Days 23 and 24 - Yellowstone: Part 1

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining 

is to let it rain”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

After 3 weeks we’ve arrived to the granddaddy of national parks, Yellowstone.  Everyone prior to setting sail, told me I’d love this place.  I was skeptical, not generally preferring the beaten path.  I can happily admit I was wrong to feel this way.  This place is nature’s freak show.  A menagerie of sites, all wrapped into one park.  Mountains, rivers, lakes, hot springs, geysers, elk, bison, moose, grizzlies, wolves, meadows, waterfalls, canyons, crazy rock formations of every color.  All of these collected together on top of a megavolcano, and not some Syfy channel movie, I’m talking giant volcano that is 60,000 years past due to erupt and when it does it’ll take out half of the US.  So let’s get started on this two parter.

When I last left you we were heading out from Crater Lake.  The drive was over 800 miles to Yellowstone.  We had the option of driving all day and then setting up camp at night, but knowing how not fun that would be, we opted to stop in Idaho Falls about 2 hours west of the park.  The drive was long, but Oregon was a beautiful state.  The majority of its eastern side is desert, but pretty desert, not New Mexico desert.  Along the way I used Hotels.com to find us a cheap hotel and we lucked out with one for $75 at the Shilo Inn.  It ended up being one of the best hotels yet.  We showered off our camp grime and then stopped at Jaker’s Bar and Grill for some appetizers and their own brewed beer.

The next day we made the final drive to Yellowstone.  We first stopped in West Yellowstone, stocked up on food and headed in.  The 4 toll entrance was an omen that this would be a crowded park.  The entrance had a list of campgrounds that had vacancies, so our first job was to find a place to stay.  The first campground had filled when we got there, so we decided to head north to a less crowded section.  As always we got one of the last sites, set up camp and then headed to do the northern loop of the park.  Our first stop was the Mammoth Hot Springs, an area of calcium carbonate terraces with bubbling water.  We got a few glimpses of them before the promised afternoon shower started up.  As the rain poured, we saw that the eastern sky looked brighter so we decided to head that direction to the canyon.

Now along the way we were hoping to see some of wildlife this park is known for, but there seemed to be nothing.  We drove around peering into the meadows and forests for signs of life.  Like the visitors in Jurassic Park, we’d have to wait a little bit longer.  Our first bison siting was in the parking lot, but the thing looked half-dead, so we did not get too excited.  Our second was in the road.  We stopped at the Canyon Visitor Center and got a recommendation for an easy 3 mile loop hike along the South Rim of the Canyon for views of the canyon, and upper and lower Yellowstone Falls.  The beginning and middle sections of the hike had parking lots so that people could drive to two of the viewpoints.

We parked at the upper falls and then made our way along the rim of the canyon.  The water fall was impressive, a powerful one with white water rapids above it and a cloud of mist below it.  The crowds were rough but once we got on the path things thinned out.  The canyon is nothing compared to the canyons visited earlier but it was unique in that it was a mix of yellow and white stone with occasional sections of smooth pink stone.  The middle section gave us a view of Artists Point, an area that took in the river, canyon and Upper Falls in the distance, but this area was crowded.  Along the way we met 3 ladies from Cherry Hill New Jersey on a 3 week road trip.  We chatted briefly and then went along their way.  We met up with them a little later on the hike once we had entered the section where no one was going and they seemed lost.  We looked over the maps and figured out the route and then lost them as we tend to hike faster.

This part of the hike lead along part of the rim but then headed into a forest and meadow section with random clearings with fumaroles (steam vents), mudpots (waterless hot springs with bubbling mud) and hot springs.  The air in this area smells like sulfur, a smell I’m sure made our New Jersey hiking friends are familiar with (If you’re keeping a tally I’ve now insulted New Jersey twice, LA once, and Pittsburgh once).  This would have been the highlight of the hike but the first siting of a giant bison walking through one of the springs just 50 feet away got our attention.  This would be the first a few we would see.  During one of the stops at a hot spring I also caught site of a Moose in the forest.  All of the stopping for pictures allowed the Jersey girls to catch up.  They too had seen our bison friends, but were a little more concerned with how close they were.  They asked to join us, as if we could protect them from these beasts.

Now I did not mention that during this hike, dark clouds were positioning themselves overhead rather quickly.  We still had about a mile and half to go when the thunder and lightning started.  The 5 of us walked together swiftly but were stopped suddenly by a 2000 lb road block.  We had come across a herd of bison scattered throughout the forest, grazing the meadows and using our path as their own.  I had seen just one sign recommending staying 25 yards from all wild life (100 yards from the dangerous wildlife), but I had somehow not read up on bison behavior and safety.  All that was going through my mind was scenes from When Nature Attacks.  The bison did not seem concerned about our need to get back to our cars before the flood gates opened.  So we tiptoed around them as if they were T-rexes unable to see us if we moved slowly enough.  The bison were pretty good a hiding too because every once in a while we’d turn a corner and there would be one just 20 ft to our side. 

We finally made it of the forest to an open meadow just in time for the rain, the cold torrential down pour kind of rain.  The last half mile was spent running through a meadow with no cover as lightning struck around us.  We survived and got to the car.  A rainbow at the end of the hike was our only consolation, but I must say that was one fun hike, I almost asked if we could do it again.  We headed back to our campsite to make dinner over the fire as quickly as possible as the clouds were now positioning themselves overhead.  We grilled some chicken and asparagus.  The rain held out for us to sit down eat and watch an amazing lightning show in the distance.  There was a slight chance we’d get missed, but the winds changed direction and blew it all towards us.  We spent the rest of the night in the car watching the hail, lightning and rain come down until it finally ended and we got to bed to get ready for tomorrows adventure.

TO BE CONTINUED….

Stats:

Miles Driven: 6585

States: PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, NC, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, OR, ID, MT, WY

National Parks: 13

Miles Hiked: 55

Animals Sited: Bison (13), Elk (7), Moose (1)

Shortest Distance Between Us and Bison: 20 ft

PS.  On our drive back we were going through some of the pamphlets were got when entering the park and this was in there…

Day 22 - Crater Lake

“The very basic core of man’s living spirit is his 

passion for adventure”

Chris McCandless

The first time I ever saw a picture of Crater Lake I knew I had to go there.  The problem is that it’s a rather difficult place to get to.  There are no cities nearby, Portland is over 300 miles away and if you drive from San Fran (which we did) it’s an 8 hour straight short. Of course, you know we went the scenic route.  We did not arrive until 10 PM.  Along the way we passed dense areas of smoke from the nearby forest fires.  It was cloudy too so the hope of seeing stars was minimal.  After our long drive we pulled into the Mazama Campground, considered one of the nicest in the park system.  We found our site, set up camp and had originally planned to go to bed, but that night the moon was not visible yet and the clouds had moved on to disrupt someone else’s view of the stars.  This night we were going to see the stars, and we were going to see them over Crater Lake.

Driving in the dark up the windy roads was, as always, a slow going affair, especially with the fearless deer grazing in the middle of the road.  After some misdirection we finally arrived.  The stars were unbelievable.  Then the moon did something that gave us what I will probably have burned in my brain as the coolest site ever.  It slowly rose over the peaks surrounding the crater illuminating the entire rim of the lake and the waters. It was a mix of yellow moon, purple and dark grey sky reflecting in the water with black mountains in the distance.  Satisified with our treat after a long day we drove the 7 mile trip back to camp and went to bed.

The next morning we woke up, made some coffee, ate oranges and granola bars and headed back to the lake.  The sun was now shining and provided another breaktaking view of the expansive lake.  Crater Lake was actually created by a volcano that has collapsed into itself after erupting.  It filled with rainwater and snow melts, creating the a 4 by 6 mile lake that is now the 7^th deepest lake in the world at 1900 ft with the clearest water in the US.  The park has drive around the rim with views of the lake, Wizard Island and the surrounding mountains.  Our first stop was the lake shores.

The rim of the lake sits about 700 feet above the surface and there is only one trail that leads to the bottom.  This is a strenuous hike like everything we’ve done, as it is just a bunch of switchbacks.  At the bottom there is a boat that will take you to Wizard Island and drop you off for 3 hours for $36 dollars.  There were no tickets available so we did not have make any financial decisions. The water in the lake looks tropical, dark blue in the deep parts and a mix of aqua green and light blues along its rocky shores.  The temperature of the water is far from tropical at a cool 59 degrees.  Swimming is allowed but I was challenged by something cooler.  There is a 17 ft cliff called Jumpers Rock.  There was already a group of people taking turns jumping surrounded by a larger group of spectators.  Not knowing about this ahead of time we did not have bathing suits.  It was hot enough that I figured I’d dry off quick enough, so I headed towards the edge.  Shriver chose to spectate.  The guy before me did some sort of back flip, so naturally I had to show him up, cannonball style.  Fortunately Shriver caught the perfectly formed cannonball in midair and failed to catch the terrible landing.  The drop was fun but I knew I was heading for a rough landing.  My right side hit first and the all-too family feeling of a belly flop stung me like swarm of bees, but was instantly cooled by the lakes frigid waters.  This was not the coldest water I had been in (that was the Colorado River) and it was extremely refreshing.  It was so much fun that I went again this time with a more conservative jump.  Refreshed from the lake we headed up to the rim.

Continuing along the rim road we had one last destination, Mt Scott.  The mountains along the edge of the lake sore about 2000 miles at their highest point.  The mountain that achieves this is called Mt. Scott and gluttons for punishment we decided to do the hike.  It was a short 5 mile round trip hike with a 1,250 ft gain in elevation to reach a peak of 8,929 ft.  Unlike our other steep climbs this did not have shade, the dry heat and the sun was brutal, but we made it up at our usual pace and once again got a 360 view of the park.  The pictures did not come out due to afternoon haze.  We headed back to camp after this, made dinner and then went back for round two of the moon show.

 

Mt Scott

The next morning we woke up at 5:15 and packed camp in record time to make it for sunrise.  As we were packing the sky was already becoming brighter.  We zoomed up the 7 mile windy road and parked at the very moment the sun made its way over the mountains giving us another amazing view.  Then we headed outout for the longest drive of the trip, 16 hours to the east towards arguably the most famous national park, Yellowstone.  When people asked what park I was most excited for, I answered Crater Lake.  It far exceeded my expectations.  Though there is not much do here, the views were amazing.   This was the perfect start to the fourth leg of the trip, the Northwest.

Stats:

Miles Driven: 5441

States: PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, NC, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, OR

National Parks: 12

Miles Hiked: 51

Score for my Cannonball: 2.7 (5 for dismount, 0.4 for landing)

Elevation Gain from Lake Surfact to Mount Scott: 1800 feet

Days 19, 20, and 21 - Northern California

"Live in Northern California once, but leave before

it makes your soft"

Baz Luhrman - Always Wear Sunscreen

I’m officially past the hump of the trip with 20 days now complete.  After 5,000 miles I’ve finally reached the Pacific Ocean.  These couple of days were spent exploring the northern portion of California, starting with San Francisco and then driving along the coast to Redwood National Park.  There was a lot of driving today, and very little time to get this up for you so please excuse the grammar and spelling errors.

But before I get to that, Shriver and I left Merced and headed northwest towards Stockton to stay with a former co-resident of mine, Jake, and his girlfriend Jess.  There is not much to see in Stockton so we used this day to catch up.  Jake currently works as a hospitalist with an 8 days on, 8 days off schedule.  Unfortunately it was a busy day for him, so he did not get home until late that night.  While waiting, we took care of laundry and caught up with our family and friends out East.  We learned a new board game called Small World which when played with California wine turns into quite an aggressive game.  

We woke the next morning, had an awesome breakfast courtesy of Jess and then headed towards San Francisco.  The drive was not without excitement, as California drivers are by far the worst drivers I’ve run across.  After an hour with three near but successfully avoided accidents we made it to the Bay Bridge, where I paid my first toll of the trip, $4 for 5,000 miles (not bad, considering it costs me over $3 per trip from Williamsport to Allentown).  Though it was a bright and sunny day, the fog from the ocean was already starting to roll in.  We dropped my car off at the motel on Lombard Street and then Shriver and I hopped into Jake’s car for our personal tour of the city.

Jake is from this area and knows it well.  This was my second time in San Fran.  The first was nearly 10 years ago when my parents, my sister and I started our Pacific coast tour.  I had already seen the Wharf, the shipyard, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the Full House house.  This time Jake showed us Coit Tower, China Town, Haight-Ashbury, Ferry Building Marketplace, and North Beach.  We also made an attempt to check out the Golden Gate Bridge but unfortunately the fog had become so dense that the bay area was essentially erased from view.  After experiencing averages of 90-100 degree days, the cool damp air of San Fran left us with no other choice but to warm up at the local food and bar establishments.

We stopped at a whisky bar in the Haight-Ashbury district, a hippy version of South Street Philly, and then made our way towards a brick-oven pizza joint nearby Lombard.  Quick tangent, there is only one region of the US that knows how to make pizza and that’s the northeast, but this place made a very respectable attempt; key emphasis is attempt.  Then we bar hopped in the area, trying local beers and raising as much as hell as two doctors, one teacher and one dental assistant in their late 20s and early 30s can do, which is not much.  Though we did have a fun time.

Despite the shroud of fog, San Francisco was another great city and ranks right up there with New Orleans.  It has no distinct type of food, culture, people, architecture.  It’s a  mix of everything, and it celebrates that in a way similar to New York City but in a more scenic way.  Everywhere you look (Full House theme), you get a view of the blue bay, an impossibly steep street lined with flowers and palm trees, or a cable car full of tourists.  Away from the tourist sections, the city is still alive.  It is its own little world.  Plus there weren’t as many Priuses as I thought there would be. 

The next morning we had a long trek ahead of us, a 10 hr drive to Crater Lake along the scenic route of 101 that takes you straight through the Redwood Forest.  The drive was beautiful and took us to cool towns.  This apparently is the pot growing capital of the US and its towns seem to represent that.  Smoke shops and glass ware stores were abundant.  There was even a store that specialized just in light up coats.  That’s right, coats with lights sewn into them with battery packs.  We stopped for lunch in Eureka, a quintessential northern California city, lined with cool bookstores and coffee shops.  It even had a store that sold both bongs and disc golf discs.

After lunch we continued the drive and finally hit the section of the highway along the coast in Redwood Park.  There was fog, but a nice patch of sunlight gave us the change to walk along the black sand beach and test out the cold blue water.  We stopped at the visitor center and then went to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove to view some more big trees.  This was actually a really cool park, quiet and no crowds.  The grove felt like a walk back to a prehistoric time.  The redwoods are even taller than sequoias just not as wide.  They tower  above you with large ferns surrounding the bases.  After the trees, it was time for some more coastal driving until we headed inland for Oregon. 

Northern California is a beautiful place with the most laid back of vibes.  I’m not sure if I was quite ready to leave, but there is still half the trip to go.  The very first road trip across the US started in San Fran in 1903.  The driver was a 31 year old phyisician anmed Horatio Jackson who bet $50 ($1000 by todays standards) that he could drive from San Fran to New York.  He enlisted a mechanic named Sewall Crocker to co-pilot his trip.  It took 63 days, 800 gallons and cost $8,000 to get there.   It’ll take me 3 weeks to make it back home.  Until then, keep following along its all East from here!

Stats

Miles Driven: 5441

States: PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, NC, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA

National Parks: 11

Number of Priuses seen: 24

Days 16, 17, 18 - Yosemite

"The mountains are calling and I must go"

John Muir

When I last left you I was in a Starbucks in Fresno, CA, about 100 miles to the South of Yosemite.  We made our way up CA-41, stopped in Oakhurst to restock on food supplies – meat, eggs, firewood, and beer.  There was other stuff but I thought that was a pretty manly grocery list, strawberry jelly just did not seem to fit.   Around 2 in the afternoon we arrived at the parks entrance.  Normally I get out and take a picture in front of it, but the sign was pitiful for what is considered one of our greatest national parks.  Like Sequoia the entrance was far from the main attractions, so we had a long drive winding up into the Sierras and then down into the Yosemite Valley. 

The Half Dome, perhaps the quintessential site in Yosemite, an 8840 ft tall mass of granite jutting high above the valley floor, came into view as we entered the valley.  The drive in was a blur of white and light gray granite with scattered dark green pines, sequoias and redwoods.  The sun was shining and we were feeling good.  Until my first site of a ranger directing traffic came into view.   My first thought was I doubt anyone became a National Park Ranger just so she could direct traffic (she did not seem happy).  My second thought was geez this is crowded.  With 3.7 million visitors a year, this is a popular park.

Yosemite Valley with El Capitan and Half Dome

After finally finding parking and starting to feel cranky, we stopped by the visitor center to get some information.  When I had originally booked campsites for this stop, I was unable to secure a site during the middle of 3 days here and had to just hope we’d find a first come first serve site.  After we got some recommendations on sites, we asked for some advice on hikes to do.   I wanted to do the Half-Dome hike but that required a permit through lottery that I was denied back in April.  The ranger unfortunately was unable to give any hike recommendations due to legal liability (apparently lawyers even ruin National Parks.)  Instead we had to do a Google search, which turned out to be very useful.  We found our hike and headed to the campsite.  After a dinner of fire roasted BBQ chicken and green beans we went to bed with plans to wake early for the hike.

The hike we chose was in the middle section of the park along a range of mountains overlooking the valley.  It started at a Lake Tenaya and then went 7.5 miles to Clouds Rest with a round trip of 15 miles.  It was a steep hike through the woods with four separate climbs for a total elevation gain of 1700 ft.  No pain, no gain takes on a whole new meaning here.  We took off on the dirt path that after about 2 miles became brick sized granite rock.  Our first climb was approaching; this was the most brutal of the trip so far, 1000 ft over 1 mile.  Stopping to take a break during these climbs only make them worse, so we powered through the burn.  After making it to the top we had descent of 400 ft (negating half of our work) and then had two more climbs to reach the final ascent, a walk out onto the narrow cliff as it rose another couple hundred feet.  The path became narrower and narrower until you could see both sides with cliffs dropping 4000 ft. 

Shriver atop Clouds Rest at 9,926 feet

When we got to the top after 2.5 hours, we were rewarded with a fantastic 360 degree view of the park, with the Cathedral Mountain range behind us, the Tenaya Lake in the distant, the Yosemite Valley and finally Half-Dome.  This was the benefit of hiking to a point just shy of 10,000 ft. After not getting my permit to go up Half-Dome I got an even better view looking down on it.  We had lunch (peanut butter and strawberry jelly), chatted with a pediatrician from San Francisco and her friend and then turned around to head back.  The descent was equally grueling, no longer on the legs, but now the feet.  About a mile into it, my old friend thunder paid a visit along with some very cold rain to make us even more uncomfortable.

After finally getting down, we headed over to the Tuolumne Meadow area and found the Grill.  I’m always very hungry after a hike and that day after doing the toughest one yet, I was starving.  A hot dog for Shriver and a bacon BBQ burger for me did the trick.  Our next task was to rinse off the dirt and smell of the hike (me the dirt, Nick the smell).  Shriver went for a swim in the lake and I got in far enough to get the dirt off my legs and arms.  Our last task was to get a campground.  Fortunately we managed to snag the last at the Porcupine Flat.  After a much needed nap we set up camp, chopped up some logs, built a fire, cooked dinner, played some cards and went to bed.

View from Clouds Rest.  Tenaya Lake is visible in the distance

The next morning the weather was not on our side.  No rain, but an overcast that left the park feeling cold and damp.  Four days of camping without a shower and each campsite being different, meaning lots of unpacking and packing, had taken its toll on us.   It was time to leave the wilderness.  Before leaving we decided to check out Bridalveil Fall a 600+ waterfall in the Valley.  There was some fun rock scrambling here.  After that we did a short 2 mile hike to the top of Sentinel Dome which at 8,100 feet provided us with another, much easier to reach, 360 degree view of the park.  As always we chatted with some fellow hikers, a lady from Ireland and her two guy friends who were initially too scared to make the climb, and a man from Lancaster, PA. Yosemite started off rough for me, but after such a rewarding hike and impressive scenery, I must say I rank it up there with Zion and Glacier as one of my favorite parks.

 

View of Half Dome and Clouds Rest behind it to the left

After our short hikes, we headed out of the park to our next stop Merced, California.  We originally had planned to hit up the wine country, but a reality check on California geography proved that to be a stupid idea.  I got my first shower in 4 days and it was the 3^rd best shower of my life (yes, I have rankings on lots of things).   The Element got an oil change and tire rotation and is ready to move on to Stockton where we will stay with a former residency buddy of mine Jake McDowell and then head to San Francisco. 

 

Oil change and tire rotation at Jiffy Lube, Merced, CA

Miles Driven: 4880

States: PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, NC, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA

Highest Elevation: 9926 feet

Number of Miles Hiked So Far: 42

Calories Burned hiking to Clouds Rest: 3900 (according to Tap&Track app)

Number of days before finally getting a shower: 4

PS.  It has been 4 days since I drank water from the stream in Sequoia using my Steripen and I can happily report no diarrhea.