Heading Home

Encountered Saguaro Cactus in Arizona near Phoenix. I just have to smile when I see a Saguaro. They are slow growing and can take up to 75 years to develop a side arm!

Traveled to Sedona, Arizona to visit my nephew and his mom. This is a panoramic of the city against the red rocks at Sunrise...it just seems odd after these last few weeks of visiting beautiful national parks that there is a town in the middle of this place. It's surprising that it's not a National Park. We carved a pumpkin on the balcony of their home with the killer view of Sedona.
On to New Mexico.....Ahhhh....the Pecos River Valley!! Love this place!!
The schoolhouse in El Cerrito.
Side Canyon near village...that rock ledge above me could go anytime!

Made it home safe....6,492 miles and 2 days shy of 6 weeks!! I felt really good and energized to be home...planted a small garden the day I got back! It's cold here!!

Death Valley continued

A popular photo spot called Zabriskie Point and well the view was fantastic.
I drove up a 2 mile long gravel road up to Mosaic Canyon. The drive was hard on the van...had to use first gear..transmission making a little whine now...really it is driving on a large wedge shaped aluvial fan that is the deposit of rocks and debris from the canyon. The hike was incredible though....really OLD rocks that were exposed... I will quote from a brochure to explain what you are seeing..This limestone is rich in magnesium and formed 750 to 900 million years ago when the area was part of the Pacific Ocean. This sedementary material was later buried to great depths by younger material and was subjected to pressures and temperatures exeeding 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. As a result much of the limestone was altered, or metamorphosed, into MARBLE! Subsequent uplift and erosion have since re-exposed these metamorphic rocks.
The rock is so smooth and at this point the canyon narrows to this passageway..you wonder how many humans for how many years have slid down this very smooth crevice!!


Salt flats...they shimmer in the sunlight and look like a lake from a distance.

Driving to Death Valley

All the passes over the Sierra Nevadas were closed so I had to drive around those mountains...took me quite a bit out of the way but I was determined to go to Death Valley.
Glad I got gas before I got here! Holy S___!


This is the hottest, driest and Lowest National Park.
Badwater Basin is the lowest point at 282 feet below sea level! I camped 190 feet BELOW sea level at Texas Springs Campground...actually I slept on the picnic table in my sleeping bag as the stars were amazing...even with a full moon. And it was the first time in weeks that I was not in BEAR country so felt safe enough to sleep outside the van. It was 90 degrees when I went to sleep and 60 when I woke up.

Climbing Moro Rock

Moro Rock..inside Seguoia Park......nearly 400 steps and 300 foot rise in elevation....and since it was too foggy to get a photo of the rock...I took one of the photo on the trail.
Views along the climb were amazing....above the clouds at most times...probably good I could not see the ground over the steep sides.View from the top...the Middle Fork Kaweah River and San Joaquin Valley in the distance. I will drive down the mountain thru this valley.

Sequoia National Park

See me standing in the middle of this grove?!!

I just Love visiting National Parks...it has to do with the fact they are some of the MOST beautiful places in America and I feel safe camping there, and there is opportunity to find solitude or be around people from all over the world!! I love hearing all the foreign languages in a natural setting and people are having FUN!This is supposedly the World's LARGEST Tree!! Not the tallest or the biggest around, but the most mass or volume! This giant Sequoia is known as the General Sherman Tree and is estimated to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years old!! 275 feet tall and 36 feet diameter at the base.


Evidence of fire scars all the large sequoias. Actualy fires are crucial to their survival...the tiny seeds from the cones need to germinate in bare mineral soil in a sunny situation.
I was there for 2 days and the weather changed constantly with fog appearing and disappearing.
The Ferns are providing the Fall color here. Notice the people walking down the road for size comparison!

Yosemite continued

The Merced River...I thought this was about the most artistic design I have seen for indicating the levels of river flood waters....Also a reminder of how this seemingly peaceful valley can become a raging torrent. I saw a Bobcat from one of the hiking trails!!...it was on the prowl...I videoed the entire thing of him catching a squirrel...if I get time I will learn how to post to Youtube and embed the link...another technology step I have not mastered. At one time there were as many as 20 hotels in the valley..but either flood or fire destroyed most of them. The 1925 Ahwahnee Lodge offers all the luxuries for the affluent traveler. I slept in my van in the parking lot!
Really I did not have an option...there is a 7 month reservation wait for any type of sleeping accommodation in Yosemite Valley...hotel or camping! 4 million visitors a year!

Ansel Adams Photo Class

I took a little "Ansel Adams" class where we walked out into the meadow and learned some things about photography using some of his styles and techniques. There is a nice gallery in the park commemorating his 60 years of photographing Yosemite!
These are my photos inspired by my lessons.

WOW! Yosemite

Upper Yosemite Falls....here it is at "low" flow....in the Spring the falls are huge with all the snowmelt...Granite cliffs are everywhere..geologists think they were formed 5 miles underground about 100 million years ago and then about 35 million years ago the uplift started that created the mountain range we now call the Sierra Nevadas. The process of how the Valley was formed...glaciers eroding the surfaces into smooth granite formations.
Hiking up the Mist trail...600 granite steps to Vernal Falls.
The view was rewarding!
Mirror Lake
Exfoliation in process! "Royal Arches"
Thats Half Dome in the distance shrouded by Fog. I am in Cooks Meadow....notice the grass laying down where probably deer had bedded down. It's easy to imagine why the American Indian people established a permanent settlement here, collecting Acorns as their main food supply and weaving baskets from the lush grasses that grow here. The Ahwahneechee were forcefully removed in 1851.