Winter Epic: Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Zion, (Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon)

Friday Feb 14 I realized the ground pad I had completely sucked. It wasn’t much cushion and mainly, it didn’t stop any of the cold creeping in. After thinking about it I decided I’m going to go buy a nice one. I have a feeling I’ll get a bit of use out of it. There were a few people in the parking lot when I came sliding out of the back of the truck. I would really love to know what they thought at that time. Then we re-packed the truck and drove to Yosemite village. We went right to the visitor center and talked to the lady there. She seemed bitchy, and didn’t really listen to anything we were saying. The first hike we did was to lower Yosemite falls. This is the most well known trial in the park. We decided to make it a little more interesting and hike off the trail, right up to the base of the falls. Next we drove over to bridal falls, which is a very short hike that takes you to the base of these falls. From here you can look across the valley to horsetail falls. For the bigger hike that the lady suggested we drove past the village and found parking. You’re supposed to take a bus to the trail head but we decided to walk through the campground instead. And it really paid off, literally, we found $40. The hike was nice but defiantly not what we were looking for. The first part is just walking on an unplowed road to Mirror Lake. From there it’s a very easy trail along a river and back down the same river. It was nice hike through the woods and you get a pretty good view of half dome. But we were really looking for something with a bit a skill involved. When we made it back to the car, Madlen spotted a campground shower on the way in and we decided to check it out. The door handles had a punch code to open them but it just so happened that 2 of the woman’s doors were jammed because of the cold. I’ve never been one to be picky about a hot shower. After that we needed some directions to get to Kings Canyon. In winter lots of roads are closed off so you really never know how to get to some places. We went to Yosemite Lodge and loaded up on free hot coco and some info. We drove straight south to Fresno CA. Then we stopped at REI so I could pick up a ground pad, and vons for some food. From Fresno we drove east for awhile and found a park to sleep at. We had to drive through several orange plantations to get there, and Im sure they didn’t miss the few oranges that found their way into our car. Then we turned the bed of the truck into a…. bed and called it a night.

Saturday morning we picked a few other fruits growing in the fields and drove into Kings Canyon. At the visitor center they told us to hike to General Grant tree. This is the tallest sequoia tree. Walking through this forest is a really cool experience. The giant sequoias are dispersed through the woods with lots of other trees intermingled. The sequoias have a reddish tint to their bark; there is a lot of vivid green moss growing on some of the other trees around, all this with the white snow makes for a very pretty sight. Next we drove through the park and down to Sequoia National Park. Here we saw General Sherman tree. It’s not the tallest, it’s not the widest, it’s not the oldest, but it is the most massive living thing on earth. Which is pretty cool. Next was the visitor center and here they sent us on a hike to Mono rock. This was another hike on an unplowed road. I felt I needed to start to try to prepare for the Grand Canyon so I put my pack on and threw in the chains for my tires. We hiked until the trail kinda faded away and then walked over the edge of a cliff. Here we took a break for lunch and thought we finished the hike. As we were eating I saw the spot we were supposed to go to. I saw a guard rail on the side of a huge protruding rock about 300 yards away. We both felt a little dumb not seeing the giant “mono” rock. So we hike up, and here was an awesome view. On one side you look up to snow toped mountains. The other side looks down at a valley with a river running through the bottom. You could also see the road we had to take out of the park. The park puts a 22 foot long vehicle restriction on this road. It was full of extremely tight curves. We went back to the car and started down the winding road. We had the idea to have a fire in the desert, we just needed wood. So we pulled over and grabbed whatever we could. We also found these huge nuts that looked like chestnuts. We grabbed a bunch and figured we could try to roast them. There was a really cool sun set over the mountains that we watched on the drive out of the park. We continued south to Bakersfield, here we stopped at a good will to pick up a pot for cooking in the Grand Canyon. I realized I forgot some of my cooking supplies at home. Then drove all the way to Las Vegas, and found a Wal-Mart.

Sunday the 3^rd we were up early and drove up and down the strip a few times to see the place. We should have checked it out the night before but it was still cool. Next stop, Zion National Park which is about 2 hours away. We went to the visitor center and the lady was pretty helpful. She suggested a hike and we headed over right away. I packed up the tire chains and we headed up. It was a nice hike but it dead ended at impassable ice so we had to head back. On the way back we ran into a father and his 2 sons coming out of a spot off the trail. We talked to them and he suggested we hike up where they came from. So we did, and it led to a really cool over look of the valley. From here we hiked out and had some time before sun down to drive around the park and take some pictures. Zion will always be an incredible place and I still consider it the most beautiful place I’ve been to. You can see every color right in front you all blended perfectly together. Once we left we had the idea to try to grill out somewhere. We still had the wood and I have an open fire grate. We picked what looked like a cool spot next to a lake on the map. And picked up some steak and a fish. The next place on the list was Bryce Canyon. And I should have realized a canyon you start up high and go down. The top of Zion is still lower than the bottom of Bryce. So we drove up and quickly found out the bbq was canceled. There was snow, several feet of it. O well, we made it to Bryce and slept in the cab of the truck to stay warm.

The first stop in the morning was across the street from where we slept, Best Western. They had a great breakfast buffet all set up for us. Then we drove into Bryce Canyon. They ranger at the visitor center actually listened to us and sent us on a great day hike called the figure 8. I wanted to test out my equipment and decided to try to cook a hot lunch while hiking. The hike starts at sunrise point. This is your first look in the canyon; this place is nothing like anything I have ever seen. I consider this the best place to take pictures. Everywhere you look are these incredible worn down rock formations. They are hard to even explain. So we hiked along the rim for a ways then go down into the canyon and look up at these structures. It was a really cool hike and I’m really glad we came here. I was debating cutting it from the list to have more time in the Grand Canyon. The trail dose what it says and make a figure 8 with you starting on the bottom of the 8. Once we made it back to the center the second time we stopped for lunch. We had couscous with roasted peppers and I had chicken in mine. Everything worked out perfectly and a hot meal while you’re hiking is always appreciated. We finished the hike and made it back to the car with lots of day light left. So we started getting organized for the Grand Canyon. Next we drove. As we were driving I looked at the calendar again and messed something up, we had one more day then we though. Perfect, so 3 days for the Grand Canyon instead of 2. But we needed more food, and stopped in Kanab AZ. We had to do something with the food we picked up for the bbq, so I asked the casher if there was a park with grills anywhere in town. Sure enough there was, so we headed over and started cooking. We ended up using my camp stove to cook the vegetables and the grill for the chestnuts and meat. The nuts were done first and we tried them. 100% positive they were not chestnuts, they were so discussing it was funny. We carried these nut things like 300 miles and I couldn’t get them in the garbage fast enough. The veggies we cooked up were the best part of the meal. We used some sweet rut I haven’t used before but it was delicious, mushrooms, green pepper, and zucchini. I ate half the steak and we both finished the trout fillet. We were pressed for time and had to clean up and head out quickly. But it was really nice to have a little break from all this crazy vacationing and do something normal for once (haha I kid I kid). We had a long drive to Grand Canyon Village in the dark. I parked at the visitor center parking lot and went right to sleep.

Tuesday we were up a little after sun rise. We walked over to the canyon and it was still a little foggy so we really didn’t the best view. We drove to the back country office and explained the time constraint we had. He suggested hiking down the South Kibab trail to Bright Angle Campground and up the Bright Angle trail to Indian Garden campground, then hike out early in the morning. These are the same 2 trails I did last time but I left it up to Madlen. It’s a lot easier to get here from Wisconsin then it is from Australia. Not to mention it really was the only trail that made sense for what we had to do. So we packed up our packs and took the bus over to the trail head. Now the fog cleared and it was a beautiful sunny day. By the first stop I changed into shorts and a tee shirt. On the way down Madlen really impressed me, which people don’t often do. She had a 40 pound pack and not only didn’t complain once; she also passed up the last 2 rest stops. When we made it to the bottom, part of the campsite was closed off for repairs and there was a surprising amount of campers. There was a group of rafters that took up a large camp site. I think there were only 2 camp sites not taken when we showed up. We set up camp and cooked dinner. The sun left us about 20 minutes after we got there but didn’t go down for another hour or so. But a few minutes in the shade and it’s cold. After dinner I had a plan, last time I was down here my tent broke in a wind storm. So I rented a bed in the dorm at phantom lodge. They had hot showers in each dorm. So this time we both walked into separate dorms and straight to the shower rooms. After that small miracle we made some tea back at camp and hung around for bit watching the stars. The fact that there is a ranch with a lodge in the bottom of the Grand Canyon is still shocking to me. So I feel the need to honor that by buying a beer from that lodge every chance I get. I had a beer and Madlen had a hot coco. But we were both exhausted and soon went back to camp and got ready for the cold night.

Wednesday morning we hung around camp for awhile. Made some breakfast and played some board games. We eventually packed up camp and started the hike out. The Bright Angle Trail takes you right along the Colorado River for about a mile and a half, and then you start heading up. Here you snake next to and crisscross over a stream most of the way up. After a few hours we made it up to the Indian garden campground. We set up camp and started dinner. There was a little problem with the fuel but everything still worked out. As we were eating the park ranger came around to check our pass. We told her about Madlen’s flight to catch at 9 pm tomorrow night. The ranger said “out of Pheniox, you should be fine, just get an early start.” We shook our heads and told her LAX. Her only words were “ Well you’re not going to make it.” So we talked some more and our options were to try to wake up around 4 am and pack everything up. Or, finish eating and repack, hiking out tonight. We talked about it and realized the only real option was to hike out now. This was not the best of news, but either way we were hiking out in the dark. This way we could be sure Madlen would make her flight. I could only imagine over sleeping in the morning, or sleeping like crap always checking the time. So that’s what we did. We just finished packing and filling water as the sun left us. So it was flash lights and stars the whole way out. At one point we stopped and I was thinking, we are the only people hiking in the Grand Canyon right now. We left camp at 6:30 and made it to a lodge at the top at 10:20. We sat down for awhile by the fire and just relaxed for a bit. One cool thing was that Madlen doesn’t know anyone else that hiked the Grand Canyon. We had to hike back to the car and piled in at 11. We didn’t even unpack anything, just threw it in and started driving. One of our many conversations on the way out was about peanut butter. She thought I was crazy to have eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Or peanut butter on bread with bananas and sugar, or really peanut butter and anything. So I asked her about peanut butter and chocolate. To my shock she has never even heard of Reese’s peanut butter cups. I found the first gas station open and made her try one. She still didn’t see to comfortable with the whole peanut butter+ anything idea, but she said they pretty good. From there I drove just about to the cali border and decided we were getting a hotel. After a day like that I don’t know what I needed more a shower, or a bed.

Thursday feb 7 we had to get up somewhat early, 8:30 for the breakfast of course. But then it was already nap time. We didn’t have a ton of extra time so we started the drive to LA. I spent a part of the drive yelling at my phone trying to pay bills. It was extremely windy until we passed through the mountains, which I now hear some crazy cop killer is hiding out. Then the weather was great again, about 55 and sunny. We found a parking lot and dismantled the vehicle. Or at least took most things out and re arranged everything. Madlen was able to repack and find everything. We didn’t have a lot of time but she really wanted a local bottle of wine for her dad and to go out for dinner. So we did, the wine we picked up at a grocery store. Which took a surprisingly long time to find. Then we drove closer to the air port and went to a place called Hanks Bistro. The food was delicious and the company was even better. From there we had to go straight to the air port. We said our good byes and I must say I was sad to see her go. From there I drove to long beach and called it a night.

these are not all the pics and i will add the Bryce canyon and grand canyon pics to the next entry. hopefully i will actually be caught up by then. enjoy!