California – Page 4 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

November 2, 2017 Death Valley NP

We had planned to head to Zabriske point for sunrise, but everyone overslept. In the end we got there about an 90 minutes after sunrise. Zabriske point was the highlight of our first trip to Death Valley, and Ron in particular has fond memories of the place. We were happy to see that Dang and Noi were more up about Zabriske, so Death Valley had a happy ending.

We had originally intended to target Tehachapee for the day, but when Ton realized we would be there around noon, she extended the drive to Bakersfield. After arriving about 1pm we checked into Orange Grove RV park, which is a great commercial camp ground including you own orange trees in each site. If you are in the area I highly recommend you check it out. As it was still quite early we headed to Costco to fuel up, and see if there were any secret things in Bakersfield that we had not seen in other Costco’s. Yesterday California raised their gas tax by 12 cents per gallon, so even with the Costco discount we had our most expensive gas on the trip at $2.80 per gallon.

November 1, 2017 Death Valley NP

We were pleasantly surprised this morning, it turns out we both slept well. We’re not sure if it was because we were really tired, or if the freeway noise acted as a kind of white noise, anyway it was one of the best nights sleep of the trip.

We let the traffic die down for a bit before heading out. It was easy to know when traffic had lightened up as all we had to do was look out the window of Scout to get an up to the minute traffic status.

As we were heading to Death Valley the GPS was routing us thru Pahrump Nevada. Ron finds the name fun to say, and by the time we got there, everyone was coming up with different reasons to include Pahrump in the conversation including at one point a chorus of Little Drummer Boy.

Death Valley is one of Ron and Ton’s favorite parks. It has a stark beauty that really appeals to us, and we were looking forward to introducing Dang and Noi to it. I don’t know if we oversold the park or they hit a wall, but they did not seem as impressed as we hoped. They did enjoy sunset at the dunes, before we headed back to the campground for the night.

January 26, 2017 Death Valley NP

Ron had always wanted to visit the Racetrack Playa. Ton was a little nervous as the park service puts out very severe warnings about the road and particularly mentions long stretches of sharp rocks. Ron had done some research and several other Tigers had made it out there, though all of the owners had complained about the washboard condition of the road.

We started the day by visiting Ubehebe Crater. The crater is about a half mile across and 700 feet deep and is a result of a recent magma explosion in the park. The crater is quite impressive and a reminder of how suddenly things can change on the planet.

We set out for the playa and Ron thought it could not be much worst than yesterdays drive thru Titus Canyon. In some ways he was right and in some ways he was wrong. The road itself was pretty straight forward with no particular narrow places or washed out sections of road. Looking at it it was a typical gravel road you find in the west. But the washboard was the worst Ron had ever experienced and really beat up the truck and the people inside. We creeped along at 10 miles per hour along most of the way and still felt like we were inside a blender.

The valley approaching the race track is really beautiful and you feel like you are really on your own. For the day I think only about 5 vehicles including us went out to the Playa. About 6 miles from the Playa you come to Tea Kettle Junction where there is a tradition of hanging a tea kettle with your name on it. We were not aware of the tradition and did not have a tea kettle to leave.

We did not have a tea kettle to contribute.

Finally we arrived at the playa. How the rocks moved used to be a mystery, but apparently in November a group from the Scripps Institute were out there and saw the rocks actually moving. To make a short story of a long story it apparently takes a combination of a wet Playa, freezing temperatures that causes ice to build up on the rocks and high winds, and suddenly a 60 pound rock will move on its own.

One of the mystery rocks at the Racetrack Playa.

January 25, 2017 Death Valley NP

it was quite warm last night and we enjoyed a good nights sleep without a heater. After we got going we started the day by touring the Golden Canyon. It was a short walk but quite nice. Even at 8:30 it was starting to warm up a bit.

Next we went to the Devils Golf Course. It is on the valley floor and consists of thousands of small humps with salt deposits on the top. It was interesting but a little disappointing for Ron as he was expecting something with more of a golf theme.

The Devils Golf Course, not quite sure what inspired the name.

We had visited Artists Point on our first visit about 10 years ago. We had enjoyed the drive so were looking forward to visiting again. This time Ron was a little disappointed with the drive. Ton pointed out that the light was much better in the evening and the last time we had been there in the evening.

The last thing we planned was to take the Titus Canyon road. This is about a 25 mile drive thru the Grapevine Mountains on an unimproved road. The last time we did it in a car so we thought it would be a relatively simple drive. It turned out to be much rougher than it must of been last time, because I do not think we could have gotten a car thru the road as it was today. Still it was great fun and Ton wore out the battery on her camera taking pictures, and Scout handled the road very well.

January 24, 2017 Joshua Tree NP

We are getting used to the drive from Joshua Tree to Death Valley as this is the fourth time we have done it in the last couple of months.

On the way out of Joshua Tree we stopped at Skull Rock. The Skull Rock Trail is a short trail that highlights the non-cactus plants in the desert. Skull Rock really does bear an amazing resemblance to a skull.

We drove from Joshua Tree to Death Valley on a back road that passes thru Mojave National Preserve and Baker California. We were planning to fuel up in Baker as it had the cheapest diesel in the area last trip. Despite fuel prices dropping everywhere else on this trip, the fuel in Baker had actually risen to over $4 per gallon so we passed and drove on towards Death Valley, if we were going to pay an exorbitant amount for fuel we decided we would rather do it in a small desert community, then a large community right on the interstate.

Today we visited Dantes Peak in Death Valley which is an overlook above the main valley. From 5000 feet you are looking the length of Death Valley and can also see for miles back towards Las Vegas. We stayed up for sunset and Ton got some nice shots.

January 22, 2017 San Diego CA

Today we started out at Torrey Pines State Nature Area. The Torrey Pine tree is only found in two places in the world, one grove near San Diego and the other on one of the channel islands near Santa Barbara. The Preserve has an interesting mix of plants in a small area. In addition to the Torrey Pines in the same area there are ferns and cactus. The micro-climate in the area allow this diversity in plant types.

The Torrey Pines are the trees behind the cactus.

From Torrey Pines we headed to La Jolla to see how the other half lives. It is a pretty community. Along the waterfront there were a flock of Pelicans sitting on shore, and a few Sea Lions sunning on the beach.

We went to small dive restaurant in Pacific Beach that was reputed to be the best in San Diego. The food was excellent and Ton pronounced the Ceviche as the best Mexican Ceviche she has had.

As I said yesterday we were spending the afternoons in Breweries so today we went to Ballast Point Brewery. This was by far the poshest brewery we have ever seen. The trend we noticed in San Diego was that the breweries seemed larger and more commercially developed then their counterparts at home. We sent our friends a picture from Ballast Point, and one texted back that we needed to visit Karl Strauss brewery. We figured it was our last day so why not. It was in what was clearly an old Japanese restaurant complete with a Koi Farm. Turns out this was not the original brewery. We did a taster tray and it was very good and the waiter was quite knowledgeable.

Ended the day doing our laundry and having a nice conversation about Scout with a Marine who was getting ready to retire. Ron got another reminded that he was an old Marine as the Navy newspaper was talking about the decomissioning of a 35 year old amphibious ship that was launched when he was a Lieutenant.

January 21, 2017 San Diego CA

The theme of the trip to San Diego is mornings doing touristy things and the afternoons visiting breweries. San Diego is a great town to look around and despite living only 80 miles away for 5 years we had not seen a lot of the city.

The morning we visited Balboa Park which is one of the best parks in the US. We were particularly impressed with the Prado and the Museum of Man. The buildings were built for an exposition in the 30’s and have been used for many purposes since, including a garrison and hospital during WWII. There are also many different types of gardens and fountains that are quite beautiful. Ton really loved the cactus garden though she would have like to seem some name plaques on some of the cactus that we were unable to identify.

Balboa Park in San Diego is home to some great gardens and museums.

After finishing with Balboa Park we headed out to Escondido to visit Stone Brewery. The facility was really large and impressive. The beer was ok, and the food very fancy. The tour was really good and the “beer indoctrinator” was really knowledgeable about beer and the industry. Stone brewery is quite large for a craft brewery and is in the process of opening a brewery in Berlin. I am curious how it will be received, there was a German couple on the tour and they thought it might go over ok, as there are actually not that many breweries in Berlin compared to the rest of Germany.

At the end of the day we decided that we wanted to see La Jolla and check out another brewery, luckily we were able to get the last spot available for tomorrow in the Navy RV park so we are extending in San Diego.

January 20, 2017 San Diego CA

ell last night we had a talk about where to go next. Ton said there was a great road from where we were camped into San Diego. She had fond memories of a trip to Coronado Island we took about 20 years ago and wanted to see how it has changed.

We took California Highway 78/79 over the San Jacinto mountains and it was nice. A continuation of the high desert environment, with a few California Oaks occasionally. Not too hard of a drive and worth the effort if you need to go east to west versus I-8.

We were hoping to get into the Navy RV park on Coronado as it has a great view of San Diego Bay and all of the ships. Unfortunately it was full so we ended up staying at a RV park near the Junction of I-8 and I-15.

We headed over to Coronado to do some shopping at the Navy Exchange and Commissary. That taken care, of we went downtown where to Ron’s amazement things had change since he was last there in the Marines 20 years ago. We had a nice beer sampler at Coronado Brewing Company. It is worth a stop. Final stop for the day was a drive down the silver strand between San Diego Harbor and the Pacific. Great beaches some of them public and some belonging to the Navy.

January 19, 2017 Anza-Borrego SP

We woke up at dawn after sleeping at Fonts Point to catch the sunrise. It was not quite the party that sunset was as, there was only one other couple there. They drove out from San Diego just for the sunrise. The woman in the couple asked where Ton was from and when she told her Thailand, the girl laughed and said I thought so, you have the exact same accent as my mother.

After cooking up breakfast we headed over to Palm Canyon. We walked up a wash for about a mile and a half to the classic oasis you would see in a movie. Water and a cluster of Palms. It was very impressive

The oasis at Palm Canyon, just like a movie set for an oasis.

After returning to Scout we headed over to the town. On the two main entrances into town an artist has set out various sculptures in the desert. Not quite to our taste, but interesting none the less.

A giant dragon sculpture near Anza-Borrega, one of a series of similar sculptures.

We then headed over to a feature in the badlands called the slot. Another interesting walk. Including a very steep descent that looks like it used by motorcycles and possibly even some off road vehicles. It would be very tricky to try and a mistake would be quite painful.

On our way to camping up for the night Ton mentioned a cactus trail. She said it was only a mile walk, Ron had a vision of a nice stroll along a manicured trail. Instead it was a rocky trail through a wash and up over the side of a ridge. Probably a two hundred foot climb. Ton enjoyed it tremendously as the cactus were magnificent.

January 18, 2017 Anza-Borrego State Park CA

Today we reached our target to begin exploring instead of driving. We arrived at Anza-Borrego about 1:30 after driving about 250 miles. Enroute we stopped at a California Visitors Center in Yucca Valley to arm ourselves with some information about the park and other things in this part of California. While there we ran into a Canadian couple in a truck camper who had just come from Anza-Borrego. They told us to stop at the visitors center as the building was incredible.

When we arrived we made a bee line for the visitors center. Ton was not as impressed with the building as the Canadians, but she did enjoy the cactus garden. At the visitors center we asked for the best place for sunsets and they sent us to Fonts Point. The location was incredible overlooking the mountains, some serious badlands and a valley that stretched all the way to Mexico.

Part of the cactus gardens at the visitors center of Anza-Borrego.

The sunset was indeed incredible, though initially spoiled by a group that decided to hold a cocktail party at the overlook. After the sun set behind the mountains the cocktail party broke up, and Ton and I were the last ones left at the viewpoint. Ton mentioned that it would be a nice place for sunrise too, so we are now camped in the parking area for Fonts Point to be ready for sunset.

The sunset at Fonts Point looking out at the Badlands.

On a whim we checked the TV reception not expecting much, but were surprised that it found 17 channels over the air. When we started cycling thru the channels they are all from Mexico. As I write this we are watching the Patriots v Colts championship game in High Definition with Spanish commentaries.

January 17, 2017 China Lake CA

Our plans have changed. After spending last night in Reno we decided to head straight to Anza-Borrego, and then begin working our way North.

Today we headed down US 395 following the east side of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains. Unfortunately for California this winter has again been mostly dry and warm. This road would normally have a lot of snow along it and today it was completely dry and the temperatures were in the high 50’s all of the way.

River along US-395 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Since we covered al lot of this area in our October trip we only made one stop to take pictures. Tomorrow we should arrive at the southern end of the trip and begin the real exploring, after watching the NFL championship games.

Tonight we are staying at China Lake Naval Weapons Station. I was surprised that they had a campground since this place is the Navy’s equivalent of Area 51. They had a weapons museum that included a bunch of aircraft that were in service when I first went into the Marines. As Ton likes to point out when I am surprised by these things, I am getting old.

The aircraft display that made me feel old.

December 18, 2016 Death Valley NP

Started heading home as we have a date on Sunday for a Christmas Party and our sons are coming home next week so we have some preparation to do. Had to make an emergency run onto the Marine Base to buy a replacement power cord for Ton’s Mac as hers died the night before.

We basically doubled back the way we came thru Mojave NP and heading north towards Reno, but instead of heading straight to US 95 we decided to run thru Death Valley NP as the main road thru the park parallels US 95.

We made a couple of stops including the lowest point in North America. Near there we ran across a couple of Coyotes who decided to pose for Ton, the first one even responded to her command to heal as she had not finished taking his picture! They both seemed pretty healthy and not at all skittish about people.

This coyote came trotting up to the truck looking for a hand out.

We had never seen Scotty’s Castle in the North end of the park so we made that our target for the day. We arrived just a little too late to take the last tour of the day, but got to walk the grounds. The grounds are pretty impressive and the back story is interesting as Scotty was basically a con man who got the money to build the castle by duping people into investing in gold mining operations when there was no gold.

Tonight we spent the night in Mesquite Springs campground which is nice and by a dry creek, that apparently was not dry last week. A flash flood came down the creek and flooded about a quarter of the campground,, but everything seemed back to normal.

Tomorrow will be a long boring driving day heading home.

December 17, 2016 Joshua Tree NP

Last night was spent in a great campground in Joshua Tree called Ryan where we were surrounded by granite rocks that make the park famous. We woke up early to the sound of rain and were worried as we had a busy day planned. Luckily the rain quit very quickly and did not amount too much for the day.

Our first stop was to Keys view. On our way up we passed thru a Joshua Tree Forest that Ton really enjoyed. We had been told by the Ranger at Mojave that the Joshua Tree’s here were a different sub-species than the ones at Mojave. Ton says she can see the difference, the trees here are taller and have less branches than the ones in Mojave. When we got to the top we had climbed into the clouds so Keys view was limited to about 50 yards.

Heading down we continued to enjoy the Joshua Trees and the drive. The next stop was the Geology Loop Road which is an 18 mile self guided loop that shows you the different rocks and the San Andreas fault. The park service says it is a difficult 4wd drive road, but in fact it is not bad at all and Scout did not even need to leave 2wd the whole way. We had the entire valley to ourselves for the entire trip which was fun.

Part of the Geology Loop Road where you can clearly see the San Andreas Fault.

Next stop was the Cholla Cactus garden which Ton loved. The Cholla Cactus is a Colorado Desert plant and the Joshua Trees are Mojave plants to show the impact of the two deserts coming together.

A flowering Cholla cactus. These are the worst spines to get in you, they really hurt.

The next stop was the Marine Corps Base at Twentynine Palms where we stocked up on food and did some shopping at the store. The last stop was the Indian Cove campground for the night. The campground is also a training base for beginning rock climbers so we got to watch some folks climbing, and even scrambled up a couple of simple rocks ourselves.

Ton commented that the campgrounds at Joshua Tree were among the best we have seen in the park service.

Joshua Tree is a center for rock climbing instruction as it is easily accessible.

December 16, 2016 Mojave NP

Today we visited Mojave NP. The Preserve has three of the four desert environments in the western US with sections of the Great Basin, Mojave, and Colorado deserts coming together in this area.

Woke up early to catch sunrise, but between the cloud cover and the location we were a little disappointed. Headed out on Wild Horse Canyon Road which was a pretty well developed dirt road. Ton got some nice photos of the area.

Next we headed towards the Clio uprise which is a granite uplift. It is really not noticeable but it makes for a perfect environment for Joshua Trees. Ton loves the trees and loved the area. We did a little offroading to get deeper into what is supposed to be the biggest Joshua Tree forest in the US. Scout as always handled the trails very well.

Part of the largest Joshua Tree forest in the US.

We next went back to the visitor center to look at the museum. Most of the museum is dedicated to the railroad days with a little bit on the desert. We talked to the ranger for a while and he steered us over to the Kelso Dunes. The Dunes were over 600 feet tall and extend for about 40 miles. We climbed pretty well to the top and took some pictures and Ton tried to make a holiday message in the sand.

Pulling out of Kelso Dunes we were heading back towards the Joshua Tree forest to a spot we had scouted for a rough camp. Ron did some calculations and said it would take an extra 30 minutes to get to Joshua Tree NP from where we were. Well 90 minutes later we pulled into Joshua Tree NP. More to follow tomorrow.

December 15, 2016 Mojave National Preserve

Well the nice thing about the truck is flexibility. We were originally heading towards Joshua Tree NP but a combination of the weather and some research about Mojave had us talking about going there. A couple of hours into the drive and some reprogramming of the navigator and we were heading towards Mohave National Preserve.

We arrived about 3:30 and headed towards the headquarters which is located in an old Union Pacific Railroad Station in a rail stop. We got some ideas for tomorrow and headed up into the mountains to a campground. We arrived at Hole in the Wall campground about 30 minutes before dark and had the place almost to ourselves.

October 18, 2016 Folsom CA

Today we had another fun day with Pae and Supachai. Supachai was meeting some of his friends from work at an Apple Orchard and we were invited to tag along. It was a pretty place, but it reminded Ton and I of how many more people there are in California than in Oregon. There was a quite a crowd, though everyone was having a good time.

After the apple orchard we went over to a brewery near by (of course) to check out the local brew. It was a nice setting and they were serving beer, cider, mead, and wine. We had a nice lunch and shared tasters of all of the beverages that were available. The beer was good, the cider was good, the wine was fair, and I still have not developed a taste for mead so I do not know if it was good or bad.

Pae and I enjoying our Beer, Wine, Cider, and Mead taster.

Next stop was Placerville which is another old gold mining town, but much gentrified. We visited the downtown which had some good antique shops including an old bookstore. Walking down the street we noticed that the main street in Placerville was our old friend California Highway 49. As Ton and I were walking down the street we saw a sign in the window of a cafe proclaiming Highway 49 as the Mother Lode Highway. We checked out the sign as we like to collect highway signs of roads we have enjoyed, but this one was considered an antique and out of our price range.

October 17, 2016 Calaveras Big Tree State Park CA

Today we were invited to spend the night with our friends in Northern California Pae and Supachai. We were feeling a little “grangjai”(a Thai word that is hard to translate) as this would be our third visit to them this year and we were afraid we were overstaying our welcome. But Pae assured us we were more than welcome and really encouraged us to come.

As we dropped down from Yosemite we were once again going thru the gold rush country on California Highway 49. We realized between our last two trips to California we had spent a lot of time on this highway. It is a pretty road through an interesting mix of the Sierra foothills, small towns with interesting names (Angels Camp, China Camp) and wineries.

The Sequoia grove at Calaveras Big Tree State Park.

We decided to retrace out steps to Calaveras Big Tree State Park to look at the Sequoia grove there. As usual the trees were spectacular, and California did a good job describing the reasons the remaining trees are protected.

After that it was a short jump to meet Pae and Supachai and enjoy some good company.

October 16, 2016 Yosemite NP

Today we started the day by visiting Bodie SP. Bodie is a ghost town not far from US395. It was a gold mining boom town founded in 1878 and reached its peak population of about 10,000 in 1884. By then the gold was starting to play out and the town started to lose population. There was enough gold left to sustain a commercial goal mining operation so the town survived until the mine was closed during WWII. At that point given the harsh conditions around Bodie and the lack of any other source of employment the town was shut down and left in the desert. There are a couple of hundred buildings left more or less as they were in the 1940’s and because of the arid climate they survived in pretty good shape until the state made it a park.

We then headed over the Tioga pass into Yosemite. We had missed this part of the park when we visited in the spring because the road over the pass was still closed. Today we enjoyed our third pass thru the Sierra Nevada’s this week. Of the three as you would suspect this one had the best views, though they all had some points that were very spectacular.

The plan was to camp in one of the valley campgrounds as we assumed given the late part of the year and mid-week that we would be able to get a spot, but when we arrived at 2:30 pm there was no room in the campgrounds in the valley. The only park campground available was Hodgson Meadow near the Northwest entrance to the park. So for the second time this year we are at Hodgson.

October 15, 2016 June Lake CA

The day started with a bear encounter by Ton. After a slow start in the morning we had pulled into the dump station at the camp ground. While Ron was fiddling with the dump Ton was on the phone with Pae our friend from Sacramento when a black bear crossed in front of the truck. Ton was so startled that she could not get the camera out in time to take a picture, and Ron was so intent on the dump station that he did not notice the bear.

After the early excitement we headed over to Devils Postpile National Monument. It is a very small national monument near Mammoth. Originally included in the boundaries of Yosemite NP the area around the monument was cut out of Yosemite in the early 1900’s to allow mining. The main formation at the monument is fascinating and worth the trip.

The main formation of the Devils Postpile.

After finishing up at the monument we headed out to find some fall colors. After three days we were finally rewarded with some nice fall foliage around Convict Lake and in McGee Creek Canyon. We were surprised to still find any leaves had survived the windstorm from the day before, but the leaves were still there and quite beautiful.

We next headed over to Mono Lake. We stopped by the visitors center to see what the lake was all about. After a visit there we headed over to the south Tufa preserve to check out the Tufa’s there. Tufa’s are formed by springs in the lake bubbling up and calcifying to make these neat formations. The trail was fun and informative about the efforts to preserve the lake.

Some of the salt formations called Tufa’s.

We ended up spending the night at June Lake after the ranger at Mono Lake discouraged us from driving in to Yosemite for the night. It was another forest service campground where we shared a beautiful sunset with a couple from Zurich next door.

October 14, 2016 Mammoth Lake CA

Today we took the long way to Mammoth Lake. We decided to try two of the Sierra Passes from east to west that are closed for a great deal of the year due to snow. They were both open and it was probably our only chance. We were hoping to see some fall colors at altitude also.

The first pass is California Highway 4, also called the Ebbets Pass Scenic Highway. And while very scenic and fun to drive, long stretches were unstriped asphalt 1.5 lane road, the colors were disappointing. There has been a lot of wind the last couple of days and a lot of leaves have been stripped. The west end of the road is in Calavares County where Mark Twain hung out during his California Gold Rush days.

The second pass is California Highway 108 also known as the Sonora Pass Scenic Highway. This road wound thru miles of evergreens and was like any mountain road in Oregon until about 15 miles from the end there was a sign stating that the next 10 miles had a 27% grade. This road has special meaning to Ron as the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Center is located on the east end of the road and highway 108 is actually used as the access road to the training areas at the top of the pass. In the winter the road is closed with up to 20 feet of snow on it and the Marines have free play in the area. In the summer they share it with the campers and the local traffic. Ron spent two winters here training as a mountain leader and climbed around on the local mountains and skied down route 108 with full gear and a M-16. It was a lot easier with Scout.

Fall colors along Sonora Pass Scenic Highway.

Tonight we are in a forest service campground within the city limits of Mammoth Lakes.