Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP - Day 20
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Start: Placerville, CA
Finish: Coalinga, CA
We took a 2 day break from family time and decided to hit a few more park sites while in the area. Our first destination was Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks, to the south of Placerville. As usual we headed out on CA 49, a historic route through Gold Country. In the mid-90s we drove the the entire length from south to north, spending about a week exploring the 330 mile route. It is a route I would highly recommend to anyone, especially if you have any interest in the history of gold mining; from placer to hard rock. It also includes lots of wine tasting, great eats and shops in the towns along the route.
Today we headed southwest off CA 49 to Ione, then CA 88 to Stockton to pick up CA 99 south. After stop for gas in Fresno we continued on CA 180, an easy drive up into Kings Canyon NP to Grants Grove.
Sequoia tree
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From there we went south on CA 198 into Sequoia NP. It was definitely getting busier in the park, a weekend after Memorial Day.
Back towards Morro Rock - Sierra granite
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We exited at the south end of the park, the drive out of Sequoia is curvy and steep, at times. This is not a route for a large RV or trailer, it is scenic and brings you into a nice, small tourist town of Three Rivers.
We had a delicious dinner in downtown Visalia at Brewbakers Brewing Company, our kind of place with the brew tanks onsite. Visalia has a charming downtown, with lots of restaurants and shops. It is off the main highway a couple of blocks, but worth the detour.
Brewbakers - Visalia
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We headed continued west on CA 198 crossing the central valley and ended on the west side of I-5 in Coalinga, in place for the next day.
Wildlife Viewing
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Brewer's Blackbird
American Crow
Scrub Jay
Northern Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Killdeer
Canada Geese
Mule Deer
Pinnacles NP, Rosie the Riveter NHP. & John Muir NHS - Day 21
Sunday, June 6, 2016
Start: Coalinga, CA
Finish: Placerville, CA
We continued west on CA 198 into Coalinga and then about 2/3 of the way to US 101 we turned north on CA 25 to Pinnacles NP. Along the way we first saw a roadrunner drinking from water trough, then a short way down the road we counted, at least, 6 more roadrunners. We could not remember ever seeing that many roadrunners so close together.
Pinnacles is in a valley which heats up during the summer. When it was Pinnacles NM the campground was outside the park boundary and managed by a private company, a pool was part of the campground. When the park was expanded in 2013 and became a National Park the campground and pool was added. Camping fees include use of the pool and nearby shower house. On a day like today the pool is appreciated, as well as the shade on the porch of the visitor center and store.
Pinnacles
Temperature Board
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Campground Pool
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Porch shade
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We headed north on CA 25, north to Hollister and continued to pick up US 101 near Gilroy. Our next stop was NW of Oakland in Richmond at Rosie the Riveter WW II Home Front National Historical Park. This was a return visit, always enjoy how they have used the Ford factory right along the San Francisco Bay front to interpret this part of American history. Within the factory parts have been restored and provided restaurants and shopping, along with the visitor center.
Rosie the Riverter WW II Home Front NHP
Ford Plant
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Rosie the Riveter WW II - Visitor Center
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Sailboat in SF Bay
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Not far from here is a very favorite park site, which I never tire of revisiting, John Muir National Historic Site. Today I walked through the property, past John Muir's home, back to the Martinez Adobe, built in 1849 and houses a permanent display of the Juan Bautista de Anza NHT.
John Muir NHS
Muir's House
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Martinez Adobe - 1849
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Juan Bautista de Anza Expedition Map
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From here we headed back to Placerville, for a couple more days to help out our family.
Wildlife Sightings
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Brewer's Blackbird
Western Kingbird
Yellow-billed Magpie
Cliff Swallow
Great-tailed Grackle
Greater Roadrunner - a flock of 6 (marathon/race)
Mountain Bluebird
White Pelican
Killdeer
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Canada Geese
Back on the road - N California, Day 22
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Start: Placerville, CA
Finish: Doran Beach Campground(Sonoma Cty), Bodega Bay, CA
After a week off the road, except for our 2-day get away over the weekend, we left our family and Placerville to resume our travels. Always nice to spend time with family, but we enjoy our nomadic travel style.
Heading west to the coast - temperatures in the mid-60s for daytime highs, we've been in the mid-90s while in Placerville. Of course, Tucson finally broke the 100 degree mark late last week, not in mid-May which had been predicted when we left. It then quickly rose over the weekend to 109 degrees!
Our first stop was just north of the Golden Gate Bridge at the Marin Healdlands Visitor Center, part of Golden Gate NRA. This area is wild and beautiful and such a treat when you realize how close you are to San Francisco. On US 101 it is the last exit heading south before the Golden Gate Bridge, then west. The visitor center was the chapel for Fort Baker and has two of the largest Eucalyptus trees I have ever seen.
Marin Headlands - Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Visitor Center - Old Chapel
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Junior Rangers at work
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Marin Headlands view
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After we leaving there we wound our way down and along the waterfront into Sausalito to the post office for a cancellation on an envelope with the NPS passport stamps. From there we picked up US 1 north through Mill Valley to Muir Woods NM. As expected, parking was a challenge. I can't imagine what a weekend is like there, or the middle of the summer. There is a shuttle bus, at times, from Mill Valley which would be useful at the very busy times. This was planned to be a stamp and run as we have visited and explored on previous visits.
Muir Woods NM
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We ended back in Mill Valley at the post office for another cancellation and headed to Pt Reyes NS. We took a route which went between Rt 1 and 101, following Sir Francis Drake Blvd all the way to Olema and the main visitor center. We would have liked to spent some more time in and around Pt. Reyes, a favorite place to explore, but car camping is not readily available. The closest state park with car camping was full. The camping within Pt. Reyes NS is walk-in tent site, which we have done in the past. We ended up continuing up Rt. 1 to Bodega Bay and camping at a county campground out on a spit of land between the bay and the ocean. The weather was cool, with strong winds - great sleeping weather.
Bodega Bay marker
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Doran Beach campground at Bodega Bay
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Wildlife Sightings
Scrub Jays
Turkey Vulture
American Crow
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
White Pelican
California Gull
Barn Swallow
Canada Geese
Red-winged Blackbird
Wild Turkey
Red-breasted Sapsucker
California Towhee
Cormorant
European Starling
Western Gull
Red-tailed Hawk
Mule Deer
Looonng way to Redwoods - Day 23
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Start: Bodega Bay, CA
Finish: Mill Creek Campground (ST/NPS), Redwoods National & State Park
California is a looonnng state! Today our goal was to get to Orick and the main visitor center for Redwoods National & State Parks. After breakfast in camp, with a steady breeze and overcast skies we headed inland to Sebastopol and then at Santa Clara to head north on US 101. This is a beautiful drive which travels through hillsides of vineyards to dense conifer forests of pine, fir, spruce and redwoods and ocean views. You know it is a long drive when the exit numbers are in the 500s, 600s and eventually 700s.
Before getting to Orick we made a stop at Humboldt Bay NWR, just south of Eureka. A short walk along the trail from the visitor center yielded several new birds for the list. In Eureka we stopped at Costco for gas and a few supplies. Gas at Costco was $.30 less per gallon than anywhere along US 101 in the area.
Humboldt Bay NWR
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Near Orick we stopped at the visitor center for Redwoods National & State Parks which actually sits along the ocean, no redwoods around. After getting the passport stamps and checking on campground status we continued north. Mill Creek campground had spaces available, north of Prairie Creek and south of Crescent City.
Near Orick, CA
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Near Prairie Creek we saw the herd of Roosevelt Elk. Further up the road we found a campsite at Mill Creek campground in Del Norte State Park. Even though it is a state park, because it is co-managed with NPS, our Golden Age Passport got us a campsite for $17, regular price is $35. No hookups, but showers and flush toilets. The evening was perfect. We got a nice campfire going with wood left in the fire ring. We could hear several distinct birds, including the Varied Thrush, but they were not seen in the dense foliage.
Wildlife Sightings
American Crow
Western Gull
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Western Gull
Brewer's Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Mountain Bluebird
Wild Turkey
Snowy Egret
Common Raven
Varied Thrush - heard
Roosevelt Elk
John Day Fossil Beds NM - Day 25
Saturday June 11, 2016
Start: JH Stewart SRA, OR
Finish: Bull Prairie Campground, N of Spray on OR 207
Another driving day to cover territory and get back on our original route. We enjoyed breakfast and very nice showers before we left the campground. The route we took to Bend was not one of the 2 recommended by Google Maps, but was shorter and a much easier drive than the other recommended routes. Having traveled in Oregon extensively over the years I was able to route us on this path. We continued north on OR 62, then north on OR 230, skirting the west edge of Crater Lake before turning east on OR 138 to US 97 which leads into Bend.
Before Bend we stopped at Newberry National Volcanic Monument (USFS) for their stamp and a picnic lunch. Bend has grown so much over the years and along with it the traffic. In Redmond we stopped for gas and ice before heading east on US 126 and 26 to John Day Fossil Beds NM. The high desert opens up the vistas, compared to the dense forests of the Cascades, for an enjoyable drive. Along US 26, near milepost 88 is a shoe tree. Went by too quick to stop for a picture.
A quick stop on John Day Fossil Beds NM, Sheep Rock Unit got us stamps and a picture. Inside the visitor center is a live camera on a person actively working on a specimen (when staffed) with a large screen for viewing. The fossils on display are impressive.
John Day Fossils Beds NM
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We continued north on OR 19 to Kimberly, then east of Spray we headed north on OR 207 up into Umatilla NF to a campground 2-1/2 miles off the highway and along a quiet lake. Lots of free firewood provided a nice fire to take the chill off. The weather has been cooler than expected.
Prairie Bull Lake
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Campfire
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Wildlife Sightings
American Robin
Brewer's Blackbird
Turkey Vulture
Western Bluebird
Northern Flicker
Red-winged Blackbird
Hawk
White Pelican
American Kestrel
Black-billed Magpie
California Quail
Canada Geese
Mule Deer
Into Washington and heading East - Day 26
Sunday, June 13, 2016
Start: Bull Prairie Campground, OR
Finish: Chief Timothy Campground (Army Corp of Engineers), W of Clarkston, WA
Woke up to a thin layer of ice in our water container, but the sun warmed up the air nicely. We enjoyed a morning fire from left-over evening embers. The bird-watching was better in the AM, enjoyed identifying the beautiful Evening Grosbeak. Eventually left camp by 10 AM, heading north on OR 207 to OR 74, then US 395 into Pendleton. It was a beautiful drive through remote forest and grasslands.
While in Pendleton we had lunch at a Wendy's, near I-84. I don't think they were prepared for the summer crowds, mainly out of state license plates in the parking lot. From there we continued north on OR 11 into Washington and Whitman Mission National Historic Site. This is a park site which is an example of historical importance, Western expansion. Up on the hill in the picture below is the gravesite of the Whitman family. The visitor center displays tell the story of the 1847 massacre of the Whitman family and provides extensive history of the native american culture of this region.
Whitman Mission NHS
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In Walla Walla we stopped for supplies then continued east on US 12 to the Snake River and Chief Timothy Park Campground. The campground app shows this as an Army Corp of Engineers campground, but the private management company does not honor Golden Age Passports for camping discounts. Tent sites are $28, $34 for electric and water. Even though the campground is on an island in the middle of the Snake River you can see and hear US 12. The bird watching was good, even got hummers at our feeder!
The columnar basalt across the river was impressive.
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Wildlife Sightings
Evening Grosbeak
American Robin
Mountain Chickadee - bird box in camp
Osprey
Tri-colored Blackbird
Black-billed Magpie
Western Meadowlark
California Quail
Hawks
Gray Flycatcher
White Pelican
Cassin's Finch
Black-chinned Hummingbird
House Finch
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Common Raven
American Crow
Common Nighthawk
Great-blue Heron
Barn Swallow
Gray Catbird
Mule Deer
Lolo Pass, into Montana - Day 28
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Start: Wilderness Gateway campground
Finish: Spring Gulch Campground, Sula, MT
Steady rain through the night. Woke up in the middle of Idaho with no restaurants within an hour or more - hot coffee and tea needed! Frogg Toggs to the rescue - an inexpensive rain jacket & pants I had purchased for my hike to Phantom Ranch last winter, but never used. Very useful today to start up the Coleman stove for hot beverages and instant oatmeal - good to go! Packed up dishes and chairs & stayed dry!
A short distance behind us was the Lochsa Historical Ranger Station, built in the 1930s. There are a number of buildings on site which you can visit. It is staffed by retired rangers, today a couple who worked for the Forest Service in the summers were there to welcome us on this wet morning. The displays are interesting inside the main cabin. While there we learned that US 12 was not completed until 1961. That was a surprise to us, that a section of a cross-country US highway (not interstate) was so recent. Considering the rugged country it traverses it is a well-designed highway. It was not heavily used, during our trip, but handled large truck and RVs easily and through a very scenic area. It was also used by cross-country bicycle riders. We me a couple in the ranger station heading east, after a wet night and morning, still in good spirits.
Lochsa Ranger Station
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Cross- country Bicyclists - I'll stick to travel by car!
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Backing heading east on US 12 the road climbs from 2080 ft elevation up to Lolo Pass at 5,235 ft. in 50 miles, mostly a gentle grade following the Lochsa River. It climbs up to the pass more steeply in the last 5 miles. At the pass is a large parking area and a nice visitor center run by the US Forest Service, with a passport stamp for the Nez Perce NHP. Lolo Pass was used by the Nez Perce to cross the Bitterroot Mountains and by Lewis and Clark. Nearby a primitive dirt-road (high clearance vehicles), Lolo Motorway follows the route of Lewis and Clark in this area. It was cold, 45 degrees, and raining when we arrived. Hot coffee and tea was available,for a donation, which we enjoyed while looking at the displays. There is also WiFi available.
Lolo Pass
Visitor Center
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Displays
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History of Lolo Pass
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The drive into Montana continued to be very scenic and easy driving. We stopped in Lolo, MT for lunch before heading south on US 93. We drove through Lee Metcalf NWR, near Stevensville and enjoyed some birding along the way.
Lee Metcalf NWR - Stevensville, MT
Osprey
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In Hamilton, on US 93 South, we stopped at the Ravalli County Museum for more passport stamps; Nez Perce Nee-Me-Poo National Historic Trail and Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail - Bitterroot Valley, MT stamps. We ended the day a little further along at a small USFS campground along the highway, near Sula, MT. The rain had stopped, but it was still cool. We enjoyed the sound of the Bitterroot River next to our campsite.
Wildlife Sightings
Canada Geese
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Rufous Hummingbird
Western Tanager
American Kestrel
Red-winged Blackbird
Osprey
Northern Flicker
Mallard
Great blue Heron - Rookery
Killdeer
Cedar Waxwing
Wild Turkey
Turkey Vulture
Common Raven
Belted Kingfisher
American Robin
Hairy Woodpecker
Great-horned Owl
Columbian Ground Squirrel
White-tailed Deer
