From General Sherman to Our Favourite Place in the World......Yosemite

It's been a while dear friends and in that time we've done a fair bit of.....everything.  So we owe you all a little bit of an update.  If you cast your minds back to the end of our last entry, you'll remember that we bade farewell to Los Angeles (or rather Venice, if you're going to be particular) at 5am on Father's Day.


Our goal?

Just outside a small town called Groveland in Yosemite.

Our route?

That would take in Sequoia National Park and around 9 or 10 hours of driving in total.

She looks so small!

You see?  It's big!

So yes, a 5am start WAS a necessary evil, no matter how evil it might have felt.  Especially having slept for 4 hours the night before!  Venice became LA, became countryside and pretty soon we were well and truly out of one of the largest cities on earth.  We didn't realise it yet, but we were about to enter one of the most beautiful areas on the planet.

Sequoia National Park is home to another forest of giant redwood trees.  The Californians have set up a few such areas in the State (one outside San Francisco for instance) on the grounds that they take around 2 to 3 THOUSAND years to grow to maturity and so they could probably do with a little helping hand.  Last year on our trip down Route 1 from San Francisco we had driven up to the forest that contains other redwoods, but had missed out, so we were a little unprepared for the almost ridiculously large nature of these trees.

The Sequoia is not the tallest, but it is the largest in terms of volume of tree.  They are, if you will, the big fat uncle of the tree family.  When we first entered the park we showed our nice new pass (thanks again Scarlet for taking delivery of that) and looked around.  "WOW!" we thought, "just look at this place.....it's......old!  The trees are huge."  It is true, they were huge, the ferns growing around the ground looked prehistoric.  We half expected a small pod of vicious dinosaurs with meat-shredding teeth to pop out of the undergrowth.

the one in the back is Shermy

Whilst all that is true, we hadn't actually seen the sequoia's yet.  They were waiting, patiently, round the corner.  Our first encounter was somehow a little unsettling.  Not in a bad way.  No, more in a sorrowful way.  I certainly had a massive pang of guilt as I remembered the black and white pictures I had seen of proud and bearded settlers, dragging away the felled trunks of these majestic creatures.  Worse, the wood from these old behemoths is almost useless for construction.  Most of it would break as it fell and in the end it was mainly used for matchsticks!!!

I used the words "creatures" and "behemoths" on purpose because, in a very real way, they seem every bit as real and majestic as the greatest of humans or lions or other such admired animals on the planet.  This is no pine tree with a nice smell that reminds you of your floor cleaner, nor is it a beautiful orchid that is so delicate that it only grows in ridiculously difficult conditions.  No.  This is a 3000 year old entity that has lived, grown and survived more than our modern history has the arrogance to think is important.  You want hardship?  These things best chance at life is in a forest fire (yes, nature's own phoenix).  This fire clears the ground around the parent tree, fertilising it with ash that also protects the seeds from ultraviolet light.  Seed cones also open up in the severe heat of the fire.  These seeds then fall to the ground and begin what can only be described as a geological march to greatness.

Anyhow, let's just say we were a trifle impressed and leave it there, ok?  There is one place in the park that is kind of like the epicentre.  It's the home of General Sherman, the largest living single stem tree in (known) existence.  After a brief discussion of how Julia was to reach the tree, I dropped her off as close as possible and then parked up in the car park at the top of a hill.  Running back down (we were on a schedule after all) to the tree seemed kind of sacrilegious.  I was racing past all these other venerable inhabitants only to visit the Great Uncle of the forest.  Still - schedules are schedules and I wasn't about to get in the way of our military planning - but as I arrived I was dumbstruck.  Old General Sherman is unbelievable.  Everything I have said so far, well, it's all true, but kind of on a smaller scale.  This old tree is indescribably big and "present".  To ignore it would be impossible.  To consider that it was by no means the largest tree that was cut down back in the day, well that is criminal.  That's when it really hit home how humanity had been so terribly blase all those years ago.

So a kind gentleman took our (Shermy, Julia and I) photo with his camera (we haven't received it yet, but will post it when we do) and then we were off racing as fast as Julia's crutches would carry her, back to the car.

wonderful views

By now I was pretty tired so I closed my eyes and Julia continued the drive north to our new home in Yosemite.  The countryside was beginning to show off now.  We've been to a number of beautiful places in the world, but we were realising that California is a little bit unfair.  Truly it has been blessed with beauty.  As we looked around we understood why Americans might not travel.  There are 50 states in the Union.  They have 10 days holiday a year.  Call it 7 and a couple of days off here and there.  That's 1 week a year to visit 50 states and then you've done your own mind-blowingly beautiful country.  50 years later, you can justifiably say, "I've seen all my place has to offer, let's see the world now."  It really isn't that unfair of them to be so blase in their ignorance of the rest of the world.

Along the way we stopped for a burger (what else?) at a microbrewery and silently I vowed that this would NOT be the story of the whole trip.  Travelling by car in the USA is difficult from a food perspective.  They have amazing produce and variety in their ingredients out here, but the choices on offer to the traveller along the highways.....well......it ranges from heart-stoppingly fat to diabetes-inducingly sweet.  It's almost like the pharmaceutical industry owns the food industry in some kind of Faustian pact to ensure the average American spends at least a thousand dollars a year on their products to cure the ailments brought on by a depressingly bad diet.

Back in the car and I took the reins again.  I was intent on reaching our log cabin in the hills before dark and so off we raced to Groveland.  As it turns out we didn't have far to go, a few hours and we were there, driving through the area around Groveland and marvelling at the joyfully exuberant sight of nature doing what she does best.....being beautiful.  Like kids in a sweet shop (aka a candy store) we were leaning forward and craning our heads left and right to drink in all our eyes could absorb.  Like sitting too close to a massive screen in the cinema, it was almost annoying, because you knew you were missing wondrous things even as you were looking at something amazing.

We drove through the small town of Groveland and headed on up the highway a ways before I saw a little sign in the road up to our hotel for the next two nights.  Our GPS is a friend and we certainly rely on her....but there are times when she really hasn't got a clue.  At that point we were being faithfully told to keep driving!

So up and up we drove, wending our way up an unpaved road then turning one last corner and looking on the cutest log cabin ever.  It was lovely.  Once we'd unloaded the car we deflated.  Having arrived now we could relax and enjoy what was a simply magnificent view over the surrounding countryside. The manager at the property puts on a lovely dessert selection and so we had a sweet-toothed dinner, but not before I fell in love with the beautiful little kids (baby goats) they had on the property :)

So dumb!  They would butt each other
out of the way to get the milk

Me wanty goaty now!

New friends at Lilliskog

The next two days were to be action packed.  Rafting the Main Tuolumne the first day and then the Cherry Creek/Upper Tuolumne the second, there was a lot to do and in fact it was so good, we'll just leave that to the next blog.  So for now, forgive us, we'll skip along to Yosemite.  Trust me, that's not a problem as Yosemite is AMAZING!

amazing

home sweet home 

When Julia had booked a Yurt high on a hill in the area, I had been......well......apprehensive?  Dubious?  Hmmm......a lot of things, but convinced was not one of them.  Finding the place was bizarrely not that difficult.  I say bizarre, because Greeley Hill is a tiny place and as I mentioned, our GPS could be unreliable, but this time she came good.

What a view we had

As we turned off the small and bumpy road onto the driveway we drove up to the main house.  Nobody home yet, but not a problem, we had arrived early.  We said hello to Lexi and Mr. Bean (the two dogs) and drove on up to the yurt.  Wow.  I hadn't done glamping before and though we didn't see the inside yet, we were impressed.  It was lovely and the view.  Dear Lord I want to have a house with views like this one day!

lots of space

Bumper pool anyone?

A friendly neighbour let us in and we were amazed for the second time.  A yurt is no simple tent, it's like a scaled down big top from the circus.  It was massive.  Inside was a shower/bathroom (though the toilet was outside) and a small kitchen.  We even had a small pool table and a nice big dinner table.  Outside was a big American bbq, some comfy chairs and the whole place just reeked of comfortable outdoorsy living.  In fact, from the fully stocked kitchen to the telescope at the door, it head everything you would need to make life enjoyable.  As I write these words describing where we stayed for 6 nights I have a big smile on my face.  Our hosts turned out to be the sweetest couple and had it not been for the fact that Julia was almost bed-ridden for a few days with a head cold, it would have been perfect.  As it was, relaxing in that space was delightful.

The first day we drove in to the park, we wanted to see some of the hikes that we would have done had Julia not had a gammy foot.  I somehow had never seen Half-Dome or El Capitan and so hadn't really been that interested in the potential to climb the first and then view from the top of it at the second.

Here children, we have a valuable lesson.  If I had known I might have behaved differently in the run up to our preparations for this trip.  The hike up Half-Dome is less a hike more a challenge to anyone that suffers with vertigo.  I mean you don't even need vertigo, you just have to be nervous of falling off a very high and precarious rock!  Seeing Half-Dome from the ground though was still nothing as compared to seeing it from a place called Glacier Point.  Some new friends (a father and son duo called Andy and Anderson) had recommended this spot to us and boy were we glad of that when we arrived.  The guides will say that in Summer it is packed with tourists, but if that's there definition of
"packed" then they've clearly never been to Machu Picchu!

Such a clear view

We wondered around this large viewing area marvelling at a fantastic bird's eye view of the Yosemite Valley (or one of them).  You could see Yosemite Falls and Bridal Falls and though we were in a dry season and they didn't of course match Iguazu Falls they were still great accessories in Yosemite's wardrobe.  From here you could truly appreciate the work of the glaciers all those thousands of years ago and also thank those early conservationists and environmentalists who had pressured the government to protect this park.

us and the valley

Naughty Step?

Driving along in the park we were reminded of New Zealand.  There are many similarities in the South Island to Yosemite, but one key difference is scale.  Yosemite is wide.....large.......expansive, whereas in New Zealand you know somehow that you're compressed onto a fairly thin island.  Here, the views went on for I don't know how many miles.

For you Lillian: NO! You may
NOT take my plate away!

From the heights of Glacier Point we also dropped down into the valley itself for a while one day and that was just as marvellous.  The river that runs through it inspiring plant life that makes the place look so green and lush.  We stopped for lunch in the Ahwahnee and simply enjoyed our time in this wonderful place.








Another time we visited Tuolumne Meadows.  Andy, Anderson and in fact everyone we met had said this was a must see place in Yosemite.

First let me clarify how you say Tuolumne....it is "To-All-O-Me".


Now, back to the meadows.  It's tough to describe them, as I don't really know where to start!  The meadows are at a very hight point (highest point being 10000 feet) and yet all around you can see the peaks of mountains that encircle the area majestically.  Rather like the Sacred Valley in Peru, you really do get the impression you are somewhere special, some hidden part of the world.


The meadows are big, going on for a good few miles.  There is a beautiful river that runs through them and many rock outcroppings for climbers to practice their skills.  We tried to hike one of these (Lambert's Dome) but unfortunately Julia's foot and head cold said "NEIN!".  Nature here is really showing off.  Between the forests and the mountains, the grasslands and the rivers it is, in a nutshell, (I just asked Julia) ....."just picture postcard perfect and huge nature".

the most beautiful textured and coloured tree

There you go and we didn't even go hiking off the main road!


All in all, Yosemite was one of our favourite places in the world and Julia fell head-over-heels in love with it.  So much so, she wants to learn how to be a whitewater guide and take people down the Cherry Creek......which you'll read about in our next blog.