Back to Northern California

I would never have thought that I'd have even less time to post on the blog once we got back to Northern California. If we could still find time after a full day of hiking in the national parks, then surely it would be feasible when hanging out with family... I couldn't have been more wrong! The thing about hiking is that we typically aimed to be off the trail before nightfall, so even if we were exhausted we were home in the evenings. Family time knows no such limits. I am writing this post after arriving back in NH on August 24th, but I do want to capture and recap some of what went on so that it gives this blog some closure (for now). This post will summarize the family gatherings other than the wedding itself - that will get its own post.

We left San Francisco on the morning of Wednesday the 18th (after quite a hassle with getting our car out of valet parking - we won't go back to the Best Western, Hotel California again), and drove the 6 hours north through Napa and Sonoma Valleys to get to McKinnleyville where Corey and Amber live. There was a cookout at their house so that arriving family and friends from all three families could start to meet and co-mingle. If I haven't mentioned before, it is 3 families because it is a double wedding - Amber is getting married to my brother Corey (couple on right), and her twin sister Ana is marrying a wonderful guy named Adam (couple on left). I've never met any of Amber and Anna's family, or Adam and any of his family, so this was a night that definitely taxed my ability to learn names.

Thursday morning everyone gathered again to go on a small hike in the redwoods. This is an incredible thing to do at any time, but we were especially privileged to have Adam as a guide - a professional in the area of botany and forestry. It was quite a sight for other visitors to watch him guide 30 of our family members through the trails and into the woods, calling our attention to particularly interesting features. As Adam was stopped at some of the trees, various members of the family (generally led by Corey) would run around back and scamper up for exploration and photo shoots. Where you see Carmela and me standing is not between 2 trees - it is up in a forked trunk of a single tree.

That evening, we all had a pizza party at the rental house that we were renting with my father and stepmother. This was the site for even more family to arrive. Then Corey and Amber arranged for a very generous friend, Kimmy, to watch all of the children (there were about a dozen) so that the adults could go out. Adam and his band were playing at the Clam Beach Inn (check out the video below), and it made for a great location for an extended family reunion. There were some family members there that I hadn't seen for more than 15 years - with a whole generation of children that I had never met. It was great to get together, talk about old times, and catch up on the current going-ons.

There will need to be additional posts for the rehearsal dinner and wedding, as well as the time after the wedding.

Yosemite Day 2

We decided to stay on the valley floor today in order to explore what it has to offer. In reading about the park, there's a lot to do here and everyone seems to have a favorite and some conflicting advice. We had intended to take a bus up to Glacier Point and then walk the 8 miles back down to Yosemite Valley (this is Glacier Point to the left), but the morning buses were already booked up. One of the other walks that I had read about was the Valley Floor Loop - which is, in total, a 13 mile trail that circumnavigates the valley floor. While there are lots of tourists at the famous sites on the valley floor, everything I read suggested that the loop itself would be pretty empty - and it was.

Today wasn't "Death Valley hot", but it was in the mid 90's which can be uncomfortable on a long hike. We decided not to do the entire 13 miles, but instead target the sites that we specifically wanted to see. First, we went over to the visitor center to get more information and get our first up-close view of Yosemite Falls (picture to the right). This is the tallest waterfalls in the United States, and the 5th tallest in the world. After swinging back to our lodge to pack more water (we found out at the visitor center that there are only pit toilets - no potable water - anywhere along the trail), we were off. Soon, we were looking up at Sentinel Rock (picture on the left) - during the spring there is a waterfall that comes off the face called Sentinel Falls, and it's the 7th tallest waterfall in the world.

As we hiked along we meandered through meadow and forest, many times along a river. Throughout the vast majority of the day, however, the scenery was dominated by El Capitan (pictured here on the right) - the largest granite monolith in the world. We both recognized it from various pictures, paintings and nature shows. This is a famous destination for rock climbers (no thanks - too high for us). It was a magnificent view that changed from different angles.

At last, we reached our destination - Bridal Veil Falls (left and video below). While most of the tourists there were scampering around on the rocks (they had driven there and walked the 0.4 miles up to the falls, rather than our 6 mile hike to get there), we were satisfied to sit and admire the beauty. After a short 2.5 mile hike back to El Capitan, we decied to catch the shuttle back. Instead of getting off right near our lodge, however, we did get off about a half mile away so that we could get a good picture of Half Dome (right) - another formation that we recognized from pictures (there are lots of those here).

The Loop Trail was nice and quiet, which allowed us to appreciate our surroundings and even see some more wildlife. There were these beautiful blue birds all over the place. I'm not sure what they're called (more extra credit for my students). We even had another deer encounter! While we were walking back from Bridal Veil falls, we stopped suddenly and there was a buck about 20 feet from us, frozen. After a moment assessing us, he slowly walked off into the woods (check out the video). Moments like that are when it really pays off to not just drive to the destination.

Arriving in Yosemite

It was so strange waking up in Death Valley this morning and having it already be 98 degrees at 8:30 in the morning. It was a little sad walking around and seeing birds hopping along on the ground with their beaks open, seemingly panting in the hot morning air. Dry heat or not – it was still ungodly HOT!

As we made our way out of Death Valley we were quite pleased to watch the external thermometer in the car go down as we made our way through scenic, winding canyons and along side the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountain range until we finally reached Yosemite National Park – where we’ll be staying for the next 2 nights in the Yosemite Lodge.

The first thing I should mention is - Yosemite is not only extremely beautiful but it is HUGE! Before going to the Lodge, since we drove in from the East on the Tioga Pass we planned to stop and hike around Tuolumne Meadows. After a lovely picnic lunch in comfortable 75 degree, breezy, sunny weather we headed up Pothole Dome. We had a choice of either going up the Dome via a nice easy, gradual trail – or to scramble up the Dome’s rock face… can you guess which way we decided to go?






The view from the top was postcard picturesque! Everywhere we turned our eyes were flooded with beautiful back drops, dramatic vistas and extreme color contrasts – it is no wonder that artists and photographers (like the famous Ansel Adams) flock to Yosemite! After playing on top of the dome, we made our way down to the meadow. On our way down, as we tried to find the meadow trail, we were startled by a Black Tail fawn that came bounding out from behind a downed tree only a few feet away from us. It leapt away from us with such speed and grace that we didn’t have time to do anything but stare at it racing away. It was SO neat!

After recovering from our deer encounter, we found the trail and decided that instead of heading back toward the car, we would head deeper into the meadow and the woods for a bit longer. I’m so glad we did! Not even 5 minutes into hiking we spotted a herd of Black Tail Deer amongst a cluster of trees in the center of the meadow. There were at least 7 deer that we could see – some grazing, some bounding around chasing each other, some laying stock still in the grass looking very regal. It was very impressive!

After watching them for about 10 minutes, we reluctantly decided to move on (the swarming mosquitoes helped to motivate us to get moving). After walking another 10-15 minutes on the trail, the trail curved into the woods and we spotted a Black Tail Doe and her TWO fawns! We very slowly moved in closer until we were about 50 feet away from them. We got close enough that we could see the spotted fawns playing and nursing. We felt fortunate to be so close to something so beautiful and lively. The deer were aware of our presence, but didn’t seem to mind as long as we stayed still and at a distance. We often use the expression ‘frozen like a deer in headlights’ – but as we stared at each other we could not help but wonder if we looked like ‘humans in headlights’ as we gawked at them.

After returning from our hike, we climbed back into the car (did I mention that it is a Mazda 3 – zoom, zoom?) and made the hour and a half drive into Yosemite Valley to the Lodge. I told you Yosemite was huge. We have a very short amount of time here to explore as much as possible – so for now, we’ll leave it that today was another incredible day and tomorrow will likely hold even more for us.

By the way, have you figured out who wrote today’s blog? Feel free to cast your votes in the comment section: Bryan or Carmela?

Our Last Day In Zion

Bryan and I are tag teaming on the blog today – I’ll start the writing, while he sorts through the pictures and videos, then we’ll switch…

Phew, Carmela quote of the day “If the level of fun on a vacation can be measured by the number of bumps, bruises and sore muscles, I’d say we have been having excessive amounts of FUN!” Getting up and out of the condo today was severely slowed down by our level of impaired muscle movement – in the past week we’ve done canyoneering, hiking up river in the Narrows, then went to Cowboy camp and rode horseback for over three hours (see previous blogs) so sore is a bit of an understatement – but we didn’t let that get in the way of going back to Zion National Park today!

We made the 1 ½ hour drive into the park one last time and started our day with an easy hike (0.5 mile round trip) to Weeping Rock to get our muscles warmed up. Let me tell you, even a short hike in 96 degree sun can be taxing, but the view was well worth it! Weeping Rock, named perfectly, is an indentation on the sandstone cliff face that has water streaming out of it. The cool thing is despite the fact that it is nearly 100 degrees out, it hasn’t rained in over a week and we’re in a dessert – there is Weeping Rock, dripping water that is estimated to be over a 1000 years old (yes really 1000, that’s not a typo!).

After Weeping Rock we made our way over to the Grotto trail head and hiked about a 2 mile loop up into the canyon to check out the Middle and Lower Emerald Pools (picture above to the right). This hike only went up in elevation ~200 feet but man the heat takes a toll on you! After having watched a woman earlier in the day pass out, we stopped for water and small amounts of food frequently. The trail was very sandy, with steep drops as we hiked along the edge of the cliff until we finally reached the first pool (we tried to capture this in the picture here – do you see the tiny white dot? That’s a person on the other side of the cliff on the second half of the loop trail). The views along the trail and at each of the Pools were worth ever sweaty minute!

Hiking the Narrows

One of the best known hikes in Zion National Park is hiking "The Narrows". This also means that it is particularly tourist-filled. We were given some advice by our canyoning guide, Hank (see previous post), that we should arrive at the park by 7 am in order to avoid the crowds - but after our day of canyoning, there was no way we were getting up and out early enough to make the 2 hour drive and be there that early. Instead, we dealt with the crowds.

The Narrows isn't actually a trail - we took the shuttle bus all the way into the canyon to the last stop, then walked a one mile paved trail called the River Walk, then at the end of the trail got into the river and hiked upstream into the canyon - that's "Hiking The Narrows". It was great - an incredibly unique hiking experience! We took pictures and video but they can't quite capture how the changing light makes the canyon feel magical.

While we didn't take Hank's advice about the timing, we did follow his instructions regarding preparation. We rented walking sticks from their shop, and boy am I glad we did. There were lots of people that were in the water unprepared - stumbling around without walking sticks and trying to hold their packs out of the water so all their stuff didn't get wet. We had all of our supplies in water-proof bags and containers inside our pack, so we weren't worried even if we did take a spill (which we actually never did).

After all of the times that I've seen signs and warnings in other places that you shouldn't cross moving water because it can so easily sweep you off your feet, it was a bit strange to have a park specifically encourage you to do so on one of their hikes. They do give lots of warnings, and the Zion Adventure Company will only rent sticks and other equipment to people after they watch a video and have conversations about proper safety. The going was quite difficult, particularly because the water was not clear so it was impossible to see what you were stepping on each time you moved. After about an hour in, the crowds had thinned considerably and it was really nice. After another half hour we stopped and ate and then made our way back out - which was faster because we were going downstream, but certainly not any easier.

Canyoning in Zion

Tonight, Carmela and I are scraped, battered, bruised, sore and exhausted - it was a phenomenal day!!! We left at 5:30 this morning so that we could join our tour down in Springdale, just outside of Zion National Park, by 7:30 - we were doing a full-day canyoning with Zion Adventure Company. After talking with our guide, Hank, about our interests and experience level, we drove a half hour out to an area called Lamb's Knoll.

For the next 6 or 7 hours we learned a bit more about setting anchors for rappels (we've actually done some of this before, but it's been a while), and a whole lot more about the ways that our bodies can contort in order to fit over and through very small areas between very hard rock. While Carmela and I have done rock climbing (mostly indoor) and rappelling before, it was never on this kind of surface - sandstone - or in such narrow situations. We've also canyoneered before, in Costa Rica, but this was completely different - no wide open spaces or waterfalls here.

Carmela and I always try to take pictures when we're doing activities, but today we had some fantastic help - Hank used our camera the vast majority of the day and got plenty of great shots - including ones with both of us. I wish I had a camera to show you the positions he got into in order to get some of these shots. The two pictures on the left hand side are of Carmela and me down climbing - this is without being tied in because there aren't large drops. Climbing down sounds awfully easy, but I found it to be some of the more challenging stuff we did today. The challenge is in the maneuvers - pay particular attention to Carmela in the two of these. The two pictures on the right hand side are of me rappelling (there's video below of one of Carmela's rappels). In the first picture of me rappelling, you can't really see where I'm going because it is in a corkscrew shape - but check out the shadow to get an idea of how close I am to the edge. I included the second rappel picture so that you can get an idea of our height - the blue dot above my head is Carmela standing down below.

Bryce Canyon National Park

We decided to go to Bryce Canyon today. We knew that we’d split the week between Bryce and Zion, and everyone told us that we’d want to spend the majority of time in Zion – so we figured that spending the first day in Bryce would let us know if we needed to go back again. The park was incredibly beautiful, but I feel content with spending the one day.

The majority of people that visit Bryce Canyon National Park stay in the northern area near the entrance, which is why there are shuttles that pick up outside the park and runs through that area every 10 minutes. If we were going to stay in that area, the shuttle would have been smart – parking was a hassle. Since we were going all the way into the park, we drove – and there weren’t really any crowds.

We started by driving the 17 mile scenic drive to the final stop, Rainbow Point. There, we took a short hike through the Bristle Cone Pine Loop. As you can see from the video, the vista is amazing, but what really drew me to this hike are the Bristle Cone Pine trees. These trees are uniquely suited to the harsh winds and regular fires. The ones here can be as old as 1,700 years old, and in California there are ones that are almost 5,000 years old – that makes them the oldest species on the planet.

The scenic drive out was punctuated by numerous stops at a variety of scenic views. It’s amazing how different the same area can look from different angles and elevations. I’ve included a couple of pictures and videos, but will have to put together more of a slideshow later. Even after leaving the park, the views were wonderful. It’s hard to imagine that this is just the drive back and forth. As we got closer to where we’re staying, we saw deer right on the side of the road. We could never have guessed their reaction, but it’s too funny to not post here.

Mount Hood and the Fruit Loop

Today we left Portland and headed East towards our next destination. We knew that we'd be spending tonight in The Dalles so that we could head to Idaho tomorrow, but we hadn't really planned our activities or route until this morning. The quickest way to The Dalles is on I-84 and it is only a 2 hour drive - which would be a strangely short day, leaving tomorrow a heavily weighted 8 hour drive. We never intended to drive straight to our hotel, and wanted to do something that would help us capture our final day in Oregon - and I think we stumbled across the right plan.

Mount Hood is south of I-84 and there is a scenic byway that loops down around it, rejoining the interstate just before The Dalles - it's nicknamed the Fruit Loop because of all of the orchards and vineyards along the route. We stopped at several along the way, enjoying some tastings (Wasson Brothers was a favorite) and stocking up on fresh blueberries and cherries (which I am munching on as I type) at The Gorge White House . The real highlight of the day, though, was the mountain.

Mount Hood is a majestic dormant volcano that stays snow-capped year round. We drove up to the Timberline Lodge, where we rode a one-mile ski lift (along side skiers and snowboarders) up to an amazing vantage point. The leisurely walk back down to the lodge was a fantastic break in the middle of the day and gave us a real appreciation for the splendor of this region.

Multnomah Falls

The best part of the excursion today was the stop at Multnomah Falls. This is the second tallest continuously flowing waterfall in the US, and is really beautiful. We had an hour and a half here and it was plenty of time to hike up and back. The hike up was only a mile and a half, but rather steep - lots of switchbacks. In truth, the bottom was the best place to appreciate the waterfall, since the platform at the top is situated a bit back so that you can't really see over the edge. The view from the top is beautiful, though, positioned right over the Columbia River (check out the video from the top). As you can see in the pictures, the waterfall is in two parts and the mist is splendid when you're standing on that bridge. Just like in the redwoods, it's hard to capture something so large in pictures, but we did our best.

Exploring Northern California

After a hearty breakfast we headed up to the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. On the way we made a few stops. The first was at Stone Lagoon, where the wedding ceremony will take place. It’s a beautiful location that completely suites Corey and Amber.






The next stop was at the Roosevelt Elk herd where we (along with lots of RV’s and campers) stopped to look at and take pictures of the elk (do you see it in the background behind Carmela and me?).

When we finally arrived at the redwoods forest, we got a chance to walk among the grove of the Titans – these are some of the largest trees on the planet. They were amazing!! It’s hard to capture in pictures the scale and scope of these giants (that's why I include a video too). It is a magical place that we will have to return to explore.