Newberry National Volcanic Monument

We visited the Lava Lands Visitor Center at Newberry National Volcanic Monument to see what it was all about and ended up spending about three hours, it was amazing. We learned a lot about the

Looking down in volcanic code on
Lava Butte

volcanic history of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon through the exhibits in the visitor center plus we drove to the top of a volcanic cinder cone (Lava Butte) and then walked the Trail of the Molten Land at the base of Lava Butte. There were a lot of informative interpretive signs and we, once again, timed it for beautiful weather so we could see a lot of volcanic cones and mountains for probably 100 miles in every direction.

This is not a National Park Service location, but rather, is run by the Forest Service as part of the Deschutes National Forest. The monument is very large and includes the Newberry Caldera with lakes and a lot of hiking. Once gain, this time of year (mid-May) there is very little open due to snow closures. Here I am again adding to the list of places to return to in the fall.

View from top of Lava Butte - dark
color down below is huge lava flow

Trail of the Molten Land

Trail of the Molten Land

Trail of the Molten Land

Crater Lake National Park

As we moved north through California, we had planned on going to Lassen Volcanic National Park but we discovered that most of the park was still closed with snow. Rather than just going to the

Sundial Bridge - Redding CA

 visitor center we opted to have a day of leisure and see what was in Redding. We opted for a river walk that included seeing the Sundial Bridge. It was a pleasant day topped off by seeing a Bald Eagle nest complete with an adult Eagle sitting on it.

The next day we headed north to Fort Klamath Oregon to be as close as possible to Crater Lake National Park. The weather forecast wasn't good with rain and accumulating snow over the next five days other than a potential break late the day we arrived or early the next. We decided that we would see if we could get lucky with this little break in weather and then leave before another layer of snow. By the way, this was Mother's Day weekend. We had rain when we arrived and they had snow up in the park (2500 feet higher) so our window was down to the next morning.

Snow gets deeper and the roads
get slicker as we enter Crater Lake NP

We got up early to clear skies so we quickly went into the park before the clouds moved in. We were rewarded with a spectacular winter scene and amazing pictures of the lake. Needless to say we couldn't do much with 15-20 feet (maybe more) of snow on the ground but at least we weren't shut out. We learned that at least 50 percent of the time, this time of year, you can't even see the lake so we were blessed. The average snow fall here is 44 feet so I don't know how deep the snow was I was standing on for the pictures but fortunately it was hard packed by previous people. It was cloudy within two hours. Our list of things to come back to in the fall is growing.

Crater Lake

Rim Village Visitor Center was
closed for some reason

Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Snow at Steel Visitor Center isn't
quite as deep down a little off the rim.
They had this one open.

Yosemite National Park

During our seven years of full-timing there have been numerous times that people have said "surely you've been to Yosemite" and I would have to reply "no, it hasn't fit into our meandering yet".

Yosemite Valley from Tunnel Viewpoint

 Well, it has now. I wanted to go in the spring when the falls would be flowing and not only did that work out, but they are flowing in record fashion after a much higher than normal snow pack at high elevations. Not only are the big name falls gushing but there are falls this year that park Rangers said they've never seen flow before. Plus we had two days of glorious weather to view it all. We got lucky indeed. All of this extra water had the Merced River above flood stage while we were there but fortunately not to the level that it hindered visitors.

Upper Yosemite Fall across flooded
meadow

 Yosemite National Park is huge (1,200 square miles) but the 5.2 million visitors that arrive each year primarily go to Yosemite Valley. It is the location for the incredible falls and world famous climbing cliffs. There is also high elevation Glacier Point that is normally well visited but the downside of us coming this time of year is the road was still closed due to snow. Plus, Mariposa Grove is closed for restoration until the fall of 2017. We will come back in the fall some year and do those high elevation sights. If those areas were open we would have needed another day.

We stayed at an RV park in Oakhurst which gave us a drive between 1.5 and 2 hours, depending on

Yosemite Falls

 how we hit traffic stops for logging along the road, to/from the valley. We went into the park really early both days to get a parking spot and not have a line at the entrance station. We did the Valley Floor Tour our first morning in the park and that was a great decision. The tour is in an open air tram so you get to sit and enjoy the unobstructed view, leave the driving to someone else, and listen to a Park Ranger give you a ton of great information. It stops for pictures and talks at key locations. Money well spent.

This park is as beautiful as everyone says and we are glad we finally made it. We don't view RVing, or life in general, as a race so we weren't in a hurry to get here. It was worth the wait.

View of Valley from pull-out

El Capitan

Half Dome

Mirror Lake

Illilouette Fall

Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks

Giant Sequoia right at
parking lot in Kings
Canyon Grant Grove

These two national parks, Kings Canyon and Sequoia, and Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument are all adjacent so you drive back and forth from one to the other. You either enter from the south into Sequoia NP first, or from the west into Kings Canyon NP first. We entered from the west. You do a lot of driving up and down mountains between major sites.

General Grant Tree
Kings Canyon NP
40 ft diameter

This is the land of the Giant Sequoia trees. You know the old saying "the pictures don't do it justice"? Well, you have a hard time getting these in a picture. I used max wide angle or panorama but then the

picture is somewhat distorted. Make sure you take the time to get quality mental pictures, they are the best kind anyway.

There is a hike to Big Stump Basin where you can see stumps from the logging era in the 1880s before it was stopped. Actually standing on the Mark Twain stump helps give a perspective of the size of a Giant Sequoia.

Mark Twain stump in Kings Canyon
Big Stump Trail

The visitor center at Grant Grove Village has a great exhibit showing a cross section of a Sequoia tree with growth rings and fire damage marks going back hundreds of years. These trees are so big because they are amazing at withstanding fires, insects and drought in their lifetimes and thus they have hundreds and thousands of years to grow.

Drive to Kings Canyon North Unit

The Sequoias aren't the only sights here, being in the Sierra Nevada mountains the scenery in general is fantastic. Kings Canyon National Park has two units, south and north. To get to the north unit you "have the privilege" of driving across the Sequoia National Forest. This drive goes down and up the Kings Canyon following the Kings River. A spectacular drive that dead ends where you get to turn around and go back the other way and see it at the opposite angle.

Kings Canyon

Sequoia National Park is just to the south of Kings Canyon. Other than the Giant Sequoia trees, the highlight for us there was the view from Moro Rock. Climb to the top of it and get a spectacular 360 degree view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Sequoia NP. 

Zumwalt Meadow - Kings Canyon

These parks are very large and you can only see a very small part from your car. There is much more accessibility via hiking. I'll be back to take advantage of that. Being here May 1 was too early. Most roads, trails, visitor centers, etc. aren't open yet. This trip was a great time to see the "highlights" at low crowd level. We got lucky and got here the day the road to the north unit of Kings Canyon NP opened. Check the website before coming to be sure what you want to see is open.

General Sherman Tree in center
Sequoia National Park

View from Moro Rock - Sequoia
National Park

View from Moro Rock

Joshua Tree National Park

We're on the road again. We're headed west to California and then up to the Northwest for the summer. We got a later start than normal this year due to the need to meet our new grandson and pack up a house, but now we're on the go - it feels good. First stop is to visit Joshua Tree National Park.

We've seen Joshua Trees before on the drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas on US 93. We're obviously very familiar with the desert having lived so long in Arizona so I wasn't sure how special this national park would be for us. As usual, the National Park Service taught us information and effectively directed us to the highlights of the park. I could give away information (like Joshua Trees aren't really trees, what two deserts meet here) but I don't want to spoil it for you. Due to our background we made it through the park relatively quickly (4 hours) and are, once again, thankful for the National Park Service for preserving/guarding special places and endangered environments. This is a special park, like the rest of the NPS managed locations, so don't hesitate to make a visit (and give money to the National Park Foundation!).

 

Skull Rock

Spring update

View from the deck of our townhouse

It's mid-March, March Madness is upon us along with an early batch of 90 degree weather. I guess it is to remind us to hit the road for the summer, as if we need to be reminded. It is supposed to get back to those glorious mid-70s after a few days so this is just a teaser. If you've never been to AZ, 90 degrees feels great here with essentially 0 humidity, so it isn't like we are suffering.

We've been all settled into the townhouse for a while and able to get some hikes in. We are generally relaxing and enjoying our new place. We'll be flying to the Frozen Four this year (in Chicago) in early April and come home via Tacoma where we'll see our new grandson who will be "out" and ready for visitation by then. Once we get back it will be time to prepare for our summer trip.

Pool and stream at end of
Hieroglyphic Trail

Look for trip posts to begin the last week of April - the first stop will be Joshua Tree NP.

Here are a few pictures from hikes in the Superstition Mountains near our home.

Hieroglyphic Trail

Petroglyphs on Hieroglyphic Trail

Gold Canyon from top of mountain

View along top of mountain

Lost Goldmine Trail

Lost Goldmine Trail

2016 Wrap up

After Bullhead City we did our usual stop for a couple of weeks in the Phoenix area to tend to business (mostly doctors, but other stuff, too) and visit friends. We then headed to Tucson for our annual stint to work for the U.S. Forest Service at Sabino Canyon. The intent was to work there into April before heading out on another summer's adventure.

Like I said, that was the intent. However, when in the Phoenix and Tucson areas we usually check out the condo/townhouse situation to see if there are any lock-and-leave options that we could see ourselves living in for the winter. We usually look at a few each year but never find one that comes close to meeting our criteria. This time, we looked at one that caught our attention in Gold Canyon. We looked at it a second time the day before we drove to Tucson. Long story short, after deliberating we made an offer, came to an agreement and closed on the place on December 14. We will be spending the next couple of months moving in and getting it setup exactly the way we want it. 

We will continue to travel but now we have a home base for the winters where we can come back to our stuff. We hope that family and friends will come and visit and warm up. 

Now it is time for my annual travel wrap up. This was an unusually big year for travel. The Frozen Four in Tampa pointed us to the southeast. With that pivot point, a plan formulated to see a bunch of things as described throughout this blog. The emphasis, as usual, was on historic sites, national parks and state capitols. We drove the truck over 17,000 miles, towed the fifth wheel 8,500 miles, visited 36 national park locations (National monuments, historic sites, parks, etc.), toured 13 state capitols, visited a lot of friends and family and made it safely back to Arizona without any major problems. This was an extremely fulfilling year! 

Here is the route map with 2016 in green. 

Coming attractions - the plan for 2017 will be to travel north through California, Nevada, Oregon and into Washington. This will take a couple months. We'll spend a few months in Washington and then start moving south through Oregon, Idaho, and Utah before getting back "home" (been a while since we said that).