Tuesday 5 September
And we're off!..
First stop San Francisco!
Staying in Oakdale (3 nights)
25 miles
Safe arrival after a 10 hour flight. Usual queue to get into the country then another queue for the car hire. Then we were off - straight into the rush hour traffic through the centre of SF in a strange car!!
After a bit more queuing in 5 lanes of traffic and an unnecessary detour (couldn't get over to exit in time!) we reached our first motel.
Short walk around to orient ourselves (found train stop for tomorrow and ear marked a restaurant for a meal!), quick beer then bed.
Wednesday 6 Sept
Wonky body clock so awake at 4am and ready to go out! Eventually got the BART train into the centre and wandered off to Union Square and Chinatown.
Walked UP Lombard Street and then down towards Fisherman's Wharf.
Lovely views across to Alcatraz from here.
Brunch in the Buena Vista café - bacon and sunny side up eggs for Mike with French toast and maple syrup.
Sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder for me - and we both had their special Irish coffees.
The sun came out!
More walking along most of the piers until we could walk no more!!
Time for a beer.
Love this pier.
Walked 8 or 9 miles - much further than intended so back to the motel, Mexican meal round the corner then tucked up in bed and asleep by 8pm!
Thursday 7 Sept
The little Buddhist temple near our motel was open so the lady kindly let us have a look inside.
Tsunami signs on the road...
View for breakfast...
The old pier warehouse buildings are in various states of repair and renovation and are quite magnificent.
Bike ride to the Golden Gate bridge - from probably about as far away as you can hire a bike at Pier Head near the Bay Bridge!!
Off we went!... Only to realise two miles later that neither of us had picked up the map! Back we went... Luckily it was all flat!
So we probably did about 15 miles in total.
A good bike ride - not a particularly sunny day but very humid so still very tiring!
Rode down another old pier to look at the bridge and Alcatraz from a different view and some herons flew over us.
Evening walk to Lake Merritt as the sun set.
Friday 8 Sept
Overnight in Oakhurst
252 miles
Lovely ride across to Yosemite.
We drove through Oakdale to get to Yosemite and eventually to Oakhurst. Brought back memories of my trip with Siobhan when we arrived in Oakdale during a beautiful sunset thinking that we could have a lovely, relaxed evening... until we realised that we should have been in Oakhurst - about a two hour drive away!!...
As we drove we saw several 'dust storms' which drifted across the a road causing poor visibility - made by tractors or whatever in the dry fields.
Then we saw something which seemed a little different moving across an empty, dusty parking lot and as we got nearer it looked like a mini tornado, about 30ft (10m) high swirling across the ground. Mike says that they are called 'dust devils' caused by convection currents. But it was very impressive to see - no photos as I was too busy looking at it!!
Several of the roads are closed due to forest fires and we were warned that there was still a pall of smoke across some areas of the park. Some of the views were a little misty.
As we drove there were loads of fire vehicles at the road sides and you could see where some areas had been ravaged by fire. There is a high risk - not surprising as the temperature reached 91°F today - which was a bit of a surprise!
We stopped at several places as we drove round the tourist route.
A salute at El Capitan.
There have been several forest fires in the Oakhurst area as, when we came through to our accommodation there were loads of hand written/painted signs thanking the fire fighters and the rescue services.
It has also meant that a couple of the roads in/out/around Yosemite have been closed so we had to take a long (hour and a half) detour to our accommodation (but it was very pretty!) instead of the half hour we thought it would be. Which we then have to do again in the morning to get to our starting point for the Tioga Pass.
Saturday 9 Sept
Overnight at Mammoth Lakes (Tioga Pass)
177 miles
We set off at 7.45am to beat the heat of the day - quite forgetting that we were going over a high mountain pass and that it would be cooler anyway.
A convoy of fire engines went by going the other way - then more and then some more - probably about 30 in the space of 5 or 10 minutes. We were told later that we had been staying right in the heart of the danger zone where there had been several bad fires. We hadn't realised that we were quite so close although we should have realised as the pool at our motel had been closed as it was covered in ash from the fires.
So we drove back into Yosemite with a slight detour for a late breakfast picnic at Cathedral. Some parts were still very hazy with the remains of the smoke and the smell of burning was quite strong in places.
We were quite intrigued to see a man with his binoculars and another high powered thing watching El Capitan again at the same point as we'd seen the others yesterday. We asked if people were climbing again and he said yes. He let us look through his high powered thingy and I nearly jumped back in shock! You could see two men on the rock face in such detail that you could see the clothes that they were wearing and the movements they were making as they climbed the rock. Amazing!!
Turns out that they were the same two men we'd watched the previous day. It takes 5 days to climb El Capitan and this was day 2 so the red trailing bit behind them was their equipment for surviving and sleeping.
We found out later that someone had free climbed up El Capitan with no equipment in one day! ONE DAY! We also found out that a few days after we had been there a British climber had died after being crushed by a huge slab of rock. Very sad.
Off we set for our trip over the Tioga Pass. As we climbed higher it got cooler and cloudier and there was snow on some of the peaks. Beautiful views but some twisty roads with too much of a drop for my liking! But we got there!...
Sunday 10 Sept
Overnight in Olancha
232 miles
Nice journey from Mammoth lakes via one of the many lakes in the area - Mary Lake. Very beautiful.
We found our accommodation - a little rustic motel with a ramshackle sign on its own in the middle of nowhere!!
Several of out motels have been quite shabby and old fashioned but the bedding, towels etc have all been very clean so we have had no complaints! This one added an extra dimension of being set on its own, just off the freeway, but seemingly in a desert!! Very funny..
So we arrived quite early and did nothing for a couple of hours - it was 32°C and even though it was partly cloudy it was too hot to move away from the air con!!
Went out later to find the very picturesque (and very high!) Whitney mountain. There were some very strange rock formations along the way.
Beautiful views as we started to climb. And then a waterfall at the top! We didn't have time to walk any of the trails but there were loads of people camping up there. Not sure I'd fancy it as it's bear country but I'm sure it's safe!
We didn't stay long as the sun had gone but there were more lovely views on the way down.
The views from the petrol station as we filled up were equally spectacular.
Monday 11 Sept
Overnight in Pahrump
213 miles
Then onwards through Death Valley - an amazing day! First stop was for coffee at a gas station - and a Hershey bar and some beef jerky which Mike decided he 'needed'! Told him that American chocolate is not a patch on proper English chocolate lol.
But I think I love French Vanilla in my coffee now!
Then it was off to Panamint Springs and Death Valley.
Rather surprisingly we had a sprinkle of rain - not the norm for this time of year I was told. Then later there was a big lightening storm - probably more normal.
The temperature at the Furnace Creek Visitor Centre read 111°F!! We thought that was hot.
Then to Badwater Basin which has the lowest elevation in North America - 282ft (86m) below sea level.
Once again it was so stiflingly hot that we couldn't even manage the walk of a few hundred yards to the edge of the salt plains - and a woman had already collapsed with heat exhaustion on the walkway so we decided to take a few pics and go!
By this time the temperature in the car was reading 113°F!!
So back to the cool of the air con and off down the road to cruise round Artist's Drive and have a look at the Artist's Palette - absolutely stunning coloured rock formations.
When we arrived at our accommodation it was very hot and windy so we decided to do some washing and hung it out in a tree outside our room. We then went off to get a pizza and by the time we got back the washing was virtually dry!!
And we're off!..
First stop San Francisco!
Staying in Oakdale (3 nights)
25 miles
Safe arrival after a 10 hour flight. Usual queue to get into the country then another queue for the car hire. Then we were off - straight into the rush hour traffic through the centre of SF in a strange car!!
After a bit more queuing in 5 lanes of traffic and an unnecessary detour (couldn't get over to exit in time!) we reached our first motel.
Short walk around to orient ourselves (found train stop for tomorrow and ear marked a restaurant for a meal!), quick beer then bed.
Wednesday 6 Sept
Wonky body clock so awake at 4am and ready to go out! Eventually got the BART train into the centre and wandered off to Union Square and Chinatown.
Misty start to the day...
Lovely views across to Alcatraz from here.
Brunch in the Buena Vista café - bacon and sunny side up eggs for Mike with French toast and maple syrup.
The sun came out!
More walking along most of the piers until we could walk no more!!
Walked 8 or 9 miles - much further than intended so back to the motel, Mexican meal round the corner then tucked up in bed and asleep by 8pm!
Thursday 7 Sept
The little Buddhist temple near our motel was open so the lady kindly let us have a look inside.
Tsunami signs on the road...
View for breakfast...
The old pier warehouse buildings are in various states of repair and renovation and are quite magnificent.
Bike ride to the Golden Gate bridge - from probably about as far away as you can hire a bike at Pier Head near the Bay Bridge!!
Off we went!... Only to realise two miles later that neither of us had picked up the map! Back we went... Luckily it was all flat!
So we probably did about 15 miles in total.
A good bike ride - not a particularly sunny day but very humid so still very tiring!
Rode down another old pier to look at the bridge and Alcatraz from a different view and some herons flew over us.
Evening walk to Lake Merritt as the sun set.
Friday 8 Sept
Overnight in Oakhurst
252 miles
Lovely ride across to Yosemite.
We drove through Oakdale to get to Yosemite and eventually to Oakhurst. Brought back memories of my trip with Siobhan when we arrived in Oakdale during a beautiful sunset thinking that we could have a lovely, relaxed evening... until we realised that we should have been in Oakhurst - about a two hour drive away!!...
As we drove we saw several 'dust storms' which drifted across the a road causing poor visibility - made by tractors or whatever in the dry fields.
Then we saw something which seemed a little different moving across an empty, dusty parking lot and as we got nearer it looked like a mini tornado, about 30ft (10m) high swirling across the ground. Mike says that they are called 'dust devils' caused by convection currents. But it was very impressive to see - no photos as I was too busy looking at it!!
Several of the roads are closed due to forest fires and we were warned that there was still a pall of smoke across some areas of the park. Some of the views were a little misty.
As we drove there were loads of fire vehicles at the road sides and you could see where some areas had been ravaged by fire. There is a high risk - not surprising as the temperature reached 91°F today - which was a bit of a surprise!
And you could still smell the smoke in the air.
There have been several forest fires in the Oakhurst area as, when we came through to our accommodation there were loads of hand written/painted signs thanking the fire fighters and the rescue services.
It has also meant that a couple of the roads in/out/around Yosemite have been closed so we had to take a long (hour and a half) detour to our accommodation (but it was very pretty!) instead of the half hour we thought it would be. Which we then have to do again in the morning to get to our starting point for the Tioga Pass.
Saturday 9 Sept
Overnight at Mammoth Lakes (Tioga Pass)
177 miles
We set off at 7.45am to beat the heat of the day - quite forgetting that we were going over a high mountain pass and that it would be cooler anyway.
A convoy of fire engines went by going the other way - then more and then some more - probably about 30 in the space of 5 or 10 minutes. We were told later that we had been staying right in the heart of the danger zone where there had been several bad fires. We hadn't realised that we were quite so close although we should have realised as the pool at our motel had been closed as it was covered in ash from the fires.
So we drove back into Yosemite with a slight detour for a late breakfast picnic at Cathedral. Some parts were still very hazy with the remains of the smoke and the smell of burning was quite strong in places.
We were quite intrigued to see a man with his binoculars and another high powered thing watching El Capitan again at the same point as we'd seen the others yesterday. We asked if people were climbing again and he said yes. He let us look through his high powered thingy and I nearly jumped back in shock! You could see two men on the rock face in such detail that you could see the clothes that they were wearing and the movements they were making as they climbed the rock. Amazing!!
Turns out that they were the same two men we'd watched the previous day. It takes 5 days to climb El Capitan and this was day 2 so the red trailing bit behind them was their equipment for surviving and sleeping.
We found out later that someone had free climbed up El Capitan with no equipment in one day! ONE DAY! We also found out that a few days after we had been there a British climber had died after being crushed by a huge slab of rock. Very sad.
Off we set for our trip over the Tioga Pass. As we climbed higher it got cooler and cloudier and there was snow on some of the peaks. Beautiful views but some twisty roads with too much of a drop for my liking! But we got there!...
Sunday 10 Sept
Overnight in Olancha
232 miles
Nice journey from Mammoth lakes via one of the many lakes in the area - Mary Lake. Very beautiful.
Lots of long, straight roads with glorious views!
We found our accommodation - a little rustic motel with a ramshackle sign on its own in the middle of nowhere!!
Several of out motels have been quite shabby and old fashioned but the bedding, towels etc have all been very clean so we have had no complaints! This one added an extra dimension of being set on its own, just off the freeway, but seemingly in a desert!! Very funny..
So we arrived quite early and did nothing for a couple of hours - it was 32°C and even though it was partly cloudy it was too hot to move away from the air con!!
Went out later to find the very picturesque (and very high!) Whitney mountain. There were some very strange rock formations along the way.
Beautiful views as we started to climb. And then a waterfall at the top! We didn't have time to walk any of the trails but there were loads of people camping up there. Not sure I'd fancy it as it's bear country but I'm sure it's safe!
We didn't stay long as the sun had gone but there were more lovely views on the way down.
The views from the petrol station as we filled up were equally spectacular.
Monday 11 Sept
Overnight in Pahrump
213 miles
Then onwards through Death Valley - an amazing day! First stop was for coffee at a gas station - and a Hershey bar and some beef jerky which Mike decided he 'needed'! Told him that American chocolate is not a patch on proper English chocolate lol.
But I think I love French Vanilla in my coffee now!
Then it was off to Panamint Springs and Death Valley.
We were excited when the temperature reached 100°F - little did we know!..
Mesquite flat sand dunes.
The temperature at the Furnace Creek Visitor Centre read 111°F!! We thought that was hot.
We drove to the Golden Canyon. There was a walk of 1.2 miles to some columns but the heat was so unbearable that we gave up after 10 minutes and came back! Even trying to skulk in the few bits of shade was too much.
The bit we saw was very beautiful though.
The bit we saw was very beautiful though.
Then to Badwater Basin which has the lowest elevation in North America - 282ft (86m) below sea level.
Once again it was so stiflingly hot that we couldn't even manage the walk of a few hundred yards to the edge of the salt plains - and a woman had already collapsed with heat exhaustion on the walkway so we decided to take a few pics and go!
By this time the temperature in the car was reading 113°F!!
So back to the cool of the air con and off down the road to cruise round Artist's Drive and have a look at the Artist's Palette - absolutely stunning coloured rock formations.
When we arrived at our accommodation it was very hot and windy so we decided to do some washing and hung it out in a tree outside our room. We then went off to get a pizza and by the time we got back the washing was virtually dry!!
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