Current Location: Eureka, CA, N 40 46.504', W 124 11.470', elev. 49 ft.

On wednesday, I left Modesto and headed west to San Francisco via California 132 to I-580 to I-80, across the Bay Bridge and into the city. The Bay Bridge was pretty cool, and by cool, I mean temperature. The weather went from 90 degrees and sunny to 65 degrees and overcast as I drove into San Francisco. Don't let the palm trees fool you, it is cold! But I did have a great time in the city. I got into the city at about 5:30, and I headed down to the Fisherman's Wharf area to see if I could get a ticket to Alcatraz for the next day. To my chagrin, I was told you need to book trips to Alcatraz 6 or 7 days in advance unfortunately. So my next stop was down to SBC Park, to see the Giants play the Rockies. As I got close to the stadium, I started to see signs for parking. At a full half a mile from the stadium (pretty far), the price was $20! I did not want to pay this and may have skipped the game if I hadn't found cheap parking, but somehow I really lucked out and got a street parking spot on a secluded back street, directly across the street from a sign for $20 parking. San Francisco was so cold that I had to put on jeans and a sweatshirt for the first time in months, it felt like a late September game in the northeast.

SBC Park is a very beautiful stadium, the best I've yet to visit, and I suspect it will remain in first. Since I got free parking, I splurged on a $17 seat (the lowest priced tickets were $12 standing room). The main feature is the short porch in right field leading to an awesome view of the outer bay in San Francisco (with a navy vessel in the background). Here are the photos. The game was pretty slow, witch decent pitching performances from both sides. The Rockies wound up winning 3-2. For some reason, I saw more Red Sox hats at SBC park than at any other park I've been to this year other than Toronto when the Sox were in town.

On thursday, I went back to the Fisherman's Wharf area and walked around. I went out on Pier 39 and got a clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, it was delicious. I walked further down the pier towards the sea lions, and while I was standing there, concentrating on feeling the cool wind and watching the sea lions and smelling the smells of the wharf, a seagull flew down, and grabbed a piece of bread right out of my hand. I was dumbfounded, because I didn't feel the bird, he did it so deftly. I also got some photos of Alcatraz from the pier.



The sea lions, the witch, and the wardrobe

After walking around a bit and taking in the wharf, I signed up for a streetcar tour of the city. I climbed aboard and found a seat. Soon thereafter, an Australian tourist climbed aboard and sat next to me, and we struck up a conversation. She was very thin, but quite pretty, looking a bit like Keira Knightley. I don't know what it was, but we hit it off very well, and she seemed to be quite interested in me and my little trip. We also talked in detail about Australia, since I would like to visit there next. I was hoping I'd have my own little Before Sunrise moment. The tour was pretty uninteresting, and rather than give any historical information about the sites in the city, I joked with the Aussie girl that it was more like the movie tour of San Francisco, since the tour guide was really only pointing out where movies like Bullit, The Rock, and Mrs. Doubtfire were filmed, the TV show Full House, and where various celebrities lived. Blech. At one point, we drove by the cable car tours and she warned me not to bother with that, since she had waited in line for an hour and a half the day before, and the trip definitely was not worth the wait or the money. Anyway, the street car tour ended, and the Aussie girl had a boat tour next. She asked if I was going on it, since apparently you could book the boat tour with the streetcar tour. Unfortunately I didn't have a ticket for the boat, and she was late for it, so she ran off only wishing me good luck on my trip without ever even exchanging names. It was fun nonetheless.

Next up for me, I went on the 49 mile scenic drive of San Francisco. The drive was interesting, and took me past many landmark sites in the city, but for any of you entrepreneurial young go-getters out there, it would have been nice if you could buy a cheap audio tour or even a map detailing the sites along the way. The drive took me the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate National Park, where I got out and took many photos as I walked across the bridge.



From there I found a lot of other places, but the fog rolled in pretty heavily and didn't afford many photo opportunities. I definitely loved the city of San Francisco, it was certainly one of my favorite cities so far on the trip. The people, the atmosphere, the weather, all just has a certain charm which is missing from southern California. You can view all the San Fran photos here.

As the evening rolled in, I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (US 101) into Sausalito in Marin County, where I stayed the night. In the morning, I drove up the Pacific Coast Highway (California 1) a little ways, and got some very neat photos of the fog rolling on the coast. I drove into Muir Woods National Monument. I do believe Muir Woods, as well as several other little park areas in the greater bay area are part of the greater Golden Gate National Park. From Muir Woods, I cut back over to US 101 towards San Rafael. In San Rafael, I happened upon a road called Lucas Valley Road, and I happened to know Skywalker Ranch was in a top secret location in San Rafael in Marin County, so I figured "what the heck". For those who don't know, I am a big Star Wars fan. Lucas Valley Rd might have been a little too obvious for Skywalker Ranch, but I drove up it anyway, figuring I might get a glimpse. I drove a long ways and decided to turn around, and it just so happened I turned around at 3838 Lucas Valley Rd, which looked suspiciously like it could have been Skywalker Ranch. I took a photo, and later looked on the internet and confirmed that 3838 Lucas Valley Rd is the back entrance of the ranch. The road is not named after George Lucas, but he did happen to build his home and company there. Here are my photos of Marin County, including the coast, the Muir Woods, and Skywalker ranch.

From there, I drove across California 37 on the northern end of the bay, until I reached I-80. I cut onto I-505 north to I-5 and I was on my way to the very northern part of California. In Red Bluff, California, I cut across California 36 to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Although Lassen (N 40 28.493', W 121 29.999' elev. 8499 ft) was not as interesting as some of the other National Parks in the state, I did drive through and take a few photos. I happened upon my first snow of the trip in the park. The park is built around the Lassen Volcano, which last erupted in 1917. The park has some neat landmarks, photos of which you can find here. Lassen makes 7 national parks in 6 days (Death Valley, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Golden Gate, Muir Woods, and Lassen).

From Lassen, it was getting pretty late, but I wanted to make my way back to the coast so I could get to the Redwood forest for today (saturday). I drove up and over the mountains, via California 44, which turned into California 299 in Redding, CA. I continued on CA-299 until I reached Eureka, CA at about 11:30 at night. Eureka is a coast resort town of sorts, and so had many many motels, all of which were booked solid, (except one dirty motel, which had a dirty, smoking room for $101, which I balked at paying). So since it was way too dark to set up a tent anywhere provided I had been able to find a campground, I ended up finding a parking lot and sleeping in my car for the night, the first real hobo moment for the trip. Whoohoo! I think that Eureka is about as far north as Newark, NJ.

Current Location: Modesto, CA, N 37 36.194', W 120 58.152', elev. 86 ft.

On monday, I traveled north on California 41, to Yosemite National Park. On sunday night, I was talking to my friend Becky and telling her how much I loved Sequoia national park, that it was my new favorite place in the USA, and she told me I would love Yosemite even more, but I had my doubts, since Sequoia was so beautiful. My doubts were proved wrong upon entering the park, as Yosemite had as much to offer as Sequoia, and way more.

I've never had more of a sense of driving down the road, looking at the sites and thinking to myself "holy shit!", than I did in Yosemite. I've never had more of a sensation of incredulity of the works of mother nature than I did in Yosemite. I am heartily recommending everyone to go, and go often.

My first stop in the park was in the very southern part, the Mariposa grove of giant sequoia trees. I went on a guided tour of the grove for $16 and it was well worth it. The tour gave even more history and science about the trees and protecting them than what I had learned the day before in Sequoia. For instance I learned that the Sequoia wood is so hearty, that even when a tree falls over, it doesn't rot, and only will finally break down under intense fire. I learned that one reason the trees are so fire resistant is their sap is made more from water than oily turpen, and that the sap runs very cold within the tree. I learned that the seed cones will only open after intense heat. There are many trees in the Mariposa grove that are still thriving, despite having been ravaged by fire. Among the distinct ones there is the clothespin tree, which is split so it looks like a wood clothespin, and there is my favorite, the telescope tree, the heartwood of which has completely been burned away, so you can enter the bottom of the tree and look all the way through the top, since it is hollow, yet still very much living and thriving, since the tree does not really need the heartwood at the middle to survive.



Telescope Tree

Additionally, the Mariposa grove is home to the California tunnel tree (and the Massachusetts tunnel tree, which has fallen over). The tunnels through the trees were created in the early 20th century as tourist attractions, you may have seen them in photos or even cartoons. The tunnels through the trees are large enough for a small car to pass through (though they only allow you to walk through the tunnels these days). In addition to these landmark trees there are several others that are large enough to give the three largest in Sequoia national park a run for their money.



The sap still flows through the tunnel tree, and is the color of blood

After the Mariposa grove, my next destination was the view of Yosemite valley from Glacier Point (N 37 43.656', W 119 34.455', elev 7202 ft.). Glacier Point is only accessible during the summer months. The view from Glacier Point definitely elicited the most exclamations of "holy shit!" from me. I just remember driving up over the final ridge and being so jarred that I stopped driving and my car came to a slow stop and my jaw hung down to my belly button. There is a scenic vista about half a mile before you reach the actual Glacier Point, where you can look over the entire northern end of Yosemite valley. The valley is only 7 miles long and three fourths of a mile wide at its widest, and yet the sides of the valley tower 6,000 to 12,000 feet above the floor. It is simply amazing, and everything is green and blue and purple.



I remember thinking to myself "this is the sort of stuff you only see in cartoons for some reason, because you think think this kind of beauty only comes from the imagination, you never see photos of this amazing beauty".



These photos are two-dimensional, and so can't give sense near what Yosemite actually like, depth, breadth and height wise

I tried very hard to capture the place, to make a part of it mine, to take Yosemite and make it a part of me, but the vastness is too deep for this. I tried to take regular photos, panoramic photos (which I have yet to glue together), and even some short videos in an effort to convey the giant aura and beauty radiated by Yosemite, all to no avail. I found standing there, enjoying the view, that I was just overcome by emotion. Just walking around brought me to the verge of tears, and I could see other people around me who were openly weeping. Even thinking back now to describe the place I can feel a bit of welling behind my eyes. I have mentioned several times in this place that I have run out of superlatives to describe the beauty I have seen, so now I'm going to make up some words to describe the view from the vista on the ridge. Incrediful. Awescious. Delightsome. Beautiriffic. Splendifully perfectzing. Here's to hoping I break my spell check forever.



You can see three waterfalls from the vista, Vernal and Nevada falls, as well as another I didn't get the name of

Shortly after leaving the vista point, I arrived at Glacier Point, a place where you could literally walk to the edge, to a wall, and look straight down into the valley, some 8,000 feet below. I could see the village and the entire valley. I was lucky enough to be at Glacier Point at sunset, and I was happy to discover the best place to watch the sunset is here at Glacier Point. Not only is the sunset great in it's own right, but the sun bouncing off Half Dome to the east turns the dome many many wonderful colors. Half Dome is probably the most recognizable feature of Yosemite, a huge mountain stretching 12,000 feet above the valley, with a sheer wall which makes it look cut in half.




Half Dome

I also saw a deer at Glacier Point, happily munching away on some shrubs. I found the deer to be a little less wild than it should have been, as there were people all around kinds squealing, and still, it remained and ate, only propping its head up to listen at the occasional louder noise.



I've never been this close to a deer

Finally it was time for sunset and people all crowded around and hushed as the amazing light show began. One advantage to smog is it makes the sky more beautiful at sunset!



I also took a video of the valley, at sunset.





After the sunset, I made my way down to the valley from the Glacier Point road. Yosemite was so big and beautiful, I hadn't seen it all in one day, and definitely had to camp. Yosemite was the first national park I was able to get all in in one day. By this time it was too dark to see anything other than what my headlights showed me, so as I drove into the valley, I really couldn't see what I was surrounded by. I wanted to find a campsite, and stopped at a few that were all booked up. I finally made my way to Yosemite lodge looking for a room, and of course they were booked up, but they were able to find me a campsite in a place called Curry village. The woman at the desk told me I got one of the last 5 camp spots remaining in the entire park, and there were definitely way over a thousand spots. Each campsite comes with a bear locker, where you are supposed to store your food and toiletries, anything with a scent. In the registration area, they show a video on loop of a bear just ripping up a car in order to find food inside. Supposedly about 100 cars per year are damaged by bears looking for food in Yosemite. If your car is damaged, you are fined $5000, and unfortunately, once a bear has gotten into someone's car, the bears become more dependent on humans for food, they become more aggressive and need to be euthanized. I had to sign all sorts of pledges about food and toiletry storage. Apparently bears will even go into your car if water or a cooler is visible.

I had a bit of trouble finding my spot in the dark, but I eventually found it and set up my stuff. Shortly after turning off all of my lights, I heard a ranger come through the camp area and chastise the people next to me, he had found visible coolers in their car, despite all the warnings and signing acknowledgements to be able to camp. I slept very well in the cool mountain air and the sounds and smells of camp. I awoke early the next morning to discover what was all around me, what I hadn't seen in the darkness the night before. Just amazing amazing amazing amazing.



The walls of the valley, all the way up to Half Dome. Unkowingly, I slept under this unspeakable beauty.



I even took some photos of the Glacier Point vista, 8000 feet above

I got my stuff together and took it out to my car. At this point, I discovered the parking lot inundated with a herd of deer, even less afraid of humans than the one the night before. They were wandering through the parking lot, munching crab apples that had fallen off the trees.





I also took some video of the deer, including this one where I give him some advice on hygiene. Best with sound on.

Most of the rest of the day I spent hiking up to several water falls within the valley. First up was Yosemite Falls, which is actually two falls, Upper and Lower, the combined height of which makes Yosemite the tallest waterfall in the world.




The falls were another absolutely astoundingly beautiful site, which the park was just filled with. The hike to the falls was about a mile, to the point where it gets really rocky. At the rocks is where the adventure began for me. I love climbing the rocks, up and down closer and closer to the wall of the falls. I could do that all day. Next time I visit Yosemite, I will be prepared to go all the way up to the wall. (Needed to bring a bathing suit and perhaps some water rock shoes).







The water was absolutely frigid. The middle photo above shows a climber on the wall of the valley near the waterfall

I spent a good two hours at the base of Lower Yosemite falls, climbing and trying to find a path to the base of the fall, but all the paths I found would have taken me across the water, and I was not prepared to do that on that day. Oh well. My next stop was El Capitan, a huge marble monolith, standing straight up and tall in the valley. It is supposedly the largest sheer face of rock in the world, and is a favorite of rock climbers.



I didn't stop for long at El Capitan, and continued on the park road until I got a whole view of the valley at the Valley Vista, a very inspiring place, where most of the representative photos of Yosemite are taken, because it shows off the most features. (You can get El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls and Bridal Veil Falls all in one photo).



From there, I made my way back on the loop road to Bridal Veil Falls, and hiked the half mile up to its rocky area and took some more photos. Bridal Veil is wind whipped, so the falls can lean to the left or to the right, and you can feel the spray of the water half a mile from the base, it was very refreshing.



These three successive photos show Bridal Veil straight, wind whipped right, and wind whipped left

It was getting near the end of the day, and I was tired so at this point I made my way out of the park. I drove west on California 120 to California 132 into Modesto, CA. I took a grand total of 366 photos over the course of the two days in Yosemite, and posted 290 on the web. Twiggy, I know you are rolling your eyes right now. Sorry bud.

I did want to mention a few weird observations from the day. One is that its very weird to see the same people from park to park. For instance, I saw a whole family of people from New York at the Hoover Dam, and I saw the same family again at Yosemite. Additionally, when hiking away from the attractions, such as Yosemite Falls, I had a tendency to walk quickly, so I could get to my next destination, ye I would frequently run into groups of people on the path, walking two three, maybe even four abreast, taking up the whole path in both directions. First of all, this is very rude. Second of all, these people were so out of it that they didn't notice my presence/ How can you not sense someone behind you and move over to let them pass? I don't know what it is, but I can always tell when someone is behind me, and always make room to accommodate them, because I definitely don't like people walking directly behind me. I find almost no one else does this. Finally, I would just like to say Yosemite has become my most favorite spot in the world (though I haven't seen much of the world yet), bumping Sequoia down to number 2, and Denali down to number 3.

Current Location: Fresno, CA (forgot to take a GPS reading).

On Sunday I got up early and left Bakersfield and drove back to the southern portion of the Sequoia National Forest on California 178. I found that I had driven through a very narrow canyon the night before, with very steep hillsides, and burnt grass. I drove about 25 miles in to the waterfall I had heard and not seen the night before. The roads of the canyon were so steep and twisty, that it was actually scarier to drive the road during the day, now that I could see I was inches from plunging to immediate death for a good twenty miles the night before. What made driving during the day even scarier was driving and coming upon a gang of about 15 to 20 motorcycles, racing down the canyon road towards Bakersfield, at at least twice the speed limit of the road, if not more. They were going so fast they were scaring the other drivers and pedestrians along the route. The waterfall was impressive, though not quite as impressive as I had imagined it the night before.



I then made my way back to Bakersfield and then north to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks via California 65 then California 198. The road to the national parks was an interesting one. On alternating sides of the road, I would find orange groves and oil derricks, definitely a strange sight to behold. On a side note, oil derricks, at least the ones I've seen on this trip, are a lot smaller than I had pictured. Sequoia and Kings Canyon are actually two distinct national parks, adjacent to each other, but they are administered as one park, though much of King's Canyon is closed in the winter due to snow. Since Sequoia is the southern park, I drove through that one first. The park road goes from an elevation of a few hundred feet to well over 5,000 feet over the course of about 15 miles of forest and mountain. The mountain drive is incredibly spectacular, with amazing views around almost every turn in the road. Some parts of the drive, I couldn't help but find myself slack jawed from the amazing sights of nature.




After about 20 miles, I came to the heart of the park, the Grove of Giants, the biggest grove of Sequoia trees in the park (and the world). This is something I've been waiting for, one of the goals of my trip, and my life, to see these magnificent trees. I made a quick stop at the Giant Forest Museum, where I learned a little bit about the trees, before venturing into the forest along the main meadow trail.



Standing here, walking around the path, you start feeling this most humbling effect. These particular trees are so massive, upwards of 40 feet in diameter, not tapering, and upwards of 320 feet tall, and you feel so small and insignificant next to them. These particular trees are so old, 2000-3000 years old, their history dwarfs yours. Its amazing to think what they've weathered. Many of the trees in the grove were there before the founding of Rome, incredible. I don't know about you, but the feeling of insignificance is one I relish from time to time. Most of our lives we spend being self-centered, thinking about ourselves in the most mundane way. These trees can momentarily lift that veil, and allow us to think of far loftier things, inspiration, pondering imponderable questions like why are we here?, what is my place in this?, was the universe created?, can I fathom thousands of years of history, never mind billions? When I start pondering impossible, paradoxical questions, like eternal life, or what existed before the big bang, I can feel my head start to shake and explode, I love the feeling.

The amazing thing about these trees is how much they depend on fire. For 100 years, no fires were allowed in the park, and any natural fire was quickly quelled. But in the 1960's the ecologists realized something was wrong, as there was no new growth in all that time. Fire is necessary to clear the underbrush and create fresh soil for the seedlings of the trees, and clear out old growth so the new trees get plenty of light to grow. The Sequoias are picky, they can only grow in certain elevations and soil moisture levels, but once established, are quite hardy. They can't die from old age, fire, heartwood removal, partial bark removal, flooding, or disease. They can only die from falling over (their roots are actually quite shallow), or of course, human intervention and interference (cutting them down or causing them to fall over by trampling or flooding their root soil).



The seed cones are quite small, especially compared with the cones of smaller conifer trees in the grove





I was amazed at the amount of foreign tourists in the park. I would say only about half of the tourists were from the United States, the other half were from Japan, Australia, Canada and Europe. I think its a little jarring to consider that there are places so amazing in our own backyard, that people come from all over the world to visit them, and yet we don't. I know about 3 people other than myself who have been to Sequoia National Park. If you have been to the park, let me know.

Though my car as been a sufficient friend to me thus far, it occurred to me that if I was to do a similar road trip again, I'd want to bring three vehicles with me. An RV for sleeping and storing my stuff, a jeep type vehicle for off road and difficult terrain, and a BMW for the incredible twists and turns and ups and downs of the mountain roads.

Two miles down the road from the main parking area of the Giant Grove, is the General Sherman tree, the largest living organism on earth. It is not the tallest tree, nor is it the widest, but combining the two makes it the most massive. The tree is huge, and the pictures can not convey the extreme largeness of the tree. I couldn't get far enough away to capture the whole tree in one shot.





After the General Sherman tree, I drove down the road and eventually found myself in King's Canyon National Park. The views here were absolutely spectacular. If I remember correctly, King's Canyon is the deepest canyon in the US, and offered some amazing views. I was lucky enough to be in the canyon near sunset, and captured many amazing photos.







Sequoia and King's Canyon has been the best day of the whole trip so far, and Sequoia bumps Denali from the number 1 spot on my list of favorite national parks (and favorite places in general). Since I'm a photo taking maniac, I took 257 photos for the day, 200 of which I posted on the web here. After leaving the park, I drove west on California 180 to Fresno, where I stopped for the night. On monday, I'm headed to Yosemite National Park.

Finally, I wanted to leave you with a short little prose-poem thing someone sent me. Bart, a cool guy I used to work for, sent me this directly before the start of my trip, and although I never found Silver City, I really liked the piece a lot:

A Little Place At The End Of The Road In The Woods

Deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California is Sequoia National Park. In the park there is a narrow road that winds through 698 hairpin turns, 25 miles in and up 8,000 feet into the mountains. At the end of that road, tucked into a valley amid the great giant redwoods is a small colony of cabins they call Silver City. The small primitive cabins were built in the 1920s, and since park rules have prevented any further sale or development of the cabins, they remain as inconspicuous now as they were many decades ago.

The location of Silver City is so remote that few people go there. But the essence of Silver City is so magical that successive generations of families return there every year when the spring thaw allows passage along the road. There is also a campground (tents only) a few hundred feet down the road for those with tight budgets but the same affinities. The redwoods there will make you feel like you've pitched your tent in a cathedral.

There is a little general store in Silver City that sells gas for a lantern, hotdogs and canned beans, batteries, film, maybe an ice cream bar, and other meager essentials.

Every Fourth of July, at sundown, they line up eight wooden benches on the back porch of the general store. All people still in Silver City are invited to the annual talent show and guaranteed a slice of apple pie for showing. People emerge from the cabins and tents to take varied places on the benches, and soon scoot themselves over to let others fill in the spaces. As daylight fades the porch is illuminated by glow of hanging candlelights.

The "talent" for the show is the audience on the porch. The festivities are kicked off by the latest generation of children of the family that has owned the store for the past 70 years. They use a flashlight as a fake microphone and pass around to the next volunteer "on stage." With a gaggle of kids and even a few hammy grown-ups around, there's never a lack of third-rate entertainment to fill the evening air with the sound of fun and cheer.

The finale of the show taps into all the talent on the porch with a gentle thankful round of the Star Spangled Banner. The tears in people's eyes dry up in time to pass out pie on paper plates. A little while more of eats and shared enjoyment are had, and then the people scatter into the darkness.

I think I once went to Silver City but I'm not sure it wasn't just a dream. If you happen to come upon such a place, please report back its existence to me.

Current location: Bakersfield, CA, N 35 22.845', W 119 01.375', elev 1036 ft.

On friday, I left Becky's apartment early in the morning. After a quick stop at a grocery store for some supplies, I drove west on California 60 and I-10, back to Hollywood. I parked and got out, and walked around and took photos of the things I had forgotten to photograph on saturday. I got a few photos of some of the stars on Hollywood Blvd. as well as the cement imprints outside of the Chinese Theater.



Here are the rest of my Hollywood photos, including a couple I took saturday. Walking down the Boulevard, I got a strong sense that the next song on the Jon Sheldon Across America soundtrack should be Celluloid Heroes by the Kinks.

After the boulevard, I wanted to find the Hollywood sign, so I drove north and found a place to view it. From there I found Mulholland Drive, a mountain road that has spectacular views of the city, and took that west in the hills towards Malibu. It was a neat drive, something definitely made to drive your imola red BMW M3 on at 50 mph. When I reached Bel Aire, I got off Mulholland Drive, onto I-405 north, all the while singing the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire theme song. I headed north through moderate traffic until I reached Santa Clarita, CA, where I veered northwest on California 14. I drove on the 14 until I reached Ridgecrest, CA at about 9:30 at night. Ridgecrest is about 70 miles south of Death Valley National Park, my destination for saturday.

On Saturday, I got up and got an oil change. I was due, plus I really wanted to make sure my fluids and coolant and tire pressure were in good shape before heading into Death valley, one of the hottest places on earth in the summer. After being in Death Valley, I really think it takes a supreme idiot to go there, in the middle of a huge desert, in the summer. Ladies and gentlemen, I am that supreme idiot. But I did it for you and took photos, so you don't have to!

I continued North on California 14 form Ridgecrest. The drive into Death Valley National Park was an interesting one. From the border of the park, it is about 14 miles, all uphill into the southern Sierra Nevadas, so there are several signs informing you to turn off your AC so your car doesn't overheat. Additionally, there are water tanks every few miles that you can use for your radiator if necessary.



In reality, being in Death valley was not that bad, despite the temperatures of upwards of 125 degrees Fahrenheit. I found that the roads held the heat, so walking on the road as opposed to the badlands off of the road was a lot hotter. I was in my car a lot, with the AC on, since the park is huge. National Parks are frequently described in terms of size relative to Delaware and Rhode Island. Death Valley is one of the largest, clocking in at two Delawares. Driving into the valley, the road was totally empty, but I think its because I entered the park from an infrequently used entrance. Coming up over the top of the ridge with a view of the valley was quite cool. The road had no guardrails, so when I stopped to take photos, I noticed there were at least 6 car wrecks on the ledge below me, about 100 to 200 feet down, where people had just plummeted off the edge. Kinda neat, but also scary.



Because the drive in was so devoid of people, I expected the park to be empty as well, but there was surprisingly a lot of people in the park. Unfortunately, when describing Big Bend National Park, I already blew my reference to walking the road to Jabba's Palace, but Death Valley looked even more like that than Big Bend. I came across a place called the Devil's Golf Course. Devil's Golf Course is a huge salt basin, just white crust salt across the ground. There are signs at the Devils Golf Course, advising you to be very careful when walking, because the salt is very jagged, very sharp and if you fall it is likely you could cut yourself open with huge gashes, or even break bones.



The park has very varied elevation. The highest point in the park is Telescope Mountain, at over 11,000 feet, and not 15 miles away, you frequently find areas below sea level, including Badwater (N 36 13.797', W 116 46.060', elev. -282 ft.), the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, at 282 feet below sea level.



Badwater had a very shallow pond, with ugly little bugs and slugs floating around. Underneath the pond was more salt basin, but its pretty weird to see a dock floating on a pond in the middle of the desert. The whole area smelled like day old tuna fish, pretty gross. On the mountain in front of you, you can see a sign halfway up, marking sea level.



It was so hot in Death Valley, that I probably drank about 2 gallons of water. I had brought a lot in with me, and bought some in the general store in the park as well. It was so hot and I had sweated so much that my hair was actually crusty and standing straight out. Gross. On my way out of the park, I came across a vista point, and I walked uphill to get to it. Once up, I was kind of amazed that I even attempted the ascent in the heat. It was about 6 pm, but still ridiculously hot, and I was about a third of a mile from my car and about 200 feet above the level of my car.



Here, you can find the rest of my Death Valley pics. I left the park headed west on California 190. My aim for Sunday is Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, two naps directly next to each other. Looking at my atlas, Death Valley is next to Sequoia, a distance of no more than 30 miles from the park exit. Unfortunately, after closer scrutiny of my atlas, including a close up map of Sequoia, the only entrances to Sequoia are on the western side of the park. Crap! What I thought would be a quick drive would now be a long one, perhaps 300 miles out of my way. From Death Valley, I drove south on US 395, until I reached California 178, which I would take west to Bakersfield. The drive to Bakersfield was very long and winding in mountain roads, but it would cover about half of my drive to Sequoia. With about 30 miles left before reaching Bakersfield, I entered the very southern portion of Sequoia National Forest, a national recreation area. However, it was about 9:30 at night, and it was very dark, so I had no idea what I was driving through. All I knew was I was on a winding mountain road, and I had a steep mountain on my left, and what must have been a steep cliff on my right, because with my headlights, I could only see an occasional tree top, and couldn't see the other side of the valley I was in, whether it was mountains or plains or trees or what. There were tons and tons of turnouts, so I knew something cool must have been on my right. The temperature was very nice, about 70 degrees which was definitely a welcome change from the desert temperatures I had experienced during the day. I had the windows open obviously, and I started hearing this noise on the right, low at first, but soon, it was a loud roar, louder than my car and radio combo. Near the loudest point, I pulled over at a turnout, partly to let faster cars behind me go past, but also to see if I could see what was making the noise. When I get out of my car, I realized it must be a huge waterfall. The sound at night was amazing, especially with the almost total darkness of the area I was in. I got out my huge flashlight, but discovered the battery had died. Oh well. So far on the trip, I have made the hard decision that whatever I drive by at night, I don't get to see. For time's sake I just can't double back. But this place is only 25 to 30 miles outside of Bakersfield, so I am going to have to go back there tomorrow (sunday) to see what it was I drove through. Eventually I made my way out of the forest and got to Bakersfield, where I stopped for the night. Bakersfield has some really nice smells riding in. I would describe it actually as something a baker's field might smell like. The only way for me to describe it would be vanilla rain perhaps?