Leaving San Fransisco behind, we headed a couple of hours south along the coast to Monterray to dive the giant kelp beds; something i had wanted to do for years. Jo had met a couple whilst working on the Aggressor live aboard who had kindly offered us use of their holiday home, which was the icing on the cake. Having found the house we spent the rest of the afternoon at the Monterrey aquarium. Its an amazing place with a number of great exhibits; both the seahorse and jellyfish sections were fantastic, however, for me the centre pieces were the 10m high Giant kelp bed aquarium containing California Coastal marine life and the 1.2 million gallon tank in the open seas gallery, which housed tuna, a huge mola mola as well as a couple of scalloped hammerheads and a great white shark.
The following morning we arrived at San Carlos Beach for our 2 shore dives with Monterrey bay dive charters (www.mbdcscuba.com). It was abit of a contrast to diving in the TCI where at this time of the year you dive in board shorts and a rash vest; here we had a 2 piece 7mm suit, hood and gloves. Feeling heavy and ungainly we staggered into the water and flapped around a lot whilst trying to get our fins on, before slowly descending under the water. The water may have been cold (52 degrees) and the visibility far less than we were used to (10ft); the dive however was fantastic and reminded me of how I used to love cold water diving off the coast of the UK. Swimming through the giant kelp we saw lots of different sized and colored starfish and decorator crabs, as well as the largest seahare I have ever seen, flounder and a huge halibut. It was great to surface to a warm sunny day and after a surface interval we followed the breakwater for our second dive. Visibility was actually less, but the kelp was spectacular and we saw lots of colorful nudibranches and had the privilege of a harbour seal joining us on the dive. It played around me, holding onto my tank and then scrathing my arm before chewing on my glove. It was quite happy for me to interact and scratch and rub it, finally it playfully took my regulator out of my mouth before swimming off. It rejoined us a couple more times and was a truly memorable experience and the highlight of the dives.
That afternoon we walked along the breakwater to see the colony of sealions, then walked along cannery row. We ended up in a bar for a couple of hours listening to some great female jazz singers who had taken time out from the Monterrey jazz festival to perform.
The following day was an early start as we headed to Yosemite Natonal Park. The first couple of hours saw us traveling through agricultural country, with fields full of migrant workers picking whatever the crop happened to be - strawberries, artichokes, corn, tomatoes and pistachios to name but a few. The surroundings gradually became more elevated with the final 45 minutes traveling through a hugh valley within the Sierra Nevadas. Upon entering the park we headed for the visitor centre in the hope of them recommending some of the more remote trails to explore. The park is the most visited in the USA, with over 3.7 million visitors annually, however most never leave the lower valley. From the centre we walked to the lower Yosemite falls which unusually were still flowing due to heavy rains earlier in the season. Two things stuck me on the walk, firstly the smell of cedar and secondly the large number of people at the park ( and this was not high season). We had booked a 2 hour ranger guided tour of the lower valley so headed to the meeting place, we were a little worried when the shuttle arrived with a previous tour group as it was rammed with people, however it appears the later tours are less popular as we had a cart to ourselves. The tour had been recommended by a couple of people and I would definately recommend it. The ranger was a real character and was very engaging, there were regular stops allowing for plenty of photo opportunities, with great views of El Capitan, Bridevail falls, tunnel view (the classic photo shot) and a circuit of the lower falls. After the tour we headed to our luxury accommodation at Curry Village (an unheated tent, beds come complete with a sheet and two rather thin blankets)and then experienced feeding time at the zoo when we opted for the buffet meal (school dinners all over again). We grabbed a couple of small bottles of wine at the store and retired to tent.
It was a chilly night and cold when we awoke as the sun had yet to work its way down into the valley, after a breakfast buffet (avoid the colestrol free eggs which i picked up by mistake)we headed off for a days exploring. We stopped off to walk to Bridaveil falls as the previous day we had seen it from a distance and were the only two there, then headed towards Galcier Point. The visitor centre had recommended a less travelled walk along the way that afforded some great views. Parking up we set off to Sentinel Dome, the sun was out and the sky was blue and we saw only a handful of people. After about half an hour we reached the summit of Sentinel Dome which provided stunning views of the Yosemite valley and falls, as well as the more famous Half Dome. Heading back to the car we saw a lone monk deer grazing in the woodland. Next stop was Galcier Point which is probably the most popular viewpoint outside of the valley. Although barely a mile from Sentinel Dome the contrast is astounding - with a huge car park (full), toilets, shops and a paved walkway. The place was heaving with people and although it provided some great views, they were no more impressive from those we had seen at Sentinel Dome - and I didn't need to wait for someone to move to get a decent view and snap off a shot or two ! Heading back down from Glacier Point we found another 8 mile roundtrip trail to Dewey Point which had been recommended at the visitor centre. A short walk through woodland and we emerged into a sunlit meadow, complete with a crystal clear stream, following its edge we re-entered woodland and continued onto Dewey Point. The trail ended at a sheer dropoff providing stunning views directly opposite El Capitan, using binoculars we could see some of the climbers attempting its summit (its on average a 3 day climb). The views were awe inspiring and having passed about 6 people on the way we had the place to ourselves, showing that with a little effort even in the busiest national park in the USA you can completely escape the crowds. The walk back mind you seemed to last for ever and we both slept like the dead that night.
Our final day in the park was to be the exit journey out of the Yosemites following the tioga pass. We stopped within a couple of miles of reaching the pass to take a 2 mile walk to a giant sequoia trees grove which were very impressive in size, there was also a 'walk through' tree which had been carved out in the 1940's. The pass itself provided dramatic scenery with sheer drop offs and great views, massive boulders, fissures in rocks, wooded hillsides, lakes and meadows. At 9000ft there was still snow in some of the more protected parts of the mountains. The 50ish mile road was amongst the most impressive parts of the park. Upon exiting we went to the South Tufas (exposed alkali structures) of Mono Lake, the water here has such a high salt content that you can float unaided in the waters - beware though at 7000ft the waters very very cold. The motel we stayed in at Lee Vining certainly had character, the owner proudly stated to us that he takes no advance phone reservations, that the rooms have no air conditioning or internet and that he opens the doors at 4pm and stays open until all the rooms are booked - in this case that was 5:30PM - location, location, location !! Had some very tasty beef spare ribs in the evening.
Next morning started with a short drive to Bodie, a ghost town now maintained in a state of 'arrested decay', its one of the best preserved in the USA, only about 5% of it still remains and all the belongings/artifacts are still within the buildings due to the high cost at the time to remove anything. We sat in on the history talk then followed the self guided tour around the town. We were there for about 4 hours and it turned out to be one of the suprise highlights of the roadtrip and well worth bouncing down the 3 mile unpaved road to get there. We continued north via the west side of Lake Tahoe, stopping off to enjoy the views from emerald bay before ending up in the small town of Truckee. Found a really nice boutique style guest house ( whatever 'boutique' means) which amongst other things had been both a jail and a brothel in its past life. The only downside was that the main freight line was about 100m away so trains rumbled by every few hours, mind you after the number of margaritas I had at the mexican restaurant, nothing was going to disturb my sleep.
Departed early as this was to be our big travel day as we headed to the northern mountains of California. Big open plains, valleys with running creeks, wooded roadsides and lakes all passed us by. Heading along route 395 to Susanville we passed a 'shoe tree' which was a little bizarre. We were planning on visiting the lava beds national monument the following day and a few miles from the turnoff we saw a sign for 'Hawkshead camping, RV and cabins'. Its a small place bought by a guy from Las Vegas about a year ago who is slowly renovating the place. We got a small cabin with a kitchen for $55, situated in a wooden enclave it was a real find. The store next door to the park was like something from 'The Hills have Eyes' with this old biker lady (very friendly) owning it, we disturbed her jigsaw puzzle upon entering as we browsed the rather bare shelves. The walls of the place were adorned in various parafernalier and outside hung handwritten signs, animal traps, fur pelts, as well as various animal skulls. We ended up in a diner about 20 miles away called 'Captain Jacks Stronghold' which did superb burgers and a great blackberry pie. The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling out at the cabin, as dusk approached deer came down into the camp from the hills and bats started to appear. It was very peaceful and no light light pollution meant amazing starlit skies and the occassional shooting star. Chatted to the owner for quite a while - another gem on the tour.
The plan was to spend most of the following day exploring the underground lava tubes, however after going into the first one Jo remembered that she didn't like caves which had a slight impact on our plans !!! There is a main loop of maybe a dozen tubes of and so whilst Jo chilled in the car I explored a couple of them on my own. We then headed to some of the cave systems that had petroglyphs in them. We had about a mile walk to get out to them and with the sun blazzing down on us and little shade it was easy to remember what a hostile environment this must once have been. The pertroglyphs were easy enough to find and impossible to decipher (make up your own story). Leaving the monumnet we headed north into Oregon and then made our way along the border reentering California on the West coast so that we could drive down through the giant redwoods. The road back into California was a really twisty turny affair working its way down through beautiful woodland. We stayed at Crescent City and received some useful 'must see' sights from the Chinese woman behind the reception desk - she also pointed us in the direction of a cheap and very tasty chinese restaurant.
The day in the redwoods was going to be a very full day so we set off early and within a few miles reached the first recommendation by our receptionist - Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The last mile of the drive was worth the diversion alone with the single lane road winding around the giant redwoods. Whatever you read about these trees or whatever pictures of them you see, in no way prepares you for what an awesome sight they really are - they are absolutely hugh ! We parked up (only one other car there) and spent a couple of hours wandering the trail, marvelling at the sheer scale of the trees, as the mist cleared, rays of sun penetrated through the canopy adding to the experience. I had to concur with the receptionist who when describing this place to us said 'for me number 1'. Continuing south we stopped off at what could not have been more of a contrast - 'trees of mystery'. We chose to stop here as they had a gondola sky-train taking you above the canopy to a viewing platform, which all sounded good. I should have become suspicious when i saw the Talking 49ft 2 inches man and his 35ft blue ox at the entrance, but i let this go ! The whole experience was a bit surreal and the the train disappointing as it passed over new growth rather than giant redwoods, mind you i'm sure it meets a lot of peoples needs. I made up for the whole experience by paying $5 to goto the 'tour thru tree' and get Jo to take a picture of me driving through a giant redwood (not eco friendly i know but i had to do it just the same).
Continuing south we detoured along the Newton B Drury scenic parkway, stopping off to view the 'big tree', which is 304ft tall, with a diameter of 21ft. The parkway led onto Elk Prairie, a grassy meadow surrounded by redwoods and home to the Roosevelt Elk which chill out there. Turning off onto Davison Road we took the 9 mile drive through redwoods and onto gold bluff beach and onto fern valley, a 0.5 mile trail through a stream carved canyon lined with ferns (featured in jurassic park 2).
Retracing our path we traveled down and through the 'avenue of giants', an incredible 32 mile drive through old redwood growth. We stopped off several times to wander amongst these awesome, ancient trees. We passed more touristy inspired treats - chandelier tree (another drive thru tree); eternal tree house (20ft room inside a 2500 year old living redwood); one log house (house inside a redwood trunk), before finally leaving the redwoods behind and cutting back to the coast with the intention of taking the coastal road highway 1 all the way back to San Francisco. It was getting late so we chose to stop at a inn at Westport, a peaceful hamlet perched on the cliffs. We bought a bottle of wine and sat on the beach watching the sea mists gently rolling in from the sea.
The last full day of the roadtrip - 250 miles along the fabulous highway 1 coastal road. First thing, we kept stopping to watch churning whitecaps and admire the fog shrouded beaches. A short walk along one such clifftop saw us watching sealions playing in the waters and relaxing on the rocks; another saw us watching the movement of the giant kelp in the long slow swells. We stopped at Mendocino which is perched on a rocky headland for a coffee. The place is supposedly a place for bohemians and artists but they would have to be rich ones to afford the houses, call me cynical but i'm sure the dreadlocked, skateboarding 'dudes' with dogs on string were really dot com millionaires :)
Next stopoff was Point Arena lighthouse, at 10 stories tall it provides jaw dropping views. Tim, the lighthouseman was a real character and would have kept us talking all day if he had had the chance. We finally got into Sausalito at about 5pm and had a great meal in a restaurant overlooking a lit up, night time San Francisco.
Next day the roadtrip came to an end, some shopping and a short drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and we were back where we started. Dropping the car off we headed to the airport, Jo was going home to TCI and I was heading down to San Diego to take a liveaboard out to Guadalupe to cage dive with Great White Sharks - but thats another story !
