Summer 2018, Day 24: Pinnacles NP

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Ben

We said goodbye to Sequoia Field and the adjacent prison this morning:

We drove west to Pinnacles National Park. It’s over 100 degrees today, so a long hike out into the Pinnacles was out of the question. We decided to do a short hike to a cave:

Checking out the pinnacles along the way:

Heading into the cave:

Here’s a photo of my father at this same location around 1970:

On the other end of the cave is a small reservoir:

The staircase up to the reservoir:

Back down:

Oreo isn’t much for spelunking:

We drove northwest from Pinnacles:

Within an hour we went from over 100 degrees inland to low 60s on the coast at Santa Cruz. We continued up the coast to overnight at the state campground in Half Moon Bay. See the alternating yellow line on the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2018, Day 23: Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP

Posted on July 29, 2018 by Ben

We woke up to a hazy morning thanks to the Ferguson Fire. Visibility was about 3 miles, so I decided not to fly:

It was exciting to wake up at Sequoia Field, an airport rich in history:

The airport is adjacent to a prison, so we checked in with the Sherrif’s department to let them know we would be here. We didn’t realize they use this hanger to store vehicles and equipment, so we awoke at dawn to vehicles moving in and out of the door we almost blocked:

We left the RV at the airport and drove up to Sequoia National Park. There was a bit of a line to get in:

We checked out the visitor center:

Somehow I ended up with the cat:

Looking down at the steep and winding road we came up:

Waiting for road construction:

Our first stop was the Moro Rock trailhead:

The last time I was here I was a bit younger:

At least they upgraded the sign:

Up we go:

Looking down at the road we came up:

Thanks to the fire, the views are poor:

The sign shows what we should be seeing:

M looks out:

We checked out the big trees that made the park famous. The Giant Sequoia is the largest living organism by volume on Earth:

We visited the General Sherman tree, the largest living organism on Earth. It is 274 feet high, has a volume of over 52,000 cubic feet, and is estimated to weigh over 2.4 million pounds:

We next visited the visitor center at Kings Canyon National Park:

The visibility is so poor we decided not to drive down into Kings Canyon, so we headed back to the RV:

Our neighbors for the evening:

Summer 2018, Day 22: Mines and Spaceships, Cesar Chavez NM

Posted on July 29, 2018 by Ben

It was 117 degrees here over Shabbos, but with all three air conditioners running, we made it through.

It was windy this morning, so Ryan and I didn’t break out the PPGs:

Trish and I went for a ride:

We poked around this abandoned mine:

It’s a hardrock mine, so we went in a little ways:

On the way back, we visited China Ranch:

We packed up the RV and drove west. Our next stop was Legacy Park at Mojave Air and Space Port:

The park houses the Roton Rotary Rocket:

…as well as a replica of SpaceShipOne:

We continued west through the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm:

We next visited Cesar E. Chavez National Monument. It was closed by the time we arrived, unfortunately:

We continued on to overnight at Sequoia Field. See the alternating yellow line on the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2018, Day 20: Flying Tecopa Hot Springs

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Ben

Were being hosted at the Tecopa Hot Springs Campground by PPG pilot Ryan. We went for a flight this morning, but unfortunately my helmet camera was dead. The scenery was beautiful, and we had a great flight:

After landing, M and I went for a ride:

We stopped by a local hot spring:

It’s really hot here just outside of Death Valley. It was in the 90s at dawn.

We picked up this portable grill in Las Vegas. I boiled up lunch outside since it was already approaching 115 degrees. We had all three air conditioners plugged in, hence the group of extension cords in the photo: