May 22nd
Today we woke up to get to Sequoia from Yosemite. The drive was absolutely stunning, and once again the diversity of California terrain made itself apparent. Instead of heading away from Yosemite at the beginning of the drive, it was necessary to cut straight through the park in order to get headed down south. We went from the cliffs of Yosemite into a fertile plains environment where we saw tons of oranges and other crops being grown. We got into sequoia at around 4:30, and were told by the park ranger at the entrance gate that we should go up to Grant’s Pass instead of attempting to navigate that part of the park while attached to Rita. We were also told that the closest campsites inside park grounds were 2 hours away. Instead of making that long drive, we figured we would try to find some private grounds nearby. We lucked out and got the last site with electricity at a place about 10 minutes from the entrance gate. As we sat there contemplating whether to go into the park or not, we saw that there was a beautiful river running right by the site. All of us agreed that it should be explored, so we got dressed to go swimming and headed down to the access site. I could not imagine a better way to spend the afternoon than swimming in the cold waters of the river and then basking in the sun on top of large boulders nearby. We had picked up a bird book a few days earlier, so we got that out along with some high-power binoculars and did some bird watching. It was the perfect time of day because the sun was just going down, and the air was cooling off. There were birds of many types all around us. In all we saw several interesting species:
Violet-Green Swallow
California Quail
Red-tailed Hawk
Turley Vulture
Cedar Waxwing
Ash-throated flycatcher
Brewer’s Blackbird
Black Phoebe
Acorn Woodpecker
Common Merganser
Hooded Oriole
After the sun went down, we headed back to Rita to get some food after an absolutely stunning day down by a heavily flowing California river. We made some delicious pita wraps and ate them while doing some great henna art on each other. Chris got a smiley face on his arm, Stuart got a Necker cube on his back, and Carol got an ant on the back of her neck. Overall the day was great, and though we don’t want the trip to end, we all look forward to getting into famous L.A. tomorrow.
May 23rd
Today we woke up early and entered the park for a whirlwind tour before heading to L.A. Seqouia National Park is a very strange place because of both its variety of environments and its unique residents, the Giant Seqouia trees. The drive started off in a canyon-like area inhabited by small shrubs, Yucca plants, and low-gowing trees. As we climbed higher and higher, the trees got larger and more full, but it was not until we reached the top of the mountains that we found ourselves in a beautiful pine forest with massive Sequoia trees scattered throughout the forest. Those trees are like giants, and I imaging that they seem out of place anywhere. First of all, their bark is a distinct color of dark rusty red, and this contrasts their forest neighbors greatly to make their presence a unique one. Furthermore, they are so much bigger than any plant I have ever seen that they seem almost alien – as if God himself decided to be humorous and placed them, made them out of wax, amongst the other trees as a reminder of what gargantuan really means. We followed signs to General Sherman, and finally found ourselves at a nice facility made for viewing it. There are no words to describe the feeling experienced while standing at the base of the 103-foot-in-circumference beast. It gains the mass of a regular 60-foot tall tree every year, and has enough volume to fill 10,000 bathtubs with its wood. Standing below it is comparable to what a mouse sees when it looks at a human, and it has stood there for over 2,000 years. It was hard to leave, but we had to get on the road to drive to Los Angeles. The drive was pretty uneventful, and we only made one stop to get Jamba Juice, much to Carol’s dismay. Arriving at Eric’s (Carol’s family friend) house, Chris and Stuart had to leave almost immediately to take Chris to his grandparents house where all of his family as waiting to see him. Chris and Carol said farewell and the trio was de-united.
Stuart met Carol at a pizza place later after picking up Matt and Robert at Matt’s uncle’s place. The pizza was delicious, and Main Street near Venice Beach was also a sight to behold. We hung out with Carol’s friends for a while, eventually going to one of their houses to chill. It turns out that all of them are grad-students in film at UCLA. They were all very vibrant personalities and it was fun to hear about how they spend their time watching film, and commenting on the various techniques that they see being used. We headed back to Eric’s house at around midnight, and prepared to get up at 5:30 to get Carol to the airport.
May 24th
Carol and I woke up at Eric’s house and immediately went to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye, but the trip turned out to be amazing. I love those two people a lot.
Arriving at Uncle David’s (Matt’s uncle’s) house at around 6:30, I decided not to wake anyone. Instead, I cleaned the car and Rita in preparation for her two new occupants. I finished near 8:00, so I decided to go in and get the troops moving. After an incredible breakfast cooked by Uncle David, we hit the road on the way to Joshua tree. The drive was only about 1:30, and we found a great campsite in the middle of the park. I was stuck by the scenery, which was made of flat plains surrounded by low mountains in the distance. There are huge yellow-brown boulders scattered around in massive rock formations that seem to go on forever. The Joshua Trees themselves are peculiarly goofy looking, and grow like bountifully in this area. We all had fun looking at them, and noted the variety of shapes and heights that they have. At one point, we saw a large fire-engine pass us and we turned around to see an absolutely massive plume of thick yellowish smoke rising in the distance. To get in view of the fire, we crested a hill and saw before us a wide plain with a raging fire at the far end. There was some activity surrounding it, and we can only imagine what started it in this hot, dry, barren landscape. With that, we returned to the camper. We had some rice and fruit, but all fell asleep early due to our exhaustion from the day of traveling before.
May 25th
Today has been spent wandering around the huge rock structures located inside the park. We went to several different formations, including Skull Rock on the north side of the park, and found a different fascination around every bend. We did not see any wildlife except some small lizards and a Stellar’s Jay, though the power of the nature around us was undeniable. All the rocks are completely different, and it is interesting to see how they change with the sunlight. The shadows move with the sun, creating an ever-changing scene that would be easy to get lost in. The gully’s carved out by flash flooding are also interesting. They provide perfect avenues for walking, though if it rained we would be inundated by torrents of water. I think the desert is a very sacred place in many respects, and it has been fun to explore such a unique ecosystem.
The desert offers something more primitive and tribal than the forest. It’s feeling is that of tormented wanderers searching for avenues for survival, and it does not harbor the overwhelming amount of life that characterizes more wet regions. But it is equally beautiful, and proof of this lies in the spectacular sunsets just before the cold night takes control. The entire horizon yawns open and provides the perfect canvas for Evening’s delicate hand.
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