I always knew that California was a massive state. It’s economy is the 7th highest in the world and 1 out of 8 people in the US live in California! However, I hadn’t realized the state’s diversity including the topography, climate and the wide variety of people until our visit in July.

We left Kanab, Utah in the middle of June. If you recall from our previous post, things were really heating up in Utah and I was ‘jonesing’ for some cooler temperatures. The shortest way to the mountains was straight through Death Valley!

Death Valley

All of the pictures I had seen of Death Valley were images of the barren desert with a single road running down the middle. What we found was so much more interesting:

• Death Valley is the largest national park in the lower 48 states
• The desert is the lowest place in North America (Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level!)
• The park is the hottest and driest weather in the country (receiving less than 2 inches of rain per year)
• Native Americans still call this park ‘home’ and have a present day community within the park
• The park contains over 10,000 abandoned mines from mining borax, gold, silver, copper and tungsten. Mining operations became limited once the park land was protected (before ceasing altogether in 2005)

Furthermore, mountains surround the entire desert. And they are beautiful! Yes, it was hot (our car thermometer registered 112 degrees) but the scenery immediately made me realize that a return trip (in some future February) would be well worth our time!

In fact, the area was so hot that many of the park’s campgrounds were closed for the summer season! We spoke to a ranger and then drove to Thorndike Campground, which is at 7,400 feet in elevation. After driving up the mountain, stepping out of the car felt like heaven! The air was fresh and a cool 75 degrees! It was hard to believe that we were still in Death Valley NP! The road to the campground was dirt and gravel but Hank managed the terrain just fine. Imagine our surprise to find that we were the only people camping in the beautiful alpine weather!

Around 5AM, we both woke with a start to the sound of rain hitting the van and thunder in the distance. We waited a few minutes before Mark sat up and said ‘we need to get off this road’. You see, with the little amount of precipitation received in this area, we were afraid that a strong rain would make the dirt road impassible. We didn’t want to be stuck on the mountain waiting out a storm.

So, in the morning dark and light rain, we headed down the mountain to find a place to catch a few more zzz’s. When we woke up for the second time, it was still raining! In fact, it rained our entire second day in Death Valley! We certainly had a memorable (but not very scenic) day in this park!

During our time in Death Valley, we visited Badwater Basin (the lowest point in North America) as well as Artist’s Palette. Artist’s Palette is a colorful array of volcanic deposits that is one of the most photographed areas of the park. And, finally, we visited historic charcoal kilns. The Windrose Charcoal Kilns were built in 1877 to create charcoal for local mining operations. We were amazed that even though they haven’t been used for over 100 years, the kilns still smell unmistakebly like a fireplace!

We did not have enough time to explore the northern area of the park including the Racetrack, Scotty’s Castle and the Eureka Dunes. These are all on our list of ‘things to do when we return in a cooler month’!

(Click on any photo to open the gallery and read the captions)

Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park

From Death Valley, we headed north to these ‘sister’ parks. We visited Sequoia National Park first and we really enjoyed our time there. Sequoia trees are the largest living thing on the planet. While the ‘tallest tree’ award goes to the California Redwood, the Giant Sequoias are tall AND wide! Their bark is squishy (like dense foam) to help protect the tree from forest fire. We visited all of the groves and saw the world’s largest tree: General Sherman. During an evening in the park’s campground, a young man on a bicycle approached us and asked to share our campsite. Of course we agreed with one caveat – we requested that he eat dinner with us and tell us his story! It was interesting and I want to share it with you!

The young man is 31 years old, named Vojta, and originally hails from the Czech Republic. He has traveled for the past 10 years (primarily in Europe) and spent the last 2 years backpacking across Japan. Vojta has a 6 month visa to visit the US with a goal to bike from San Francisco to Canada! He was a joy to dine with and said a quote that has resonated since our encounter. “I would rather be poor with money and rich in experience than rich with money and not have the experience of travel”.

While we were talking with our new friend, another man joined our picnic table and asked about the bicycle. It turned out that he is from Germany and the two men live about an hour from each other in their home countries! I wish I would have taken a picture of our international dinner – it was truly an amazing experience! If you use Instagram, then you should check out Vojta’s pictures as ‘TheSocialHermit’. I do hope our paths cross again as we both continue our journey north!

If you have plans to visit Sequoia NP, then keep in mind that the cellular service is non-existent here. The best place we found to message home was at the top of Moro Rock, which requires climbing 400 stairs to this hidden cellular hot-spot! So, not only are you getting a work out, but you can check messages at the same time!

We embarked on a 4 day / 3 night backpacking loop through Sequoia NP, Jennie Lake Wilderness and Kings Canyon NP. The name of the trail is ‘The Lollipop Loop’. The first half was through a forested area that had been part of a fire within the last few years. Therefore, it wasn’t very scenic. However, once we hit the eastern part of the trail, we could see the Sierra Nevada Mountains and we camped at two beautiful mountain lakes. I spent my birthday camping without anyone else around on Lost Lake and it was perfect!

Just as the name suggests, Kings Canyon National Park is a giant canyon! It is the deepest canyon in the United States! There is a single road that descends 4,000 feet to the canyon floor. Once at the bottom, there is an extensive network of hiking trails as well as a lovely river. The park is simply beautiful and I think it is often overlooked because it is co-managed with Sequoia National Park. Both parks are worthy of a revisit and we had a great time exploring the area.

Pinnacles National Park

Although Kings Canyon is only 40 miles from Yosemite, we decided to take a bit of a detour and check out Pinnacles NP. Pinnacles is in central California and is 140 miles south of San Francisco.

Congress established Pinnacles National Park in 2013. This small park illustrates the power of the San Andreas Fault. The pinnacles are a volcanic lava field that was created 23 million years ago! The original volcano was 195 miles to the southeast of the current location of the park! As the Pacific tectonic plate crept north, it carried most of the Pinnacles volcanic field with it and left a bit behind in its original location! The tallest spire is 3,300 feet high and the volcanic rock looks incredibly odd in the middle of California ranch-land.

Because of the topography and weather, Pinnacles NP is a release site for captive-born California Condors to help with species recovery efforts. In 1987, there were 27 living California Condors (all in captivity). Today there are 537 birds (334 in the wild) and over 50 live in Pinnacles NP. Although we didn’t see any condors during our visit, it was enough to know they were there and being protected in this awesome park.

There are only 30 miles of hiking trails and we hiked a 10 mile loop around the perimeter to see the park’s highlights. One point of interest on the High Peaks Trail was the option for the ‘regular’ trail or the ‘steep and narrow’ trail. We took the ‘steep and narrow’ route and the name says it all! There were handrails and our lives were not at all in danger while we climbed up hundreds of stairs blasted along the stone walls. The views of the surrounding valley were spectacular! If you find yourself in this park and you aren’t afraid of heights, then this is a great route. Check out the pictures below!

Yosemite National Park

After spending the 4th of July weekend in San Francisco, we continued our journey to Yosemite National Park! Along the way, we spent an afternoon in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. There are two sequoia tree groves in this California park. We had a fun visit for a couple of different reasons. First of all, we weren’t 15 minutes in the park before we saw a black bear! Afterward, we were the only people on a ranger-led tour and we started talking to the ranger about his life. Through a series of discussion topics, it turns out that even though he lives in Texas (and has never lived in Ohio), he knows a childhood friend of my family! The association was crazy, but it is always great to meet people on the road and find new connections!

Yosemite is a beautiful park and should be on everyone’s list to visit, regardless of physical ability. There are shuttle busses throughout the valley, several overlooks and the scenery is spectacular in every season!

With that being said, I wouldn’t recommend this park in July! The temperatures were well into the 90s every day! Furthermore, if Elon Musk thinks we have an under-population problem, then he hasn’t been to Yosemite in the summer! There were people everywhere; it was hardly a peaceful experience in the valley! Additionally, summer is California’s fire season. There was a human-set fire just south of Yosemite (Washburn Fire) that closed roads and impacted air quality during parts of our visit.

We were able to get in some hiking as well as some river tubing. We hiked to Inspiration Point, Cloud’s Rest, and Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls (via the Mist Trail). As with all trails in the parks, once you hike a miles from the parking lot, the amount of people dwindles and the sounds of the forest become amplified.

We spent our last two days in the northern part of the park – Tuolumne Meadows. This area is at higher elevation and has wildflowers galore. When we return, we will plan to spend more time in this beautiful area!

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen Volcanic National Park is considered part of the Pacific Ring of Fire (along with Mount St. Helen and Mount Rainier). This volcano last erupted in 1921. Geologists say that it’s not a matter of ‘if’ this volcano will erupt again, but rather ‘when’. This national park reminded us of a mini-Yellowstone because of the active volcanic features. There were thermal pools, bubbling mud pots, and steam vents throughout the park.

In addition to the obvious volcanic activity, there are over 200 lakes in this small park. The Dixie Fire impacted over 69% of the park last year and much of the vegetation showed signs of damage. However, the wildflowers were in full bloom and we even saw a bear snacking in a beautiful meadow! We both remarked that when the trees are restored in this park, it will be absolutely stunning. The temperature was perfect (75 – 80 degrees) in this higher elevation and the abundance of inviting lakes were amazing for swimming and kayaking!

Redwood National Park

Our final stop in California was the Redwood Coast, which is in Northern California about 20 miles from Oregon. The area is in every way as I imagined from the foggy shoreline to the Pacific waves crashing against ocean boulders. The area receives over 70 inches of rain per year and there are species that live here and no other place in the world.

The California Redwood is the world’s tallest tree and is a living link to the Age of the Dinosaurs! In the early 1900s, 95% of the California Redwoods were logged, leaving behind a handful of small groves. However, walking through these groves is an experience that I will never forget. Both sequoia and redwoods grow in ‘family groups’ meaning that the new trees often sprout from the trunk’s base, thus resulting in a cluster of giant trees! The California Redwood can grow to a height of 380 feet and can live up to 2,000 years! The damp, foggy air only adds to the beauty of this area!

We spent one morning exploring tide pools at Enderts Beach. Low tide was at 4:45 AM and we arrived at the beach around 9:30 AM. The tide was still low as we waded into the ocean; however, it rose significantly during our time exploring the pools! This is really a great area of the park and a ‘must see’. The beach is a mile walk from the parking lot, but the trek was well worth it!

A ranger said that we needed to visit The Grove of the Titans during our visit to Redwood NP. After Enderts Beach, we typed the trailhead into the GPS and headed for the grove. Before too long, we found ourselves on Howland Hill Road, which is a narrow dirt road with trailheads and pull offs. The 10-mile road was once used for stagecoaches and it winds through an old growth forest and redwood trees! It was an incredible and unexpected experience! And the Grove of the Titans? Well, the trees were in a word: magical! After hiking through an old growth forest and seeing many, many big trees, we came upon a small grove in a perfect circle with some of the tallest trees in the park. The forest was so peaceful during our time in this lovely place.

As I reflect on our time in this state, I am amazed how far we have come in a month. To summarize, we:

• Started at sea level in Death Valley with temperatures in the 100s
• Climbed mountain passes of 10,000 feet in Sequoia National Park and stood on Cloud’s Rest at 9,600 feet in Yosemite
• Floated in the Merced River in Yosemite and watched Pacific Ocean tide pools in absolute wonder
• Experienced 23 million year old lava fields in Pinnacles NP as well as an active volcano in Lassen Volcanic NP
• Admired the largest living thing on earth in Sequoia NP and drove through a grove of the tallest trees on the planet in Redwood NP
• Saw extensive wildlife including (but not limited to) brown bear, yellow-bellied marmot, Roosevelt elk, bald and golden eagles, trout, sea stars and sea urchins, mule deer, wild donkeys and horses, and a banana slug!
• Made new friends and dined with friends who we haven’t seen since our wedding (20 years ago)!
• 2,159 miles later, we are back at sea level with temperatures in the low 60s and the iconic, beautiful Pacific coastline. It has been an amazing month for sure!

Next up is Oregon and then Washington State! If you have any ‘must dos’ in those states, then we’d love to hear them! Feel free to post a comment below!

Thanks for reading! Hope you are having a great summer!