Day 23 – Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

Weather on the trip has been a little more extreme than we expected but we have clothes for all conditions so it has been okay. In the higher elevations of Utah we saw morning lows in the upper 30’s. Now we are at the opposite end of the spectrum.  We had two days above 100 followed by 98 yesterday and 94 today. Fortunately we took our hike early enough in Joshua Tree so that it was only 78, which was fine.

Palm Springs and Coachella Valley (from Joshua Tree NP)

I realize now I should have raved some more about how beautiful the Palm Springs area is. We actually stayed in Ranch Mirage but it was just as nice. Ditto for Desert Palm and Indian Wells. There are lots of gated community homes and a fantastic golf course about every two miles. If there is a poor section or even middle class section, we didn’t see it. We stopped touring just before Indio, where the big Coachella Music Festival is set for next weekend.

Hidden Valley (from our hike in Joshua Tree NP)

Joshua Tree National Park is an interesting combination of desert vegetation and piles of boulders. There are areas in the park with miles and miles of Joshua Trees, which is a version of Yucca. Joshua Trees can be seen here and there throughout the California and Nevada deserts, but for some reason they are plentiful in the park. The trees are not very big in size and normally live to between 150 and 500 years. They are also rarely even close to being symmetrical.

Cholla Cactus

Another interesting plant they have at Joshua Tree NP is the Cholla Cactus. They are known for their barbed spines that tenaciously attach to skin, so you don't want to get too close.

Skull Rock (Joshua Tree NP)

We are in Las Vegas tonight after driving through the desert for four hours and part way on old Route 66. Interestingly enough, even though there is basically nothing in the desert, we were stopped 3 times waiting for long trains to pass. What are the odds of that? By the way, we passed the 5000 mile mark on the trip today.

Day 22 – Los Angeles and The Getty

Pacific Ocean (just below Dan Blocker Beach)

We took the scenic route south along the Pacific Coast Highway from Oxnard through Malibu and Santa Monica towards LA. It was about a 40-mile drive along beautiful coastline and some amazing homes. We even stopped to put our feet into the water at one point.

Getty Museum

Our destination today was “The Getty” (in LA speak). We have been to LA before and have already seen most of the major sites, so we decided to pick one that we hadn’t seen before. Other than traffic, it is an easy museum to visit. You park at the bottom of the hill in their garage and take a tram to the top. The museum is free, but parking is $15. 

LA Skyline from The Getty

The museum itself is one of the most beautiful one we have ever seen, including a fantastic view of Los Angeles and the coastline. However, the collection for us didn’t quite match up. I have to put in the caveat that we judge museums by their collection of Impressionist art and that probably isn’t fair to The Getty collection because they have a very varied and wide range of articles including decorative art pieces.

Irises

The Getty only has maybe 10 major pieces of Impressionist art, but what they have is spectacular.  The centerpiece is “Irises” by Vincent van Gogh. In 1987, it became the most expensive painting ever sold ($54M) when it was purchased by an Australian businessman, who subsequently defaulted on the loan and the painting was acquired by the Getty Museum three years later.

Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)

We left LA early in the afternoon and after a stop to see the Rose Bowl, we fought traffic most of the way to the Palm Springs area where we are spending the night. What beautiful scenery here in the desert.

Day 21 – Hearst Castle and Channel Islands National Park

Hearst Castle

Today was the first day of the second half of our 40-day trip and tomorrow we actually start driving east for the first time. The second half is going to be somewhat longer in distance as we head south for a good bit of the trip as well.

View of the Pacific from Hearst Castle

We started the day with a tour of Hearst Castle, which was built by William Randolph Hearst over about a 30-year period starting in 1919. It is a spectacularly beautiful home with 56 bedrooms high in the hills above San Simeon, CA. Hearst was probably the first media mogul with his publishing and film companies.  Hearst was fond of mixing with famous and powerful people and, in its heyday, the castle was host to the who’s who in film, sports and politics with names such as Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Winston Churchill, etc. spending weekends at the castle.

Main Meeting Room In Hearst Castle

It is kind of hard to describe the meticulous details that went into the design of the castle. Hearst was an avid collector of European art and incorporated much of the art that he had purchased into his home. The main building is designed to resemble a Spanish cathedral and it uses statues from the 14th century in the front facade along with a Roman mosaic in the entrance way and intricate carved wooden ceilings.

View of Channel Islands from Visitor Center

From Hearst Castle, we drove down the Pacific Coast to Ventura, CA, for about three hours to visit the Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center. This is an interesting National Park because unlike the other parks, the main purpose is to preserve the five Channel Islands and the surrounding waters and hence it isn’t particularly visitor friendly. You can take a boat out to the individual islands, but it takes a full day and there are no facilities on the island. They are mostly visited by scuba divers, kayakers and campers. Since we didn’t have the equipment or desire for any of those activities, we limited our visit to the Visitor Center.

Day 20 – Pinnacles National Park

Pinnacles Peak

The drive south from San Jose to Pinnacles takes you through Gilroy, CA. Gilroy is famous for its garlic and we passed through miles and miles of fields around Gilroy, but we weren’t sure if any were garlic. I think that garlic is more of a spring crop and Gilroy smells distinctly like garlic when the crop is being harvested.

Colorful Rock Formations

Pinnacles is the newest National Park in the system, elevated to that status only in 2013. It is also one of the smaller parks, at least in terms of roads through the park, but it has good hiking and if you are lucky, you can see California Condors. Unfortunately the temperature was going to reach 106 in the park today so we had to scratch our planned hike to try to see the Condors and switch to a more shaded trail which took us to Bear Gulch Caves. This was the first time we went self-guided through a cave where we had to carry our own flashlights, which was actually pretty cool. So we didn't see Condors but the good news is that we didn't see bears in the caves either.

Trail to Bear Gulch Cave

The cave was mostly vertical, had a lot of tight squeezes and one part where I had to crab walk for about 10 feet to get through. Only hit my head once. The flashlight was a big help but some people got by just with cell phone lights.

We are spending the night in Morro Bay and finished the evening by watching the sunset over the Pacific and having a very nice local seafood dinner.

Days 14 to 19 – San Jose

We reached our turnaround point at my son’s home on Day 14 after a 3 hour drive south from Red Bluff, CA. Total miles driven so far are 4,108. Time to wash clothes and have some R&R for a few days!!!

Day 13 – Lassen Volcanic National Park

View Across Valley

It was a very good day from start to finish. One of the most pleasant we have had so far. The weather in the park couldn’t have been any better, full sunshine and around 70 degrees. Lassen is beautiful with fantastic alpine scenery, tall pine trees, mountain lakes and meadows. There are actually four volcanoes in the park, with the most recent eruption from Lassen Peak in 1915. The park has a number of active hydrothermal areas and we took a very pleasant hike to Cold Boiling Lake. The lake has a constant bubbling from the release of underground steam.

Balanced Rock

We changed hotels in order to get to San Jose a little earlier tomorrow, and that worked out really well. After the Lassen hike, we were totally grimy from the grayish volcanic ash content in the dust, but the new hotel had an outdoor pool and the temperature in Red Bluff was around 90, so it was great to hang out in the pool for a bit.

Lassen Peak

Snow Capped Lassen Peak (reverse side)

Cold Boiling Lake

Bubbling at Edge of Lake 

Trail to Cold Boiling Lake

Day 12 – Lake Tahoe and Northern California

South Lake Tahoe (in the distance)

Today was a light travel day, so we slept in a bit and then drove around Lake Tahoe and up to Chester, CA, where we are in position for a visit to Lassen Volcanic National Park tomorrow. Along the way, we stopped in Carson City to take a look at the Capitol and then drove through South Lake Tahoe and up the western side of the lake. We made a quick stop to see Squaw Valley, which was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Western Shore of Lake Tahoe

Day 11 – Crossing Nevada and Into Reno

Today we crossed almost all of Nevada, going 320 miles from Ely in the east to Reno in the west. Almost all of the trip was on US 50, which is also called “The Loneliest Road in America.” I can understand that nickname as we saw nothing but sagebrush, plains and mountains for almost 5 hours. I think there were only two small towns along the way. US 50 does have some minor history as it follows the Lincoln Highway, which was the first transcontinental highway in the United States, which in turn had followed the route used by the Pony Express. The Lincoln Highway runs from Ocean City, MD, to Sacramento, CA.

Northern Nevada Landscape (US 50)

We arrived at Reno in the afternoon and later went to the Peppermill Casino for our concert and dinner. The Band Perry were really good. Kimberly Perry has a great voice and there is nothing like the family harmony she has with her two brothers. They are basically a country group and you might remember If I Die Young, but tonight it was much more like a rock concert as they covered songs from Justin Bieber, Gnarls Barkley and others, in addition to their own hits.

Day 10 – Great Basin National Park

Lehman Caves (Ceiling)

We hit two milestones on our travels today. We entered the Pacific time zone and went over 3000 miles driven. We also toured Great Basin National Park. The drive to the park took us away from the mountains and into the Great Basin Desert for which the park in named. This area stretches from the Wasatch Mountains in Utah to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. The area is generally very flat with salt flats, sagebrush and not much in the way of population. There is a lot of open grazing lands so there were occasional herds of cattle.

Lehman Caves (Columns)

The main feature of Great Basin National Park is the Lehman Caves. We booked out tickets for the Grand Palace tour months ago as they have a max of 20 tickets for any given tour and we were almost at the max. It really felt like a personalized tour compared to the one we took at Mammoth Cave last fall. The cave doesn’t have huge rooms, hence the limit to 20 per tour. The tour was great and it felt like you were much closer to the formations. Lehman has all the standard cave formations – Stalactites, Stalagmites, Columns, Drapes, Popcorn, Soda Straws, Bacon and others that I don’t remember. I would love to show photos of each, but I have learned over the years that it is very hard to take good photos in caves, but I’ll post the best.

Example of Shield Formation

Lehman Caves does have some rare formations called Shields. They are basically two round, flat plates that are usually joined together and frequently with stalactites hanging down from them. Unlike the other types of formations, no one knows how the Shields are formed. I borrowed a photo of the “Jellyfish” to illustrate. The flat part on top is the Shield.

Scenic Drive to Wheeler Peak

After the cave tour, we drove a scenic drive to the top of Wheeler Peak, or at least as far as you can go by car. It was pretty and the Aspen are just starting to turn yellow near the top. We took a short hike at the top (10K feet) which is difficult if you aren’t used to the altitude. The actual peak is another 3000 feet higher and you can hike to it, but we said no way.

Wheeler Peak

Day 9 – Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Dome (center)

I suppose I should first explain the name of the park to give a sense of what there is to see. The Reef comes from the term “barrier reef” which in this case means an unpassable area to travelers that stretches for 100 miles north-south through Utah. The geological formation doing the blocking is a “Waterpocket Fold” which is essentially an upheaval caused by plate tectonics, but a specific kind. That is about the extent of what I understood from the Ranger geology talk this morning. All I know for sure is that the results were spectacular. There are very high cliffs with colorful rock layers, some dating back to when this part of Utah was oceanfront property. The Capitol part comes from a Navaho limestone formation that resembles the US Capitol building. In the photo, it is the white part that also looks like a melted Hershey Kiss.

Geology Classroom

We did a lot of activities today, so I’ll summarize with a list to give you an idea of our schedule:

1) Watched film at visitor center.

2) Attended Geology talk by a Park Ranger. Note all the different layers of rock in the photo which gave a lot to talk about. "Cathedral Rock" at the top.

Former Uranium Mines

3) Stopped at the Gifford House and bought a 6” cherry pie to have later for lunch. Prior to becoming a National Park, the area was a Mormon settlement complete with an orchard.

4) Drove the scenic route through the park and took a lot of pictures. One is from a former uranium mine from the 1950s. Quality of the ore was not good so that effort failed.

Egyptian Temple

5) Took a hike up to Hickman Bridge. 2 miles round trip with 400 feet of elevation change. That was not an easy hike due to a rocky trail and the elevation of the park.

6) Drove Route 12 south through the Grand Staircase (Escalante) National Monument and walked through Devil’s Garden, which is a field of hoodoos. These types of rocks are a common feature at Bryce Canyon, which is not far away.

7) In total, drove about 250 mile and arrived at the hotel around 6:30, which is much later than we like to do. Long but productive day.

John at Hickman Bridge

Hoodoos in Devil's Garden (Escalante)

We thought this looked like a castle (Escalante)

Day 8 – Canyonlands National Park

View through Mesa Arch

We spent last night in Moab, UT, and it was our second time at the same Hampton. We were here in 2010 when we visited Arches NP, but this time we came to see Canyonlands. The entrances to the park are only about 5 miles apart, but they are completely different in what you see. Arches is all rock formations while Canyonlands is a high mesa overlooking two rivers which meet in the park. On the east is the Colorado and on the west is the Green. They converge at the southern end of the park and of course the Colorado continues down into Arizona where it formed the Grand Canyon. The effect is similar in Canyonlands with magnificent canyons on either side.

Buck Canyon Overlook

The park is actually split into several sections, but we visited the “Island in the Sky” section which is the most accessible. The other parts are either off-road or backpacking. Instead of being descriptive about the park, I’ll just let the photos do the talking. I will just add that it’s also worthwhile driving to Dead Horse Point State Park while you are at Canyonlands. It’s not part of Canyonlands, which is a federal park, so there is a separate entrance fee for the state park but it has a stunning view of a bend in the Colorado River. I don’t think you can actually see much of the Colorado from Canyonlands as it is very deep in the canyons there. 

Grand View Point Overlook

Green River Overlook

Dead Horse Point Overlook

Day 7 – Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Colorado mountain stream

Today was a long day but we knew that going in. In essence we toured one national park in the middle of 6.5 hours of driving, which is really too much but unfortunately necessary to set us up for an early start at Canyonlands tomorrow. We started the morning in southern Colorado and drove to the northwest part to tour Black Canyon. The drive took us on a parallel route with the Rockies, across the Continental Divide, and along a very scenic drive through beautiful canyons following an mountain stream.

Black Canyon (south rim)

We were totally blown away by the beauty of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Gunnison, by the way, refers to the Gunnison River which flows through the park and dug out the canyon after millions of years, at the rate of an inch every century. The canyon consists of amazing vertical cliffs about 2000 feet above the river. You can stand on lookouts above the river and basically look straight down about a half mile to the river. The photos don't really do justice to the immense size of the canyon and the sense of awe you feel looking down into it.

Painted Wall at Black Canyon of the Gunnison

We attended a geology talk given by one of the Park Rangers who explained the formation of the canyon. In summary, the canyon was caused by an upheaval of two types of solid rock and then the cracks between the rocks were filled by Pegmatite which is an igneous rock supplied by two nearby and now extinct volcanoes. The result is lighter stripes of quartz crystal in the rock as seen in the Painted Wall section.

So far, we have been impressed by the beauty and uniqueness of the two lesser known parks that we have visited. They are a little off the beaten path but well worth visiting.

Day 6 – Great Sand Dunes National Park

Bent's Old Fort

Today was mostly a sightseeing day wrapped around about three hours of driving. We started the day at Bent's Old Fort which is just outside of La Junta, CO. It is a reconstructed 1840s adobe fur trading post on the Santa Fe Trail and back in the day it was on the US-Mexico border. How is that possible? The border in the 1840s was the Arkansas River before the Mexican-American War in 1846. 

Buffalo Press

The fort was pretty cool to walk through and you could just imagine how it was in 1840. The fort did a lot of buffalo hide trading and in one of the photos you can see a buffalo hide press, which is how they reduced the size before shipping.

Great Sand Dunes NP (from a distance)

After our drive, we went to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It is truly an amazing park and you can see it from at least 20 miles away. The park contains the highest sand dunes in North America and is over 30 square miles in size. We try to take a hike at every park and this is one of the more difficult ones. First, walking in the sand is difficult enough, but doing it at 7500 feet elevation is crazy. It normally takes a few days to get used to that level of altitude, so doing on the first day had us breathing hard. 

Great Sand Dunes (part way up)

From a distance it looks like no problem walking to the top, but when you get close, you see that the height is about the same as a 75 story building. We saw some people at the top, but they were like ants. No way were we even going to come close. We made it up about two dunes in height and then watched several people sand boarding down.