Day 39 Sunday 9th October

Torrey to Panguitch- Bryce Canyon National Park

Top of Page

 We started today by driving through Torrey, expecting to blink and miss it, however, there was a little more to it than we thought, and quite nice as well. We then retraced that route, to turn off on Highway 12, a scenic byway and All-American road. I had picked up a leaflet on this back when we were in Salt Lake City, and it was an excellent guide, with 26 points marked and short explanations of what was there etc. We didn't stop at all of these stops, but managed quite a few! The only problem was the leaflet was going West to East, so I had to read it backwards!

The first part of the route took us up and over Boulder mountain. There were a few places to pull out with some wonderful views, over to the Henry Mountains, Navajo Mountain, the Waterpocket Fold, and the scenery nearby was lovely as we were going through the Dixie National Forest full of pines and aspen. We were probably a couple of weeks too late to see these aspens at their best, but those that still had leaves were a wonderful array of yellows, golds and even one patch that was quite red. The highest point of this pass was 9600 feet. Eventually we came to the town of Boulder, which didn't have a lot there at all. This section from Boulder to Torrey was only paved by 1985 - seems incredible, as it certainly wasn't passable during the winter, and the only other way to get between these two places was over 200 miles!

The next section of the road took us over what is known as the Hogsback, a short section over a razorback ridge, with steep drop offs on both sides of the road. We then entered the Grand Staircase -Escalante National Monument. This is a 1.9million acre Monument, set aside in 1996 to preserve its wide open spaces. It is made up of three distinct regions, the Grand Staircase, a series of massive geological steps that descend towards the Grand Canyon, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons. There were fine views out over the Grand Staircase area, with many different colours and rock formations.

Just before reaching the town of Escalante, we saw the gravel track turn off for the start of the Hole in the Rock trail, that the Mormon pioneers had taken to reach Bluff, where we visited the museum a few days ago. We stopped at the visitor centre in Escalante, and then continued on our way.

The next big overlook was to Powell Point, a huge flat topped area of pink cliffs. These had been standing out among the pine covered hills for some time, and we continued to see them from different angles for the rest of the day.

Our final destination for the day was Bryce Canyon National Park, which needless to say was started by going to the Visitor centre and watching the film. This Park is completely different to the others we have visited - to be fair they are all different!

This Park isn't really a Canyon, the road goes about along a ridge, with pines and other vegetation on one side. On the other side are cliffs, and amphitheaters of rock formations called hoodoos. They are made up of a wonderful pink and white stone, and are eroded mainly by freezing and thawing, in the nooks and crannies, making wonderful shapes. It really is an amazing sight.

When we first arrived the late afternoon sun was lovely on these rock spires. We stopped and had a good look around the main area, and then moved onto other look outs. We then drove down to the end of the road, at Rainbow Point, but it was really a bit late by the time we got there, and the sun wasn't on the rock very much. It was a fascinating place and quite unlike anything else we had seen.

Leaving the Park behind, we had a bit of a sunset, and then finished Highway 12 pretty much in the dark, so didn't see quite all there was to look at. Will stroll around the town of Panguitch in the morning, as it looks quite interesting.

Mileage today - 185

Day 40 Monday 10th October

Panguitch to Hurricane inc.

Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Top of Page

Having had a very quick look around Panguitch this morning, and seeing some of the old red brick houses, built in the late 1800s when there was a brick factory there. We decided to return to the last part of Highway 12, Red Canyon and see it in daylight. This was looking good with the morning sun, and this time we were expecting the two short tunnels to go through.

We had to retrace our route back again, and back into Panguitch to reach the road we wanted to go on. We were heading for Cedar Breaks National Monument. To reach this we went through some more of the Dixie National Forest. We had read that this was one of the best routes for Autumn colours, and although we did see some really good ones, the vast majority of the aspen trees were bare. At the high point of the pass the white trunked aspen, intermingled with the very dark fir trees , almost had an eerie look about them.

We passed Panguitch Lake, where a couple of small boats were out fishing, it looked very cold out on the lake, and they didn't look like they were having much luck. As we travelled on, in amongst the forested parts were some large meadows. This seems to be a very popular area for snow sports, there was lots of signs regarding skiing, snow shoeing and snow mobiles.

We reached the road for Cedar Breaks and followed the 6 mile scenic drive around the rim of this amphitheater of rock formations. It is very high at around 10500 feet. Although similar to Bryce Canyon, it is different, with the spires/hoodoos not being as tall. Shaped like a huge coliseum it is about 2500 feet deep and over 3 miles in diameter. The intricate formations are the result of erosion by rain, ice and wind. It was named by settlers, who mistakingly thought the trees were Cedars, whereas in fact they are junipers!

Leaving Cedar Breaks behind, and it's high meadows and forests, we started to drop down in elevation, and started to make our way to Zion National Park, along another scenic byway, Highway 89. We then turned off for Zion. This last of Utah's big 5, we had been told was the best! It certainly had something to live up to, as we have seen some spectacular scenery so far. For Zion canyon itself we will have to take the shuttle bus, as it is only open for car driving in the winter. We will do this tomorrow.

Just before we came to the entrance of the National Park we saw a group of big horn sheep right beside the road. Theses are quite big animals, bigger than the mule deer that we have seen a lot of.  We then entered the Park and start off on the Zion/Mount Carmel road. We were soon engulfed in the large rock cliffs either side, and seeing some wonderful sights.

We knew there was a tunnel on this route, so when we went through one we assumed this was it. After going through what was quite a short tunnel, I wasn't so sure, as I had read about size restrictions of vehicles and so on. Anyway, a short time later we came to the tunnel. It is 1.1mile long and was built in the 1920s. You have to pay extra if you have an oversized vehicle, so you have the road stopped and no one else is in the tunnel at the same time! You drop in elevation considerably as you go through the tunnel, and there are a couple of open look outs as well, although you can't stop! I did manage to take the view out of these, just!

On coming out of the tunnel the road continued to drop down with several switch backs, and eventually we were in the valley bottom and heading for the visitor centre. This was closed by now, but we will return tomorrow and see more of this Park.

We also discovered that today was a Bank Holiday - Columbus Day, don't know if that made the Park even busier!

Mileage today – 175

Day 41 Tuesday 11th October - Hurricane

Zion National Park

Top of Page

We set off in good time today for Zion, as we wanted to be able to park at the visitor centre, and not have to park in the town before reaching it, and everything we had seen suggested that by 10 am the car park would be full. So having travelled the 23 miles to reach the Park, we arrived about 9:10 and were able to park. This meant we only had to get one shuttle bus, not two. They run the shuttle buses on the scenic drive. And it was soon obvious why. The road is reasonably narrow and there are few parking spaces at all.

We had decided last night that we would stay on the shuttle to the end of the road, and do the Riverside Walk, at the Temple of Sinawava. This was a very pleasant walk alongside the river, with some impressive very high rock faces, about 2000 feet high, on either side of the valley. In a few places there was seepage of water out of the rock, and in the crevices plants like maidenhair ferns were growing, these are hanging gardens. At the end of the paved path, just over a mile, you can continue into The Narrows, but it involves walking up the river! As we only had our trainers, we gave this a miss.

On returning to the road, we got on the next shuttle back, and stopped off at the next stop, Big Bend. As the name implies there is a big bend in the river here. After taking a few photos, we shuttled further back down the valley, missing the next 2 stops, and getting off at the Zion Lodge. There is accommodation here, and if you are staying you are allowed to drive your car as far as this. We crossed over the road and the river, and did the walk up to the Lower Emerald Pool. There are three pools, that are formed from water seeping out of and over the cliffs. The pool was quite small, and there wasn't a lot of water coming over the cliff.

On returning to the Lodge, we went looking for an ice cream - the temperature was nearing 30 degrees! However the ice cream part of the cafe was shut! So, we went upstairs to the restaurant part, and had a dessert and ice cream - served in separate bowls!  We then returned back to the visitor centre on the shuttle - a very efficient service.

We had debated what to do next - go back up the Zion/Mount Carmel road and through the tunnel again, which would mean then turning around and coming back down again. This would probably take about 3 hours as it was very slow and busy. Or, head out of Zion, and take a different road - still an up and back, along the west side of the Park. This is the Kolob Terrace road, and we decided to do this. It climbed up 4600 feet, with lots of twists and turns. We had some good views of rock cliffs and large rock formations, and eventually came out on a plateau and then into the Kolob reservoir at the top. This was very pretty, with colourful aspens on one side.

Zion has lived up to its hype, and was another wonderful place to visit. All of Utah's big 5 have been fantastic to view, and all completely different. It seems quite incredible that in a relatively short distance of each other, and made up of the same types of rock, that the formations and erosions can be so different.

Mileage today - 101

Day 42 Wednesday 12th October

Hurricane  to Las Vegas

via Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Top of Page

We left Hurricane and headed out to Interstate 15. We soon left Utah and cut across a corner of Arizona. The landscape changed subtly, there was still desert and mountains, but the colours were more muted and the shapes more rounded. We dropped over 1000 feet as we went down the Virgin River Canyon, which was quite impressive. As we came out at the bottom we went across a long flat plain of desert, with a few scattered Joshua trees. We then passed into Nevada, and soon turned off the Interstate to enter the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Lake Mead was created by the building of the Hoover Dam, which was completed in 1936. The lake last reached nearly full capacity in the summer of 1983, and in early June of this year was at its lowest ever recorded, since filling, of about 37%. You can clearly see the bath tub ring on the rocks of the high water level. Several marinas and launch ramps around the lake have had to be moved, and some shut all together because of the dropping water levels.

We followed the road down the west side of the lake, although saw no water for a long time. We passed a couple of spring oasis in the desert, where there were clumps of palm trees. We then turned down to Echo Bay, thinking this would give us a good view of the lake. This is definitely a place that has seen better days, or should I say more water! There was one large slipway that stopped quite some distance from the water, and can't have been used for some time. It was a place that had large car parks, but didn't look as if it has been used very much recently, and there were buildings that are now derelict and boarded up. It was a bit like a ghost town on Route 66!

We went into Callville Bay. This was a bit better, but still showed the signs of the much lower water level. As we got nearer to the dam end of the lake, there were still signs of abandoned buildings, but the marinas seemed to have plenty of boats in them.

We visited the visitor centre and then went onto the Hoover dam. We stopped and climbed up to the Memorial Bridge, built between 2005 and 2010. We walked over this on the pathway, which had lots of informative boards telling all about the bridge and its construction. It was mid afternoon and about 36 degrees! We then drove down to, and across the dam. We thought the road would go on and we would come back on the new bridge, but it stopped just up from the dam, and we had to turn around and go back over it.

We then started making our way to Las Vegas. The Interstate in was very busy, the most traffic we have seen since Salt Lake City. We finally made it to Caesars Palace, and settled in. We got something to eat in one of the many places in the hotel and then went for a wander. Wow! The amount of neon lights is amazing, and although we only went a short distance the sights are amazing, gambling, casinos, people and noise everywhere, the whole place quite over whelming!

It will be good to do the bus tour tomorrow and hopefully get our bearings!

Mileage today - 234

Day 43 Thursday 13th October

Las Vegas

Top of Page

How To describe Vegas? Well, hot, busy, full of people milling around, full of amazing sights - a lot of which really shouldn't be next to each other, noise..... But it really comes to life at night!

We left Caesars Palace this morning and set off to find the Big Bus Tour that we had already booked. Eventually we found one of the stops and so started off on the red tour which was The Strip. A lot of the huge 'hotels' have so much around them - especially the themed ones.......the Luxor has a pyramid, that has angled escalators, a sphinx and lots of Egyptian hieroglyphics on the walls. New York, New York has the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, a roller coaster and much more. The Venetian has the Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal - that runs through the hotel and has gondolas on that you can go on, the Doges Palace and the Campanile Tower. Treasure Island has Pirate ships and much more. What is really strange is anybody can walk in and around any of the hotels and see what there is to see, try out the casinos and spend their money!

Although our guide wasn't as informative as some we have had, the tour was good. It was quite hot and slow moving, as there was a lot of traffic. Also, the lights at the intersections seemed very long. We went past the airport, which is very close to the main Strip, and also saw the 'welcome to Las Vegas' sign, which had been designed in the 1940s and not been patented by the artist, and so is used by lots of businesses etc. Las Vegas was built on the strength of the building of the Hoover Dam, when many of the workers on that project brought their families with them.

Once we had nearly completed the red route, at Circus Circus, our bus then changed to the blue route, and we stayed with it. This was going to the downtown area. On this route we passed the Stratosphere, a really tall tower, which has rides on top of the observation deck and restaurant. You can also jump off it, paying $125 for the privilege!

We also passed lots of Wedding Chapels, and saw people getting married in quite a few. They are very small, and just beside the road. At the far end of the blue route is Fremont Street, where the zip lines go down the Mall.

On returning to Circus Circus, we got off the bus, and then made just one stop down on another red route bus. We then walked back to Caesars Palace, and entered through The Forum, which is the shopping Mall of the hotel. There is so much to see, just in this one place, and I'm sure we won't get to see it all. In many respects it was like being in Rome, an indoor version and all in one place! We went up curved escalators, which were very elegant.

After a short rest, we then had dinner in Gordon Ramsey's  Pub and grill. Then we set off for the night bus tour. This picked us up by the Highroller, a larger version of the London Eye. As soon as darkness falls, about 6pm the neon comes on in full force. There is music playing everywhere and the place really comes to life. Our evening tour took in almost all the same as the two tours during the day, but everything looked different with the neon.

On reaching Fremont Street, we got off the bus and had just over an hour to wander around the indoor street. We saw lots of people going down the zip wire. There was lots of street entertainment going on. At 9 pm there was an overhead show - right along the length of the street on the arched roof, a fast paced light show to music - quite spectacular.  Following this it was back on the bus and return to our pick up.

So much to see...... A one off experience! All in all an exhausting day!

Mileage today - 0

Day 44 Friday 14th October

Las Vegas

Top of Page

Having a lazy day today........ Didn't get up very early, and had brunch in one of the restaurants downstairs, a French patisserie and bistro. Phil went for a panini and I chose the breakfast option of 3 pastries. They were huge! Even though we hadn't eaten for well over 20 hours, I only managed 2 of them! I had almond croissant, almond and orange brioche and a banana, chop chip and walnut muffin. Phil had a bit of each of them, and I think what we brought back in a bag is now probably a bit of mush having been carried around in Phil's pocket for the last few hours!

We then strolled over to Planet Hollywood and the Miracle Mile of shops, where we had to pick up our tickets for the show and dinner we have booked for tonight. Got these successfully, and continued to stroll around the Miracle Mile. These hotels are each like a huge shopping Mall, plus the casinos and bars and really with no hint of a hotel! I had seen on the map leaflet that there was a 'Rainstorm' show every hour - and as we were in the right vicinity we hung around to watch it. Very strange! We were in a section that had mock buildings from various European styles, and a sky canopy. The Rainstorm had the sky going dark, thunder and lightning and large raindrops forming in the water feature on the ground. Phil says it was the most stupidest thing we have done in the States, standing up inside watching a Rainstorm, as in a weeks time we will probably be in a real one!

As we started to return back, we went through the Cosmopolitan hotel. As we went down the escalators, there were loads of chandeliers - absolutely huge. As we walked through the casino area, we found a roulette table with no one playing and so decided this was our chance to have a go and not be a pain to other players as we didn't have a clue what we were doing. We had looked around the casino tables back at Caesars Palace but they were all quite busy. The bloke in charge of the table - the croupier- was very patient and explained what we had to do. The minimum bet is $10 so we had $10 each. As we placed our bets the first time, a group of blokes came and put a bet on as well. They lost, and we both won! We had two more throws, after which Phil was wiped out and I was in profit. So we quit while we were ahead. Our return was $48. Phil tipped the croupier, and I took his picture!

We then returned to Caesars Palace, and went and had a look at the garden wedding chapel and the pool area.

We strolled over to Planet Hollywood for dinner, having chosen the Pampas, a Brazilian restaurant.  Our ticket included a set menu meal, which we could upgrade to the traditional Brazilian 'meat feast' this meant that while your card on your table said 'yes please' the waiters coming around with various different meats on skewers would stop at your table and you could top up your plate with meat. If you had had enough, or just wanted a rest, you turned your card to 'no thanks' and they left you alone. You could also visit the salad buffet and top up. It was really nice. I think there were 14 different types of meat - but we didn't manage them all!

We then went and sat in the lounge bar of the theatre where we were seeing our show - Vegas. We had chosen this as it depicted the story of entrainment in Las Vegas.  It started in the Neon graveyard, and took you back to the beginning and the Rat Pack, and went through time up to about the late 60s, with many famous stars, some of which are: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Sonny and Cher, Elvis, Tom Jones, Diana Ross, Tina Turner and Elton John, as well as the iconic showgirls. It was very slickly done and very entertaining. The filler acts were a hula hoopist- definitely different to the Navajo one we had seen a couple of weeks ago, a juggler, a magician/illusionist and the quiddlers . It was an excellent show.

On strolling back to Caesars Palace we stopped to watch the Bellagio fountains. These are spectacular fountains set to music, and at night lit up. We had seen them a couple of times before, but from a distance. This time we were on the pavement beside the lake. At 11 pm they were 'dancing' to all that Jazz from Chicago, and then they went again, earlier than we were anticipating and before we had walked the length of the lake, to Viva Las Vegas. We thought they went off every half hour, but this was more like 15 minutes later, so we managed to see two full sets of routine. Absolutely brilliant!

Top of Page

Well, we finally left Vegas about 12:30pm. It was a wonderful experience, noisy, hot, busy, wacky, expensive!! As we left Caesars Palace we drove down The Strip, and got a few more photos. As we drove out on the Interstate we went through areas that were residential, and with quite a bit of development still happening.

Within 15 miles we were well and truly away from anything residential, and into the Mojave desert, with the traffic beginning to drop away. It was very windy, and we could feel the car being blown about - this was to continue all afternoon, and even as I sit in our cabin typing this, I can hear the windows rattling, over the noise of the air conditioning!

We drove through Red Rock Canyon and through desert and into Pahrump. The desert plants here were different to what we had seen before, Joshua Trees, and a lot of another plant I've yet to find out what it is. The temperature was about 29 - 32 degrees at this point. Leaving Pahrump was a little confusing as we were looking for Highway 178 from our map, and the road said Highway 372. Finally we worked out that we crossed the stateliness from Nevada to California on this road. Our map number was on the Californian side, and the road number changed as we crossed the border!

From here up to Badwater, the lowest point in the USA, at -282 feet below sea level, the scenery was much the same. On each side of this huge wide bottomed valley there were mountain ranges. The far side was mainly in shadow, but the side we were driving on were craggy rocks, with the usual triangular mounds of deposits at the foot of the slopes, in lots of colours, mainly in the cream to brown range. We saw three coyotes, walking up the road or right beside it, about a mile or so between each one. They seemed very keen to stay close to the cars if they stopped, probably trying to scavenge something!

As we neared Badwater, the valley floor changed to the obviously salt deposits that it is famed for. This area, about 2000 years ago was a large salt water lake, and on evaporation has left salt deposits. The lowest point itself still has a very small amount of water. There is a board walk out to it, as the surrounding area is home to a unique species of salt water snail. We walked out on this and then onto the wide track of trodden salt deposit that many people had walked out on. It was interesting to see the marker on the mountain behind where sea level was. The temperature here was touching on 40 degrees, and still very windy.

Moving on from here, we branched off onto Artists Drive. By now we were nearly losing the sun into the valley, and it was a bit of a race against time to see the colours in the evening sun. The Artists Drive is a 9 mile loop off nearer the mountains. The evening sun made the colours in the rocks stand out more. Near the end of the loop is the Artists Palette, where there were many colours showing in the rocks. We didn't realise how much we had climbed, until the next part of the loop took us down through some narrow parts through the rocks. By this time the sun had gone down behind the mountains on the far side of the valley.

Not long after rejoining the main road we were in Furnace Creek, and booking into our accommodation, a cabin on a large complex. On going over to the 49er cafe for dinner, we had about a half hour wait, so went into the Corkscrew Saloon next door for a drink, and were amazed at the noise - it was packed! Now sat on the front step of our cabin in a rocking chair typing this...... 9:40 pm and still about 30 degrees, with a pleasant breeze coming in - probably still very windy in a less sheltered spot!

Mileage today - 178

Day 46 Sunday 16th October

Furnace Creek to Mammoth Lakes

Top of Page

Today has been a day of big contrasts........ hot sunny blue skies and temperatures of 35 degrees, to dark grey, sleety skies and temperatures of just 5 degrees. The wind has blown all day, with gusts of up to 45 mph, and we have had rain as well, along with wind chill factor! At one point driving along the wide, flat bottomed valley, with mountains on each side, looking out to the west we couldn't see the mountains, they were covered in dark clouds and rain, but looking to the east the mountains were in sunshine!

So we left Furnace Creek this morning, having retraced our steps a short distance to see the 'sea level' sign we spotted last night. We had been staying at about 200 feet below sea level. We then popped into the visitor centre to enquire about road closures nearer to Yosemite - to be told today all three roads going across to the Park were closed due to snow, and that the road we were going on up to Mammoth Lakes could well have restrictions (i.e. Snow tyres or chains) by later today!  So with that information we decided not to spend too much longer looking around Death Valley.

One of the original options had been to visit Scotty's Castle, but we had discovered earlier that it, and the road through that Canyon were both closed, due to a huge flood last October, and are not due to reopen until 2019! I have now read some details of this in the Park newspaper, and the amount of devastation caused is incredible.

We continued on and stopped at the Mesquite Sand Dunes, where we walked out just to say we had stood bare footed on the sand! The sand was quite hot and you wouldn't want to walk far bare footed. Next was Stovepipe Wells, at an elevation of sea level and 32 degrees, hot.

The road from here started climbing, and as we did so the desert we drove through started changing, more rocky and more scrubby sage brush plants, not just the plants we had seen yesterday, which I discovered were called Mesquite. The rocky mountains still had all the usual colours, and in fact we saw this all day. We climbed up to 4956 feet at Townes Pass, and the temperature dropped to 19 degrees. Then it was down and across another flat bottomed valley, with the sand blowing around and up again over another pass. At this point we left the Death Valley National Park. At times the road was very straight, but full of dips, it was like riding a roller coaster!

We dropped down into Owens Valley, a very wide valley with the Inyon mountains to our right, and the Sierra Nevada mountains to our left. We would travel up this valley for quite some time. At one point we were in a bit of a sand storm, and it sounded just like rain hitting the car, but it was sand! Luckily it wasn't blowing up across the windscreen, but staying low across the road and hitting the side of the car. It was quite bizarre listening to what seemed like rain but having a clear view!

We then arrived at Lone Pine, and an Interagency Visitor Centre, so we went in for an update on weather and roads. It was a bit more promising, in as much as the road we were on today was only expecting rain, not snow! The roads into Yosemite are still closed, but seems a bit more hopeful that the main one might be open sometime tomorrow - fingers crossed. If not it will be a longish detour further north, to get around and hope we can access the Park from the west side.

We also discovered here that the mountain we had been looking at, that stood out from the range we were facing was Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the Lower States at 14505 feet. We also picked up a guide to the Eastern Sierras fall colour...... There were some lovely sounding scenic drives off the road we were on, but as we got near where these started the mountains they were in had disappeared into dark cloud and rain. We were still in sunshine at this stage, but there was no point in climbing higher into the mountains for scenery!

We started to climb out of the valley, and passed Crowley Lake, which supplies water to Los Angeles. This stands at 7000 feet and we had dropped to 11 degrees. Soon after this we entered the rain, which was a bit sleety as well. As we neared Mammoth Lakes we saw a sign for Mount Morrison, but we couldn't see it! We also passed a small airfield, and the windsock was completely horizontal and not dropping at all. As we entered the town we popped into the visitor centre, and the noise of the wind in through the big pine trees was very loud. We soon found our accommodation, and luckily there was a place just across the road where we could get a lovely meal - so didn't get too wet getting it.

Here's hoping the weather improves tomorrow and we can see some of the lovely scenery in this region and get to Yosemite.

Mileage today - 208

Day 47 Monday 17th October

Mammoth Lakes to El Portal - Yosemite National Park

Top of Page

Well, we woke to rain.....not as windy as last night, but still gusting around and blowing the sleety rain everywhere. Checked the websites and rang the information numbers....roads still closed! While eating breakfast the news feed on the TV told us that at Mammoth Mountain yesterday the wind was 100 mph with the top gust of 152 mph at 7:15pm, and there was 1 to 2 feet of snow with some drifts of 5 to 6 feet.

So, on checking out we headed back to the visitor centre where we were told it wasn't hopeful that the Tioga Pass, Highway 120 would open today, and just to make matters worse, the nearest road that was open that we could get across on was stipulating snow tyres or chains! So, as we were looking at an extra 5 to 6 hours on top of our journey of 2 to 3 hours, we thought we had better make a start and not explore Mammoth Lakes area. This was a shame as it had just about stopped raining by now, the sun was coming out and the scenery was looking good, and we had seen a few interesting looking places that would have been good to explore. The mountains around us were looking lovely with the sun shining on the snow tops.

We did make a small detour to look at Mono Lake, a largish salt water lake (2.5 times saltier than the sea) in the Mono Basin. It has strange, odd shaped tufa towers, some of which are up to 30 feet tall, although the ones we saw were smaller than that. They have formed by fresh water springs percolating up from the bottom of the lake and interacting with the salt water. They look a bit like chunky stalactites.

As we continued on Highway 395 we had great views of snow topped mountains. We passed a couple of other smaller lakes, and eventually crossed back into Nevada. When we reached Gardnerville we thought we were turning off towards Lake Tahoe, but realised we were a junction early. This turned out good, as we were on Highway 88 and it was open and didn't need chains or snow tyres now (it was about 1 pm). So great news and we continued.

As we started to climb higher and higher it was clear that the road had been scraped and gritted. There was more and more snow on the edges of the road and all around us. In some places, where there was water running onto the road from snow melt, there was steam rising with the sun shining on it.. We climbed up and over 3 passes, peaking at about 8000 feet and dropping to just 2 degrees. We passed a couple of lakes, but didn't stop to take a lot in. At one point we pulled in just to take a photo of a road off to the right - this hadn't been cleared and was still covered in pristine snow.

It wasn't until we started to drop a bit and pulled into a lookout over another lake, and started to read the information boards there, that we realised that this was the same road we had travelled on in the other direction just over 6 weeks ago on our way to Lake Tahoe! It definitely looked completely different travelling the other direction and in the snow!

So we eventually get down to Highway 49 and start making our way south towards Yosemite. We decide to try and cut into the Park itself on Highway 120, as it is open at this end of the road. This takes us over a couple of bridges over arms of a reservoir, and then climbs steeply up a mountain with lots of very tight twists and turns. Eventually we enter Yosemite National Park, and have some lovely evening sun on the very tall pines lining the road. We get a few glimpses of the tall granite rock faces that it is so famous for, but it is getting too dark to really see these well. Also, we see a couple of huge waterfalls, but need to go back and see these properly in the sunshine. The road we are on goes through a couple of tunnels, and then we head out to El Portal, where we are staying.

So, although it was disappointing not to do Highway 120 in its entirety, over Tioga Pass, at least we made it to the Park. All in all we were extremely lucky to have such fantastic weather today, and saw some wonderful scenery, only improved with the snow topped mountains.

Mileage today - 344

Day 48 Tuesday 18th October

Yosemite National Park

Top of Page

We woke to a very misty outlook, but not long after starting out back up the valley into Yosemite, we were out of the mist, and into sunshine. We had set off early, and it was still reasonably quiet. Not long past the entrance station we came across our first waterfall of the day. The lower part of Cascade Falls. The rain and snow at the weekend certainly has helped with the waterfalls - a lot would be dry now as they are fed by snowmelt.

We continue along the valley road, on the south side drive, and soon come to Bridal Veil  falls. Further up the valley we stop at Swinging bridge and walk out onto it for some fantastic views and reflections. We are looking at the Upper Yosemite Falls, one of those that should be dry! There is still a mist rising up in the meadows beyond. It is only 2 degrees! We have had some lovely morning sunshine on the vast sheer face of El Capitan, one of the two iconic Yosemite features, the other being Half Dome, further down the valley.

As we travel to the end of the valley, there are a lot of road works happening, improvements being carried out, but it is making it a little confusing to get around the small loops and some of the roads are closed. We never did manage to find the Visitor centre, and after a few dead ends gave up trying.

On returning down the north side drive, we stop near the Yosemite falls, and walk up to the Lower falls. It was great to see the two sections together, and later this afternoon, we go higher up, and then we could see both Upper and Lower, along with the flattish middle section that links them.

Having explored a lot of the valley bottom, we set off for the Glacier Point road. As we start climbing out of the valley we reach Tunnel View. This isn't a view of the tunnel, as I first thought, although of course you can see it! The view is from the tunnel, looking back at El Capitan and Half Dome and up the valley - quite spectacular.

We continue to climb, and turn off on to Glacier Point road, and continue to climb a lot more. Near the end of the road, we stop at Washburn Point. The views are incredible. With snow still on the high range of mountains in the distance, we have a great view of Half Dome and three different waterfalls. We can see Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls and Illilouette Falls. In the far distance on a sheer rock face is a small sliver of white. This is another falls, we checked it out with the binoculars, but we can't find a name for it.

We continue on to the end of the road, which actually drops down a little and around several tight turns. The paths out to the Point go in a few different directions, and gives some wonderful views around the area. You can see 25% of the Park from this Point. Having moved around, Half Dome is looking quite different from this angle. You get a good view right down into the valley, and can pick out the numerous campgrounds and car parks.

By now it is nearly 5pm and we start to retrace our route back to the valley, as we want to catch the evening sun down in the valley. We just about make it in time, and get some lovely views of the sun on Half Dome and Sentinel Dome.

Yosemite Park has definitely lived up to all expectations, and hopefully will give us some more wonderful sights tomorrow. Can't believe it is our last day of looking, as Thursday will be spent travelling back to San Francisco.

Mileage today – 112

Day 49 Wednesday 19th October

Yosemite National Park

Top of Page

Woke up to a lovely sunny day - no mist this morning. We set off back into the Park,  and then took the road back out the way we came in on Monday evening. It was good to see this in daylight. We stopped and saw the top of the Cascade Falls, the lower part was where we stopped first thing yesterday.

We got to the junction of the road out to the Tioga Pass, (Highway 120) that we had hoped to drive on Monday,  but just after turning on to it there was signs to say it was closed, after about half a mile. So we continued back out to the Big Flat Oak entrance, where we had come in on Monday evening. It was good to see this in better daylight, and we managed to get some better photos of the colourful trees that seemed to be in a particular section of this road. I still don't know what they are though. There was also quite a lot of this area with the tall charred trunks of pines from a fire.

Returning back the way we had come, we stopped a little way up for descending back into the main Yosemite valley, and had a good view of Half Dome. We then continued back into the main valley, and spent the afternoon driving around the valley bottom, picking up views of the large rock faces and towers, trying to get views with the sun on them. There are a couple of nice pictures in our room, and we were trying to find where they had been taken from - I think we just about succeeded!

At one point we found the sun on Bridalveil Falls which made it even more spectacular. We walked up to the viewing point at the base of this, and every now and again could feel the spray from the falls, even though it was still 200 yards or so away.

As the afternoon wore on we returned to a good viewpoint for Half Dome, the Sentinnel bridge, which wasn't in much use due to the road works going on and this road being shut. There was already a line up of people with cameras when we got there,  and we joined the line. Phil overhead someone saying that in half an hour after the sun dipped behind the valley top, the Half Dome would turn red. So, we waited, and sure enough, it did! It was getting quite chilly hanging around for it to happen, even though we had put on an extra 3 layers! However it was worth it, as the rock face slowly changed colour, from white, to pink and then red, and then quite quickly back to white again.

It was a great end to a great day. Yosemite was certainly a great end to our 7 weeks, and provided us with some fantastic views to finish on.

Mileage today - 96

Day 50 Thursday 20th October

El Portal - Yosemite to San Francisco Airport

So our last day has arrived, and again we have glorious sunshine and clear blue skies. Having managed to pack everything into our suitcases we set off for the airport, leaving Yosemite behind.

The drive down to Mariposa is very pretty, following the Merced river. Although still in the valley, it is quite different, with more rolling hills covered in grass, albeit yellow grass! A few miles down the road we come to an area that has obviously had a huge rock/land slide across the road, and we divert across a 'temporary' bridge over the river, along a shortish section of single track and back across another 'temporary' bridge. It's not clear how recent this is.

Leaving the river behind we start to climb again and go up and over some hills. Through the town of Mariposa and on towards Merced. We pass over some more hills/ mountains and eventually leave the Sierras behind and are out in flat fruit growing land.  There are vast areas of fruit trees and vines.

On reaching Merced we join the Interstate, and eventually back onto the same Interstate we had left San Francisco on 7 weeks ago. It is very busy, in all directions, the most traffic we have seen.  We have to pay a toll to go over the long bridge in this direction, and as it is clear, we get a nice view looking across the water at the downtown skyline of San Francisco.

We find the car rental drop off easily, drop off the car and catch the monorail into the airport terminal. We have arrived very early, about 2:30 pm, but manage to check our bags in straight away. So then it is just hanging around, reading, waiting for our flight. I am typing this, after having a bit of a sleep, at 3:25am USA time in the air at 39068 feet altitude!

Then its landing in London Heathrow and home by train.

Mileage today - 201,....... giving an overall trip mileage in the hire car of 7892 miles!

Our reflections - 

What an absolutely fabulous 50 day trip around the National and State Parks we had. The scenery was breath taking, added to by the Autumn / Fall colours. We have seen a lot of different animals, out first Bear in Yellowstone, driven in snow and blistering heat and sand storms…. We have met and chatted to some lovely people, putting the worlds to right of-course!!!….

We had the contrast of course with Las Vegas, before we went we were not sure, its reputation preceding it. Well the reputation is right, although in a good way. We had a great time and yes we would go back, savouring the atmosphere and such different sights again.

Without a shadow of doubt the jewels in the crown were the the National and State Parks which are stunning, easy to visit and not that expensive. It’s certainly given us a taste for more, and perhaps revisiting some of where we have been….

What memories and we hope you have enjoyed seeing them as well. Feedback always welcome on our feedback link please…...