his foot down and said he wasn’t going any farther.  Nick went ahead (uncharacteristically) and Ryan went with him and Grant and I stayed put. 

At one point they each called back to us that it looked good up beyond and Grant just said no one. (Oh, I forgot to mention that we saw what we think was a baby bobcat.)  Nick and Ryan went on and Grant and I stayed put for a bit then he wanted to go back but he was terrified about crossing back over the ice and snow.  I called Ryan and told her that we were turning around but I was only able to leave her a message. 

Then we started back – maybe 30 feet is all. As we started Grant pretty much freaked out and said he couldn’t do it.  We were gripping into the ice and our hands were freezing so we were trying to figure out how to get our gloves out of our packs without falling off the side of the cliff.  Grant just refused to go back the way we came and he found a path up (to what have been the original way across before Ryan realized it was a switchback.  He was almost hyperventilating so we had to sit and take some deep breaths and I took his backpack for him.  I stayed behind him and pushed him up and at one point he slipped back down into me.  He finally made it across (strangely there were people all around at this point so it must not have looked nearly as scary as it felt because everyone was so calm).  The part where I gave him a boost, I had a lot of trouble getting up myself with both packs. Then Ryan called in tears and all she said was, “Get off the ice!  We’re turning around.”  I literally found a finger-sized ice hole and got up.  We walked around the corner and gave each other a big hug.  And then we waited.  I tried to act like I wasn’t nervous but I was.  We waited a little bit longer and I finally walked back around the corner and saw both of them, Ryan first.  I gave her a big hug right as she said, “Dad fell.”  Nick was fighting back tears too.  He was missing one of his crampons and he had no water bottle. 

They apparently went out a little further and Nick slipped and slide straight down about 30-40 feet.  He was able to reach out and grab a tree to his side and held onto the tree to keep from sliding right off the side of the canyon.  He was able to get back up only to slide again, this time directly into the tree.  He broke off a giant branch from the tree and used it as a hiking pole to finally make it back up for good.

After lots of hugs, we very quietly walked back to Columbia Rock and ate out “summit meal” of pepperoni/cream cheese/Ritz sandwiches.  Then we walked back to the car.  4 hours round trip, one of which was spent going about 30 feet. 

Whew. Time to get a picture of the national park sign...

With much of the day left, we drove into Hetch Hetchy and saw the O’Shaughnessy damn.  This area of the park closed at 5 pm and it was already 2:30 so we decided to come back tomorrow morning for a beautiful, and flat, and warmer hike to see some waterfalls. 

We got back to the room around 3 and sat in the hot tub and played pool.  We ate back in our room again and just took it easy.  Nick and Grant went back down to play pool after the kids ate 3-4 s’mores each, and they just got back talking about a nice family they met from Houston.  Apparently they were saying that this was their 9^th park and Grant, (per Nick) with a huge smile on his face, told the lady, “This is our 34^th.” 

The pros of the day:  Our family feels more bonded and grateful and Ryan believes in the god she prayed to to help her dad make it back up. 

California Spring Break 2019 Day 4

Day 4 – March 13, 2019 (Wednesday)

The best adjective for today is adventurous.  We began the morning learning the basics of tire chains.  As it turns out we didn’t need them but it was stressful.  The road to get back to the Valley from our hotel said chains were required.  So nick tried, with limited success, to put them on.  All the while, small sedans were passing us.  Finally a park ranger explained to us that we had snow tires and that we’d be okay. 

We drove down to the Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area and in addition to Grant being able to ski for 3 hours, we were able to purchase traction control devices for our shoes, ensuring our hike tomorrow up the Upper Fall.  While Grant skied, Ryan and I rented some snow shoes and hiked in the general direction of Summit Meadow.  I’m not sure if we reached it or not but we took a short cut and got a nearly panoramic view of the mountains. 

Around 1pm we left the ski area and drove through the Valley to the Half Dome Visitor parking area.  Due to another day of road closures, we had to park our car there and walk ½ mile or so to the John Muir trail head that would take us to the Mist Trail that would take us to Vernal Falls.  The hike was steep and stunning.  Just stunning views of Half Dome, Yosemite Fall, etc.  

When we were within .3 miles of the falls, the trail was closed!!!  Argh!  Now this just got added to our bucket list because I pulled up a Google image and the falls are spectacular.  We decided to put our crampons on and hike a bit further towards Nevada Fall but it would have added 5 miles, round trip to the hike and it was getting a little bit late.  We finally decided to turn around and while the hike was just simply beautiful (and steep) we saw no waterfalls. 

We finally got back to the car around 5 pm and we drove over to the Majestic Yosemite Hotel (formerly known as the Ahwahnee Hotel) and looked all around.  The couple we’d met a few days before said it’s $600 per night to stay there.  They told us that the Queen of England had even eaten there.  The dining room was just amazing. 

After a quick stop by the Village store for candy bars for the kids, we stopped and took the very short walk back to a close-up view of El Capitan (not really much closer than the road) then went back to our hotel.  We got back at 6:45 and my Fit Bit read 10.5 miles.

We heated up soup, ate “stove meals” again and the kids ran down to the fire pit for some complementary s’mores.  Right now it’s 8:30 (feels like midnight!) and Nick and Grant are playing pool in the game room and Ryan’s taking a bath.  We’re going to go to bed soon so that we can be at the trail head at 8 am tomorrow.  It’s going to be the steepest hike we’ve ever done – 3,000 ft of elevation change in 3 miles.  The hike’s supposed to take 8 hours so hopefully I have enough energy to write about it tomorrow.  It will definitely be our Angel’s Landing moment.  I know Grant’s excited since he wasn’t able to finish Angel’s Landing.  And we all have our traction control for our shoes so we’re ready to go.

Tidbits:  Grant is fried (sun burned from skiing).  Ryan is semi-fried.  Grant has a hot spot on his foot already – yikes.  Ryan lost her sunglasses that were just a few days old.  Overall, everyone is getting along okay.  The stars here are surreal.  Today there wasn’t a single cloud in the very bright blue ski – very cold but lovely.  Why does California have to be such a messed up state because its weather is glorious.  We still haven’t gotten a picture in front of the sign so we really need to do that tomorrow – I’m worried we’ll forget.  And yes, this is officially my very favorite national park. 

Friday should be a half day hiking in the Hetch Hetchy area then we’re going to relax at the resort the rest of the day.  34 national parks and #34 was/is the best.

California Spring Break 2019 Day 3

Day 3 – March 12, 2019 (Tuesday)

Today was so fun.  We left Kings Canyon around 7:30 am and drove to Yosemite, entering from the south entrance on Hwy 41.  We drove about 25 miles, went through a long tunnel and came out the other side in heaven.  Coming out of the tunnel, we were staring at El Capitan on the left and Bridalveil Fall on the right.  It was truly amazing. 

We drove just a bit on Southside Drive (towards Yosemite Valley Visitor Center) and stopped in front of Bridalveil Fall and took a short and very icy walk to the viewing area – and I mean really icy – so icy that we couldn’t get all the way to the railing.  People were slipping and sliding everywhere and the sound of the falls was unbelievable.  It was so loud that it sounded like chunks of rocks were breaking off and crashing.

From there we continued towards the visitor center and stopped at Swinging Bridge for a picnic lunch.  We were eating sandwiches and sitting at a picnic table and had been there for a really long time when I turned around and said, oh look there’s another water fall.  At which point one of the kids said, “look up”.  And yes, Yosemite Fall was in full view, both the upper and lower.  We intended to next drove over to the trail head of the Mist Trail so that we could hike to Vernal Fall.  But the road past Half Dome Village was closed for tree clearing – it may be back open tomorrow.  So we went to the visitor center, got our required things, watched a short film on Yosemite in the theater behind the visitor center, then hiked the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail. 

Ryan then decided that we needed to hike the entire Fall tomorrow – 3,000 feet up in 3 miles.  The only problem is we don’t have traction control for our shoes and that’s apparently required to get past the ice.  The Lower Yosemite Fall Trail as fun and easy and the kids and Nick got a little bit farther up than I. 

Next, we went to the camp store to see about buying crampons but they were sold out so we got shirts/sweatshirts, etc. and began the drive to our lodge.  We drove on Northside Drive up to Hwy 120 – we’re staying near the Hech Hechy area of the park – and pulled into our unbelievably amazing Rush Creek Lodge.  We’re in a Villa 3D which includes a king bed for us and a separate bedroom with two twin beds for the kids.  The place is spectacular but literally in the middle of nowhere.  There’s nothing else around and when the sun goes now, it’s DARK. 

We ate a stove meal in our room, tried to buy crampons off of Amazon Prime (with no luck) then went down to the firepit for smores, swimming and hot tubbing.  

We met a couple from Dallas who live in Lakewood.  Ryan dove into the heated pool and swam a bit (heated to 80 degrees) – it’s about 40 degrees outside.  Then we went into the game room and played fuseball, pool, etc. 

This place is truly amazing.  There are no tvs in the room but each room has games.  I love it here and so does the rest of the fam. 

We did learn today that you can downhill ski and snowboard here.  And coincidentally, it’s also the only area of the park where we might be able to find some decent traction control for our shoes.  We’re going to head over to that area of the park in the morning and see what we can come up with.  We’ll let the kids ski for the first part of the day then we’ll try to work in some more hiking.  If we can find the crampons we’ll hike the full Yosemite Fall on Thursday.  It will be an adventure for sure. 

I don’t think I’ve been here long enough to say it yet but this just might be my new favorite national park.  It’s spectacular.  Thank you John Muir.

California Spring Break 2019 Day 2

Day 2 – March 11, 2019 (Monday)

Today was magnificent.  We had breakfast in the room then fully got to explore and appreciate the massive amounts of snowfall.  We drove down from the Lodge, just to the bottom of the hill, and got coffee at the market.  The road down to Grant Tree required chains so we just decided to walk down the road and then walk the ½ mile loop around Grant Tree.  But the walk on the road was just spectacular because we were walking all through a grove of sequoias.  

The kids and Nick got into an ongoing snowball fight.  The temperature was around 30 degrees.  Grant’s Tree is 102 feet in circumference but honestly, there seemed to be practically a dozen other trees that were almost as large.  The sequoias are so distinct looking and there’s just no way to appreciate their size unless you see them in person. 

After the hike, we went into the Visitor Center, which was so completely covered in snow that we almost didn’t see it, and got our hat pins and magnets, and stamped our passbooks.  The volume of snow around here is simply astounding. 

From there we drove north on 180 up to the point where it was closed off and we took the right road down to Hume Lake.  The view to the East was the best view of King’s Canyon (which is deeper than the Grand Canyon) we were able to get because the best part of the park was the part of Highway 180 (the Scenic Highway) that was closed. 

We had a picnic down by Hume Lake (which is actually privately owned by Hume Lake Christian Camps – which look awesome), a picnic of cream cheese, pepperoni sandwiches – shout out to Ryan from our Acadia Maine trip – then we turned around and drove back to Grant’s Village (the area where we’re staying)

We stopped along the way to get pictures of the national park sign and it was almost entirely covered in snow.  The kids had to scale a snow bank just to get near the sign.

Then we rented cross county skis and snow shoes and had the most fun for the next few hours.  The kids got skis and Nick and I got snow shoes – exactly like the ones we rented in Great Basin.  We drove down the road towards Grant’s Tree and stopped at a picnic area and played around.  Grant had just gone downhill skiing for the first time a few weeks ago so he was thinking it would be the same but it was a lot different and he struggled at first – well really both kids struggled at first – as in their falling and my laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face – but Ryan picked it up a little faster. 

Grant eventually got the hang of it too but it was just beautiful where we were and there were very few other people around.  The snow was falling off the trees – and yes, those trees were giant sequoias and we were literally skiing on top of a stream.  I tried skiing briefly and after one rough fall, luckily away from my bad shoulder, I gave Ryan her skis back. 

It was just a bright, sunny, crisp and glorious day. 

We got back to the room around 4pm – you can’t even imagine the size of icicles hanging off the side of the lodge and cleaned up.  At 5:30 we walked down to the restaurant and had a decent meal, then we walked back to the lodge. 

We promised Grant that we’d play games in the lobby by the fire place.  But rather than play games we ended up talking to a couple my parents’ age, Dorothy and Locke Perkins from Minnesota – and they were extraordinary.  They’d traveled the world and were just so engaging.  They talked to us and to the kids and told them how lucky they were to be able to explore all the parks. 

Now we’re back in the room and Nick and Grant are playing the stupidest and most illogical game on the planet, yes, Magic the Gathering. Ryan’s eating more food and attempting to speak to me in Spanish.  She has an amazing accent (from her early days with Clarissa) – now she just needs to get the words down 😊

It’s about 9pm and I think we’ll be going to bed fairly soon.  We’ll head out pretty early tomorrow morning and hit Yosemite.  So today, park #33 is in the books.  I don’t know if I say this enough but I absolutely live for these trips.  This is the happiest I ever am and everyone’s getting along.

California Spring Break 2019 Day 1

Day 1 – March 10, 2019

Today was really, really long.  It is a Sunday.  We were originally supposed to leave yesterday on a nice, leave at 9, arrive at 11am direct flight into Fresno.  But American Airlines cancelled our flight two days ago so we had to shift some things around and leave today.  Our flight left at 7am (which felt like 6am because Daylight Savings Time started yesterday) and we had a two-hour layover in Phoenix then arrived in Fresno at 12pm California time.

We got a minivan then stopped for tire chains and groceries.  We arrived at Sequoia NP around 3 pm and stopped at the Foothills Visitor Center for magnets, etc.  

A lot of the roads are closed and some of those that aren’t, require chains.  While we did buy chains for $100, we were running a little bit low on time because the main road between Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Grant Highway, is closed.  We took a short hike down to the river and water falls at Hospital Rock, passing Tunnel Rock on the way.

Then we walked up a campground road for a bit then decided to get back on the road.  We headed a little bit further north to a scenic overlook and Ryan and Nick engaged in a short snow ball fight. 

Then back on the main road.  It was a ~1.5 hour drive up to Kings Canyon and we took the scenic and very windy road to John Muir Lodge.  Grant got car sick but otherwise, the drive was amazing.  The further we went the deeper the snow got and the more sequoia trees we saw – ironically we saw no sequoias in Sequoia because all roads to the trees required chains. 

We pulled into John Muir Lodge around 7pm and unloaded our bags and groceries.  

The lobby has a huge fireplace and there was an incredible wood burning fire going when we arrived.  The smell was awesome.  Nick brought his stove, which was good because our room has no microwave.  We ate stove meals in the room and are now winding down. Here's a pic of all our groceries for the week :-)

 It was a very long day and we’re all super tired.  We’re now having hot chocolate and I imagine we’ll go to bed soon.  Grant made me play one game of Magic the Gathering, literally the worst game ever created (he was introduced to it at Camp Champions the year before).  Oh and I almost forgot to mention the best part of this – the lodge’s wifi is down and there’s absolutely no cell service here so no one’s on Twitter (Nick), YouTube (Ryan) or Fortnite (Grant).  The kids are engaged and it’s amazing.

The kids got along great today.  I think Nick’s had it but otherwise, it was a great day.  The roads in Kings Canyon are also closed so I’m not sure what tomorrow will entail. We’ll have to play in the snow, which was piled up to the bottom of the speed limit signs.