Hello Everyone!
This week started and ended in L.A. but I spent the weekend out in Bakersfield. All of my California friends raised an eyebrow when I talked about going out to Bakersfield, but I really enjoyed it and was surprised at how much it had to offer. It was definitely a little rough around the edges, but the people were friendly and it was a beautiful, cool, sunny weekend to be there. I’m going to get this post done a day early this week because I’m headed out to Catalina Island first thing tomorrow morning and I’m leaving my computer behind. Catalina is in the same island group as Channel Islands National Park, but it is developed and has a year-round population of over 4,000 people. You guys know how much I love islands, so I’m really looking forward to it. The campground was full, so I’m staying in a hotel out there which also means I’ll only be there for a day, but I’m going to make the most of it. It hasn’t been the busiest of weeks, but I’m sure you’ll see that I’ve gotten a couple of bigger photo posts up this week. Let me tell you what else I’ve gotten into this week.
After I finished up this post last week I took a long drive through L.A. and up to Hollywood. I followed my GPS and it took me on a pleasantly winding route and down streets I’d never been down before. L.A. is a sprawling place and I could probably spend an entire month just exploring around here, but it’s also a challenging place for the van life so it was just about time for me to move on. Before I went, there were three places I wanted to visit in Hollywood. The first is a tiny hole-in-the-wall spot called Tiki Ti. The whole tiki phenomenon in the U.S. began in 1933 by a guy called Don the Beachcomber right there in Hollywood. While that tiki bar is long gone, Tiki Ti remains. Tiki Ti was founded in 1961 by Ray Buhen who had been one of the early bartenders at Don the Beachcomber. He built his bar in an old violin repair shop so you can imagine how small it is. Today, it is one of the country’s most venerable tiki bars and a must-see for any tiki aficionado. I had been by it before, but never had the chance to stop in and I’m sure glad I did this time through. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the people and a couple of tropical cocktails but mostly I was just happy to soak up the history of the place.
From there I made my way back down the Sunset Strip to the Comedy Store to see Comedians You Should Know upstairs in the Belly Room. The Comedy Store is another well-known venue and another place I had never been before. The show was pretty good and some of the comedians were great (and one was downright terrible) and I was happy to have finally made it in to see a show. When it finished, I strolled down the street to Mel’s Drive-In for dinner which wasn’t great but it was fun to be there. It started to rain while I was eating my dinner, so I decided to just call it a night right there in Hollywood.
Thursday morning I was up and off to Bakersfield. I hit some rain and even about 10 seconds worth of snow on the drive, but it was sunny and perfect when I arrived. It was so nice to be in a quiet, open city again where parking was free and plentiful and I could walk wherever I wanted to go. I spent the afternoon wandering the streets and taking photos and then ended up at an old bar called Guthrie’s for happy hour. It’s a great old spot with a beautiful sign out front and a juke box and pool table in the back. From there I caught an acoustic set at The Padre Hotel and then went to The Pyrenees Café for dinner. Bakersfield has a Basque community which dates back to the gold rush. The Basque came to look for gold but found that herding sheep was more profitable because all of those prospectors needed food and clothing. There are still a handful of Basque restaurants in Bakersfield and they put out quite a spread. I had a lamb shank, and it came with soup and salad, marinated tongue, bread, pasta, vegetables and fries. The place was packed, but my dinner was really good. Full to the brim, I headed back downtown to check out Tiki-Ko, Bakersfield’s own tiki bar. It is an excellent spot – subdued but festive and with a good drink menu. I enjoyed a cocktail there before heading off to bed…
Hello Everyone,
It’s been another busy week here in Southern California. I spent half of the week out on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park which was an absolutely wonderful experience. When I returned to the mainland, I made my way south to Los Angeles and have been here since, catching up with old friends and visiting some old haunts and some new places as well. I haven’t traveled far this week, so this probably won’t be a particularly long post, but it’s been nice to get some hiking in and the sun is finally shining again.
Last Wednesday, I packed up my backpack and hopped on The Islander in Ventura for the one our crossing to Scorpion Ranch on Santa Cruz Island. The water was rough, but it wasn’t too bad and thankfully it wasn’t a long voyage. When we arrived, we met briefly with the ranger and then headed off to set up camp. It had been raining all night and most of the morning, but the sun was out and it’s always easier to set up a tent in the sun than in the rain. The campground was pretty soggy and we had been warned about branches falling from the eucalyptus trees, so choosing a good spot to set up was essential. After getting my tent up and ready, I decided to use whatever sunshine was left to hike up to the Potato Harbor overlook. This was only about a 4 mile round-trip hike, but it was really muddy on the trail. The mud had a high clay content too, so it stuck to my shoes and it caked on so thick that it looked like I was wearing snowshoes. I made it to the overlook which was absolutely stunning and on the way there I saw several endemic Santa Cruz grey foxes. These foxes have evolved to be much smaller than their mainland cousins, and growing up on an island with no predators, they’re also very friendly. I loved watching them wander around the island and found they made me smile every time I saw them.
After having my lunch at the overlook, I could see the rain coming towards me across the ocean so I started to make my way back to camp. Unfortunately the rain caught up with me before I got there, but worse it turned the clay trail into a slick downhill path. I almost made it back to camp without falling. In fact, I could see the campground from where I fell, but my feet just went out from under me and I landed pretty hard on my shoulder. While I didn’t do any damage and didn’t even get a bruise, it hurt for a few days and I didn’t have any pain killers with me in my pack. I wasn’t happy about it, but it could’ve been worse, too. I headed back to my tent and caught a nap while the rain kept pounding down. It eased up in the evening and hasn’t been back since. That night I ate the first freeze-dried meal I’ve had in many years. When I was a teenager, I spent two summers working at a Boy Scout backpacking camp in Virginia and we ate freeze dried food most of the time. It’s come a long way since I tried it last and I must admit that it was actually pretty tasty. After dinner, the sun went down and there wasn’t much to do so I slipped into my tent and called it an early night…
Hello Everyone!
It’s been another week of wet weather here in California. Thankfully it hasn’t been steady rain, but more on and off and I’ve been able to get out and see some things and even take a few photos. I enjoyed a fun St. Patrick’s Day in Santa Barbara and caught up with an old friend yesterday here in Oxnard. I have definitely moved strongly into Southern California this week and I’ve been having a great time. I had forgotten how much I enjoy the laid-back vibes and relaxed atmosphere of SoCal. I’m also looking forward to heading out to the island of Santa Cruz in Channel Islands National Park tomorrow if the weather allows me, so I’m going to get this post out a day early this week.
I wrote this post last week from the small but mighty town of Pismo Beach. Once I was finished putting it together, I headed out to check out the town and really fell in love with it. Pismo Beach is a quintessential California beach town full of neon and surfboards. If you grew up listening to the Beach Boys and are looking for that kind of vibe, Pismo definitely has it. I really enjoyed just wandering around and taking photos and soaking up some much needed rays. I stayed in town long enough to watch the sun set and then headed just down the road to Santa Maria.
I was very excited to have a taste of Santa Maria-style barbecue, but was also somewhat reserved in my expectations. I’ve experienced so many culinary treats around the country that I’ve learned to enjoy them in their place and then hold them in my memory until I return. Barbecue is most definitely a southern thing, and I don’t usually go for it west of Texas or north of the Mason-Dixon Line. However, since Santa Maria claims their own unique style I had to try it. I chose Shaw’s, because they’ve been around for a long time and because they had tri-tip on their menu and tri-tip (sometimes called a “California cut”) is also unique to Southern California. Tri-tip is also called “poor man’s brisket”, so I thought it would be great to try it smoked low and slow. What I didn’t look at closely enough is that Santa Maria Style is a way of barbecuing, the verb, not barbecue, the noun. It’s simply their way of seasoning and grilling meat and has nothing to do with the slow-smoked deliciousness of our southeastern region. Because of that, tri-tip was not a good choice because, while flavorful, it’s also super tough. I should’ve gone with a ribeye or a strip. My steak had good flavor and I could taste where it was going, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would. It did come with a delicious soup, amazing homemade salsa, a relish tray, garlic bread and baked beans making for quite a feast, but my tri-tip was a disappointment. I will return to Santa Maria again with a different idea of what to look for though as I think it definitely has potential. The people of Santa Maria were kind and welcoming though and that would be reason enough to return.
On Thursday I continued south to La Purisma Mission, another of the 21 historic Spanish missions in California. This one had fallen into serious disrepair when it was taken over by California State Parks and was reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The CCC rebuilt it to capture the historic context of the mission during its heyday so it is a fascinating place to visit and get a feel for what the missions were really like…
Hello Everyone!
It’s been a week of ups and downs here in the Central Valley/Central Coast of California. The weather has been challenging to say the least. The week started out with some pretty wild weather in the forecast and, as I mentioned last week, I wanted to put some distance between myself and the Bay before it hit. Crazy weather affects you differently when you live in a van than when you live in a house. At this altitude, they were calling for torrential downpours with strong winds and possible flooding. The biggest superpower of being in a mobile home is its mobility, but this storm was so big that there was nowhere to run, so it became about finding a safe spot and paying close attention to the forecast and the water levels. I had to see where the creeks and rivers were and try and stay as far uphill from them as I could without being too exposed to the wind and the lightning. I needed to avoid parking next to trees that might come over on me, but use bushes as a windbreak. It’s a little bit nerve-racking but we got through it.
There’s also obviously quite a bit of conflict in California with “vanlifers”. I’ve been in 26 states over the last 5 years in my van and this is definitely the most difficult place that I’ve been. In most of the states I’ve traveled through, most people are completely oblivious to the fact that people are living in their vans and those who know tend to think it’s pretty cool. It’s rarely been hard to find a place to spend the night that feels safe and I have felt like it’s usually pretty easy to fade into the background. That’s definitely not the case here in California as every day I see dozens of vans whipping here and there and everywhere. Whole counties have made it illegal to park overnight and sleep on city streets and the “last resort” truck stops and rest areas are virtually nonexistent. Those places that have tried to set up “safe parking” lots near town have had people take ridiculous advantage of them by basically moving in and refusing to leave, making them more like homeless encampments than overnight safe lots. It’s a real problem and one that my out-of-state plates don’t help me with. Thankfully I’ve been doing this for a long time and am pretty good at finding my way, but they’re not making it easy. I have spent most nights on residential streets which are safe and quiet and fine, but not ideal. I will persevere as there are things I want to see, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.
After I finished up this newsletter last week, I made my way to San Jose for the evening. San Jose is on the south side of the San Francisco Bay and is smaller, newer, cleaner and probably safer than its northern neighbors of San Francisco and Oakland. It seemed like a nice enough place and I enjoyed a wander around the downtown area and a few drinks at Dr. Funk’s Tiki Bar in San Pedro Square. San Jose looked like it had some nice museums, but it probably wasn’t the best place to hole up in a storm.
Thursday I headed out early and made my way south to San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist) which is a wonderful, historic little town in San Juan Benito County. The old Spanish Mission there is quite interesting with a unique-among-the-missions three-aisle church which has been in regular use since 1797. The museum shows some of the rooms as they would have been during the mission era and has some wonderful books and artifacts to look at. Across the plaza is the wonderful San Juan Bautista State Historical Park which interprets the history of the other buildings in the area which were once owned by the Castro and Breen families…
Hello Everyone!
The weather is very strange here in California. There is a lot of snow up in the mountains and a lot of rain in the rest of the state. Even the desert is getting rain right now. We desperately need all of this water and it’s generally a very good thing but it doesn’t make for great traveling weather. My plans to head to the mountains first were changed to a nice drive down the coast, but then landslides closed Route 1 so I’ve been hanging around somewhere in between. I’ve gotten to some nice museums this week and eaten some delicious meals, but I haven’t done too much or traveled too far. The price of gas in California is outrageous, so when I’m driving it needs to be deliberate. I have been getting through some of my Arizona photos from last winter and working on my podcast and I’ve definitely been getting to the gym every day so that’s good. But I really want to explore California with the time I have and this week has been more about reacclimating to the van life and trying to stay out of the way of the weather.
I started this leg in Sacramento, where my buddy Dave had been watching my van while I was at home and in Europe. I was hoping to head up to Lake Tahoe from there to visit some friends and get some skiing in, but the snowstorms in the mountains closed the roads and kept me from going. I spent a couple of days in Sacramento trying to wait it out, visiting the State Capitol and a few museums and getting a few things fixed on my van before giving up on the mountains and making my way out to Napa Valley.
Napa Valley is not my favorite region of California. I have spent a fair bit of time there over the years trying to find some places I enjoy, but to no avail. It’s a beautiful valley and I enjoyed driving through it, especially with the early spring bloom going on, but it’s a very wealthy area which has been built up to welcome the moneyed elite and not the average Joe. It reminds me a lot of Hilton Head in South Carolina and I just feel very out of place there. I know some people really love it and return year after year, but it’s just not the place for me. I did enjoy a brief visit to the Robert Louis Stevenson museum in St. Helena which, while small, has some interesting artifacts from Stevenson’s life and his time in California. Stevenson spent his honeymoon squatting in an old miners’ cabin in Napa Valley, a story he recounts in his book The Sacramento Squatters. I also had a delightful meal at Bouchon in Yountville which is owned by Thomas Keller, one of America’s most famous chefs
Hello Everyone! Long time, no see. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful start to 2023. It’s nice to be back with you and to be back on the road, but I’ve had the most amazing time since last I wrote. As many of you know, I left right before the New Year for a 47 day trip to England, Wales, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, France and Belgium. At its core, it was a trip to see some old friends and catch up and to get my international traveling feet back underneath me, but it was also a very nice break from everything here in the U.S. I left my computer and my camera behind and brought only a small day-pack and my iPhone. Over the 47 days I was there, I caught up with 51 friends from the last 25 years of my life including a college friend from Penn State, three people I did my Divemaster course with in Honduras, four work colleagues and a whole lot of friends who were once clients of mine on tour here in the U.S. I saw people I took on tour during my very first season 23 years ago and people I took on tour just last summer. Some people could only meet up in the evening after work or for a quick drink and some took a whole day off from work to show me around their hometowns. Many opened their homes and their lives to me for a few hours or days and I met spouses, partners, kids, parents and pets along the way. All told, it was exhausting but also invigorating and inspiring and absolutely one of the best time periods in my entire life. It was truly a remarkable 7 weeks. I’ve come back feeling motivated and excited about all of my projects, my coming tour season and life in general. While there was a lot more to this trip, I thought I’d share a brief(ish) recap of where I went.
My journey began in London on the 29th of December. I touched down at Heathrow Airport and headed right into central London on the tube. It was so wonderful to be there after at least 15 years and I just enjoyed wandering around, looking at the buildings and taking in the sights. Over the next couple of days I visited with my friends Vicky, Sal and Neil and enjoyed a quiet New Year’s Eve to myself. I watched the Rose Bowl with my friend Jamie, who I haven’t seen since I graduated from Penn State 25 years ago. I got some planning done for the rest of my trip and touched base with a lot of people over dates and times, travel routes and details. I also had some great fish and chips, steak pie, gelato and a couple of excellent pints of ale in some truly awesome old pubs, some dating back hundreds of years.
From London, I headed north to Bedford where I caught up with my friend Lucy who came with me on a weeklong trip to Hawaii back in 2019. She took me out to Bletchley Park, a fascinating historic site which housed a major codebreaking operation during World War II. Next I went to Kettering to see my old friend Ryan who came on a cross-country tour with me 20 years ago. I had stayed with Ryan on a more recent visit to England, but that was probably 17 years ago now. I met his wonderful family and we caught up over dinner and some excellent Scotch. From there I headed on to Warwick to see my buddy Chris who was one of my first-season passengers. He showed me around the medieval town of Warwick and Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon. He also kept me out way past my bedtime on a Friday night drinking beers with his friends. It was awesome to look through Chris’ photo album of the tour we took together so many years ago.
Hello everyone and a very Happy New Year to you all. This is obviously a great time of year for reflection on the year gone past and planning for the year ahead. 2022 had a lot of ups and downs in my world, but at the end of the day, I would consider it to have been a very good year in my life. I spent the first half of 2022 traveling across the country, exploring, taking photos and trying to get myself back in the mindset of having a regular job for a while. I learned a lot about the desert southwest, the indigenous people who call and called it home and the colonial powers which have moved through the region over the last five centuries. Shadow Catcher and I made it all the way to the Pacific Ocean and it was great to finally get there on this particular journey. I’ve spent a lot of my adult life on the west coast, but it may have been my van’s first time and it was good to be there together.
In May I started working for a new company in a new place. Getting back into a career which has spanned 15 seasons over the last 22 years wasn’t quite like riding a bike. There were pitfalls and stumbles which weren’t helped any by the pandemic, floods, fires and earthquakes. But my management team was incredibly supportive and my passengers were almost all wonderful people who had learned to roll with the punches pretty well over the last couple of years. My first trip brought me back to Hawaii - which was like a dream for a few days until Covid finally caught up with me there. I had to try and deal with it on the road, something I had tried so hard to avoid. I got through it, but Covid would poke its ugly head out several more times over the next few months.
It wasn’t all work though. In August I got out to a five day reunion for my old company, Trek America, which was to celebrate the 50th anniversary which never came to be. It was an amazing five days out in the redwoods of Northern California, catching up with some really old friends and making new ones it seemed I had known forever. I also got out to spend a long weekend with some other friends and our historical society The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus. I’ve known some of those guys for 22 years (one of whom I trained with as a tour guide back in April of 2000) and it was wonderful to catch up with them as well. I even dated someone for a few months this summer, which was fun right up until she met someone who lived in her town and would be a more stable fit. It was a familiar story for me, but I wish them all the best. I’m grateful for the time we had and it was nice to have some companionship for a change. I also got to catch up with several of my west coast friends this summer who I haven’t seen since before the pandemic and it was amazing to see them all…
Hello Everyone! I know it’s been two months since last I wrote, and I’m sorry for the long pause between posts. As my tour season wore on, I began to wear out and had less and less energy to focus on anything but the job at hand. While not an exceptionally long season time-wise at six months, I ran 18 tours since May which was significantly more than I normally would. Some tours were 2-3 weeks as they would have been in the old days, but many were only 2-6 days. Each tour has a life of its own and shorter tours require a burst of energy which never really settles into a comfortable rhythm. Looking back at this past season, as I sit here warm and cozy on the other end of it at my mother’s dining room table here in Washington DC, it was amazing. I met hundreds of wonderful people from all over the world and took them to some truly awesome places. I got to see some old favorites and had plenty of new experiences as well. The summer was full of laughter and stories and joyful poses in front of the camera after long hikes led us to spectacular vistas. I found nothing but support and understanding from my new company and am already looking forward to working for them again next season. But first I have a winter full of my own adventures to plan and enjoy as I have no intention of going back to work before May.
When last I wrote, I was preparing for a 6 day tour through Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Yosemite gave us an easy and familiar start, and the smoke from summer fires had finally cleared from the valley. From there, we travelled to Sequoia National Park which had some beautiful vistas but was horrifically scarred by major fires in 2020 and 2021. I felt like a government fire assessor as we hiked through burned out forest to the lookout on Big Baldy and one of my passengers commented (humorously) that it felt like “hiking through Armageddon”. Our drive down into Kings Canyon was excellent, though, and I enjoyed this short tour with a small group of just four people.
My next trip brought me on another 6 day adventure, this time to Napa and Sonoma for a “walking and wine” tour. Eight of my nine passengers on this trip were a group traveling together from New Jersey which made for an interesting dynamic. They were all wonderful people, but it was definitely different to have such a big group within my group. We did some magnificent hikes though, especially out to Tamales Bay on the coast where we spotted coyotes and elk along the way to fantastic overlooks of the Pacific Ocean. I also enjoyed getting back to Muir Woods after many years away on this trip. I found us some delicious places to eat out in wine country and my group enjoyed several wine tastings as well.
The final trip of my season took me back to the desert for a nice eight day loop taking in Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. We spent Thanksgiving in Grand Canyon and were treated to a real feast at Yavapai Lodge. I also had the opportunity to climb Angels Landing in Zion, a hike I haven’t done in many years…
Hello Everyone! I hope everyone is having a pleasant October so far. I haven’t seen much in the way of leaves changing color out here in California, but the window decorations in the stores are telling me that Halloween is right around the corner. It’s always a fun time of year and it usually means that the end of my tour season is also in sight. Three more trips and I’m a free man for the winter and while it’s been an amazing season, I’m looking forward to being back on my own for a while.
Since I last wrote, I’ve run two 3 day tours to Yosemite and had a week in between all to myself. The trips were both really good, with excellent groups and decent weather. It’s starting to cool off a bit in the mountains, and the smoke from this summer’s fires seems to be mostly gone. I ran both trips in pretty much the same way, with wonderful hikes in the valley, the high country and down to see the giant sequoias. I can definitely say I’ve come to know Yosemite better this summer than I could have ever imagined, which is something I’ve really enjoyed. It used to be my favorite park in the country, but traffic and crowded trails dropped it down my list a few notches over the years. With the introduction of a reservation system, the number of people in the park seemed much more reasonable this summer, and I’ve really enjoyed my time there. I’ve gotten to hike most of my favorite trails, and discovered plenty of new ones as well. I have one more trip to Yosemite this summer, but I’m already looking forward to returning next year when the waterfalls are back and spring is in the air.
Between these trips, I got out of the bay area for a week, and Shadow Catcher and I got to spend some serious time together while I got out and explored a little more of California. We started by heading down to the coast at Santa Cruz, a nice little beach community about an hour south of San Francisco. It was the filming location for the beach scenes in the 1980s classic horror film The Lost Boys, so it’s always had a special place in my heart. As a kid who had never been to the west coast, I imagined all California beach towns looked like Santa Cruz. It was pretty quiet when I was there and I enjoyed wandering around the boardwalk, hanging out with the sea lions out on the pier, photographing the lighthouses and just enjoying the smell of the salt air and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. I even found a great little dive bar called Brady’s Yacht Club with $2 beers, by far the cheapest I’ve seen anywhere in California in a very long time.
I spent an afternoon and evening there and the following morning as well before heading down the coast to Monterey. I’ve spent some time in Monterey before and have always wanted to visit the aquarium and this seemed like a good chance to do it..
Hey y’all! Gosh, it’s been awhile. My summer has been really busy and hectic, but it’s finally starting to slow down a little bit. I just got back from a two week trip to Montana and Wyoming and the leaves are already changing up there. Football is back on the television and pumpkin-spiced everything is showing up in stores and on menus. That must mean fall has arrived. While I’m going to continue working through November, my trips will be more spread out and I’ll have a little bit more time to catch up with you guys and on some of my other projects. It’s been a busy summer, but a good one and it’s taken me to beautiful places with wonderful people.
When last I wrote, I was on my way to Northern California for a reunion with a bunch of my old tour guiding friends. It was a truly magical 5 days in the redwoods in a beautiful, secluded, private camp with a hundred really wonderful people. Some were old friends I haven’t seen in 20 years while others I knew only by reputation. We laughed a lot and shared stories of our similar but vastly different experiences on the roads of North America (and beyond, for some). It’s been rare that I’ve felt so much a part of something, and my 20 years of involvement with the company meant I could bridge a lot of gaps and fill in a lot of missing chapters to the story. The founders of the company were there, and they shared their story about the humble beginnings of TrekAmerica way back in 1972. It was fascinating to hear how it all began, and we had tour guides there from every season from the very start to the very end, when the company closed its doors during the pandemic. I’m glad we had a full five days out there as a weekend just wouldn’t have been enough.
I took an extra day after the reunion to make my way back down the coast and be sure that Shadow Catcher put some miles on. She handled like a dream and it was nice to be driving her down the Pacific coast. As far as I know, it was the first time she’d seen the Pacific and it meant that after 5 years we had finally made it all the way across the country together from sea to shining sea.
After the reunion, I returned to San Francisco and ran a quick little tour out to Yosemite. While on the trail, I ran into two friends I had taken on tour way back in 2015. It was great to see them and to catch up for a few minutes and reminisce about our trip together.
My next trip was an enjoyable San Francisco/Yosemite/Lake Tahoe combination with a fun group of British passengers in their 30s and 40s. The trip included a full day of sightseeing in the city, a great sunset cruise on Lake Tahoe and a stand-up paddleboard lesson
Hello Everyone! Happy August to you! It’s been an intensely busy few weeks out here on the road and I have barely had time to think, much less right a blog post. These last few weeks I’ve been on a mad dash around the Sierra Nevada Mountains and through the desert and it has been really great to be back in some of my favorite places. I’ve had good groups with me who have been supportive and enthusiastic, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with them. It’s monsoon season out in the desert, so rain clouds have been a constant companion, but the desert needs all the rain it can get and I’ve been able to work around them for the most part. Temperatures have soared as high as 114° out here and I’ve been doing my best to stay hydrated and healthy in the extreme conditions. All of that being said, it’s been a heck of a few weeks as I’ve spent most of it on the kind of trip I cut my teeth on many years ago. It’s always good to get back to your roots now and again.
When last I wrote, I was headed off on a 5 day walking tour in the mountains. The Wawona Fire was blazing in Yosemite, so we had to make adjustments to make it work. We still got into the Valley, but it was quite hazy and the air quality was poor. We made up for it with a hike out at Hetch Hetchy and a hike up Lembert Dome in the high country. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best I could do and my group was very appreciative that they could at least see the highlights of the park. From there we headed out to Mammoth for the night.
The next day we hiked out and around Convict Lake, a first for me. It’s always nice to check out some new places and this trip had a few new spots in store for me. Convict Lake gets its name from a standoff between a local posse and a group of 29 convicts who had escaped from the prison in Carson City. It was a beautiful place for a walk and my group enjoyed a nice swim afterwards while I pulled the van around. From there we made our way north to the South Tufa area of Mono Lake. Mono Lake has several inlets but no outlets, making it one of the saltier lakes in the country as the water evaporates and the minerals remain. Natural springs under the lake percolate calcium rich water which deposits as calcium carbonate, leaving fascinating formations called Tufa Pinnacles. After some time there, we headed north again to the shores of beautiful Lake Tahoe. There was music, beer and food trucks at the public beach, so we spent our evening there – swimming in the lake and enjoying the show. It was a heck of a way to spend the last evening of our trip. We hiked to the postcard-perfect Echo Lake the next morning before returning to San Francisco.
I had a couple of days to get ready for my next trip and then made a beeline for Los Angeles where it would begin
Hello Everyone! I hope all of my American readers had a fabulous 4th of July. I spent mine in Yosemite National Park, which is a beautiful tribute to so much of what’s right with this country. Ken Burns was definitely onto something when he called our national parks “America’s greatest idea”. This country has had its ups and downs and the pendulum continues to swing, but I’m sure you know by now how passionate I am about our national parks and public lands in general. While there were definitely no fireworks allowed anywhere in the vicinity of Yosemite do to extreme drought and fire hazards, I was happy to spend some of the day in the shadow of the mountain known as Liberty Cap – it seemed quite fitting.
Since I am back to work and will be incredibly busy these next few months, these updates are going to come sporadically throughout the summer and early fall. During the last few years, I’ve tried to get them out pretty religiously on Wednesdays with an excellent success rate, but when I’m working it’s a different story. I’m slowly starting to shake the rust off from three years without guiding a tour and I’ve definitely been enjoying being back on the road and being back on payroll. It’s always good to see my accounts rolling up instead of down. I’ve also loved being back in front of a group, sharing my passion for nature and history and sharing travel stories and laughs over dinner and drinks. I have strangely been asked on two of my first four trips to give a brief overview of the American Civil War. Neither was brief, but I like to think they have a significantly better idea of what the war was about.
I’ve been really hoping to have one trip go off without a hitch as most of my trips did for many years before the pandemic. I’ve always been good at covering my bases so that even when things go wrong, most of my passengers will never know the difference. That’s been hard so far this season, and this current trip was no different. I only had four passengers scheduled on this current trip to Yosemite, but only two showed up on our first night together. Thankfully the other two at least left word as to where they were and by the evening of the second day I had all my ducklings gathered ‘round me. This was another 5 day hiking tour to Yosemite and the weather really couldn’t have been better. It was in the mid-60s to low-70s all week and not a cloud in the sky – perfect Yosemite hiking weather. The snow-melt-fed waterfalls are still going strong and the wildflowers are in full bloom. Once I had all of my passengers with me, I could tell we were in for a wonderful week.
And a wonderful week it was. On Sunday we went for lunch at the Iron Door Saloon, the oldest saloon in California dating back to 1852. Then we went out and hiked to see the giant sequoias, the largest living things on earth. Spending time among the sequoias is always humbling and awe-inspiring. When Jesus walked the earth, some of these trees were already a thousand years old.
Monday found us on the Mist Trail, hiking up 1600’ past the beautiful Vernal and Nevada Falls. This is a heavily traveled route and because of that is one I haven’t hiked in many years. I prefer to spend my time in Yosemite in quieter corners of the park. It has been nice to revisit this hike this season as it was the very first hike I ever did in Yosemite, 22 years ago when I was on my training trip to become a guide.
