26 Mar - 2 Apr 2010 RV Yosemite and Desert Trip
After seeing the rainy forecast on Friday, we decided to abandon our plans for a coastal RV trip and instead focus on the best spring has to offer in California, Yosemite Park with falls in full flow and the desert parks awash in spring flowers. We are still traveling, and so far, we have visited Yosemite and Death Valley and arrived back into the urban world at Palm Springs before heading to Joshua tree and then Anza Borrego Park.
From Oxnard we headed north through the San Joaquin valley and the Sierra Nevada mountains arriving at Mariposa, at the gates of Yosemite in late evening. Along the way there were lots of yellow spring flowers lining the sides of the road, but the most spectacular display was what seemed like a gigantic blue lake at the bottom of the Grapevine, which turned out to be huge fields of Lupine as far as the eye can see. Wow, what a sight! Later in the day, once off the freeway the valleys were a lush emerald green with beautiful patches of purple blue and orange flowers.
We spent the night at a KOA campground and the next morning headed into Yosemite Valley along the beautiful meandering Merced River with all sorts of beautiful pink blooming trees until we finally spotted the beautiful view of the Bridal Vale falls in full flow with snow in the high elevations and small patches in the valley floor. After getting a campsite in the Park we took a hike to Mirror Lake, just at the base of Half Dome. The temperature during the day was comfortable, in the 70’s, but down to high 30’s at night (and the heater was not working!)
Sunday morning we had a fancy brunch at the elegant Ahwahnee Hotel and toured the Valley with the RV. We had been to Yosemite Valley twice before, in the summer and fall, but spring certainly provides the most magnificent view when the snow is melting and the streams and waterfalls are near their peak flow. After returning to the camp site Lance spent several hours removing and cleaning the furnace and we had heat again. On Monday we took a long bike ride through the Yosemite Valley to the base of Lower Yosemite Falls. The bike trails in Yosemite are wonderful, separate from the roads, paved and essentially flat. It was hard to keep our eyes on the trail with all the wonderful vistas of the iconic Yosemite cliffs and waterfalls as we rode across the Valley meadows. Rain was forecast for the night and next day, with several inches of snow later in the week so we decided to leave the next morning.
In the morning we had occasional heavy rain and the valley was shrouded in fog. On the way out we stopped at one of only three remaining giant sequoia groves, the Mariposa Grove, and took a short walk in rain on three feet of snow. The trees were huge but since the weather conditions were so bad we decided to see it in detail at another time. As we drove south through the San Joaquin Valley we got away from the rain. We drove over the Tehachapi Pass into the Mojave Desert to the Red Rock Canyon campground where we spent the night before proceeding to Death Valley National Park.
We arrived at Death Valley in early afternoon Wednesday in a huge dust storm. It seemed as though the dunes and the salt flats were in the air racing to find a new location. The winds were practically sand blasting the RV and even managed to unfurl the RV awning while we were driving and we had to stop and secure it better. We managed to get one the last sites at Furnace Creek camp ground and then to Zabriski Point for wonderful views but were almost blown away by the crazy winds. We decided to wait out the storm and continue touring the next day. Later in the evening and actually got a few drops of rain. Thursday morning was a brilliant calm beautiful day with cool temperatures and no wind. We rented a jeep for the day so we can really explore the most interesting places in Death Valley which cannot be done with a 30 foot RV. We went through Titus Canyon which was an awesome drive two hour drive on sometimes very steep and precarious dirt roads, along cliffs and through a very narrow canyon surrounded with incredible rock formations. We then took a long drive to Scotty’s Castle (not worth it), had dinner at the Furnace Creek Ranch, took the Artist’s Drive which has an unbelievable display of rock formations in pink, yellow, green, purple, orange and brown and ended up at Dante’s View at Sunset overlooking the badland salt flats and the Pannamint mountains with their snow capped peaks. It was a fantastic experience.
Early in the morning we returned the jeep and took a one mile hike into Golden Canyon which was also lovely and then took the six hour drive via back roads to Palm Springs.
Click on the picture below to see a slideshow of pictures.
From Oxnard we headed north through the San Joaquin valley and the Sierra Nevada mountains arriving at Mariposa, at the gates of Yosemite in late evening. Along the way there were lots of yellow spring flowers lining the sides of the road, but the most spectacular display was what seemed like a gigantic blue lake at the bottom of the Grapevine, which turned out to be huge fields of Lupine as far as the eye can see. Wow, what a sight! Later in the day, once off the freeway the valleys were a lush emerald green with beautiful patches of purple blue and orange flowers.
We spent the night at a KOA campground and the next morning headed into Yosemite Valley along the beautiful meandering Merced River with all sorts of beautiful pink blooming trees until we finally spotted the beautiful view of the Bridal Vale falls in full flow with snow in the high elevations and small patches in the valley floor. After getting a campsite in the Park we took a hike to Mirror Lake, just at the base of Half Dome. The temperature during the day was comfortable, in the 70’s, but down to high 30’s at night (and the heater was not working!)
Sunday morning we had a fancy brunch at the elegant Ahwahnee Hotel and toured the Valley with the RV. We had been to Yosemite Valley twice before, in the summer and fall, but spring certainly provides the most magnificent view when the snow is melting and the streams and waterfalls are near their peak flow. After returning to the camp site Lance spent several hours removing and cleaning the furnace and we had heat again. On Monday we took a long bike ride through the Yosemite Valley to the base of Lower Yosemite Falls. The bike trails in Yosemite are wonderful, separate from the roads, paved and essentially flat. It was hard to keep our eyes on the trail with all the wonderful vistas of the iconic Yosemite cliffs and waterfalls as we rode across the Valley meadows. Rain was forecast for the night and next day, with several inches of snow later in the week so we decided to leave the next morning.
In the morning we had occasional heavy rain and the valley was shrouded in fog. On the way out we stopped at one of only three remaining giant sequoia groves, the Mariposa Grove, and took a short walk in rain on three feet of snow. The trees were huge but since the weather conditions were so bad we decided to see it in detail at another time. As we drove south through the San Joaquin Valley we got away from the rain. We drove over the Tehachapi Pass into the Mojave Desert to the Red Rock Canyon campground where we spent the night before proceeding to Death Valley National Park.
We arrived at Death Valley in early afternoon Wednesday in a huge dust storm. It seemed as though the dunes and the salt flats were in the air racing to find a new location. The winds were practically sand blasting the RV and even managed to unfurl the RV awning while we were driving and we had to stop and secure it better. We managed to get one the last sites at Furnace Creek camp ground and then to Zabriski Point for wonderful views but were almost blown away by the crazy winds. We decided to wait out the storm and continue touring the next day. Later in the evening and actually got a few drops of rain. Thursday morning was a brilliant calm beautiful day with cool temperatures and no wind. We rented a jeep for the day so we can really explore the most interesting places in Death Valley which cannot be done with a 30 foot RV. We went through Titus Canyon which was an awesome drive two hour drive on sometimes very steep and precarious dirt roads, along cliffs and through a very narrow canyon surrounded with incredible rock formations. We then took a long drive to Scotty’s Castle (not worth it), had dinner at the Furnace Creek Ranch, took the Artist’s Drive which has an unbelievable display of rock formations in pink, yellow, green, purple, orange and brown and ended up at Dante’s View at Sunset overlooking the badland salt flats and the Pannamint mountains with their snow capped peaks. It was a fantastic experience.
Early in the morning we returned the jeep and took a one mile hike into Golden Canyon which was also lovely and then took the six hour drive via back roads to Palm Springs.
Click on the picture below to see a slideshow of pictures.
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| Blog 26 Mar - 2 Apr |
posted by Dahlia and Lance Riley @ 9:14 AM
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