Sequoia National Forest and Bakersfield

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Kate here...

We've been chillaxing with our friends Audrey and Erin at their brand new house in Bakersfield for a couple of days. The air conditioning is tres fabulous, as is the company. Congrats to Audrey and Erin and their new homeownership!

When we last left you, we were trying to figure out how long we wanted to stay at Joshua Tree National Park. As we drove down I-40 towards the Arizona/California state line on Wednesday the 21st, we saw that the temperature was 110 as we approached the exit we'd have to take to Joshua Tree. At that point there was a unanimous decision to bypass Joshua Tree all together and instead find somewhere to camp for a couple of nights in Sequoia National Forest. So we powered on through the Mojave Desert, skirted Bakersfied and started climbing up into the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. On the shores of Lake Isabella, we managed to find a couple of nice rangers who were already an hour off the clock, but still willing to give us camping directions and recommendations and even wrote up campfire permit to boot. Many thanks.

We started climbing up into the Greenhorn Mountains and were soon greeted by nice cool temperatures, big trees, and lots of shade. The ranger had recommended a campground called Evan's Flat, way up on Greenhorn Summit. It was very remote and very beautiful, and only one other of the dozen or so campsites was occupied on our first night.

There were a metric assload of flies, which wasn't too bad except for the fact that Bela decided to obsess about them. Seriously...she went fly-crazy, lounging and snapping at every fly that flew within a feet of her, which was a lot. She also managed to break one of the sections of one of the poles of the Pup Tent in such a way that it no longer stands up. Hopefully we'll be able to get a replacement pole in the Bay Area.

Emma G's sore paws seemed to get worse, so we cleaned them up with antiseptic and moisturizer and MacGyver'd some home-made bandages. We also opted not to go hiking during our stay to give her a chance to heal up and recover.

The second day, our neighbors departed and we had the afternoon all to ourselves, for a little while at least. Then a large party showed up and decided to camp right next to us, as opposed to the multiple other sites that would've provided both them and us some amount of privacy. I never understand why people do that, but oh well. They also had motorcycles, which they rode all around the campground for a few hours. Needless to say, I was not their biggest fan.

On Friday morning we packed up and drove almost all the way back to Bakersfield in a one lane dirt road used by the Forest Service and a half-dozen private land owners. The roads and the views reminded me very much of back home in Humboldt, as you all will see once we get to Humboldt and start taking some pictures for comparison. It was amazing to watch the scenery change so drastically with just a few thousand feet difference in elevation.

For the next few days we'll be visiting my family in California on our way north to Humboldt, so I'm not sure how much blogging we'll be doing. We'll be sure to get some pictures up eventually, as we'll be going either up the coast on Highway 1 or through Napa Valley, and then there's always the Redwoods...

See you soon!

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Comments

[northwoods1]

Fond memories!
Just the mention of Humboldt brought back a flood of memories from the years that I lived in Crescent City and made frequent trips to Arcata and Eureka. The entire coastal highway between Smith River at the Oregon/CA border and San Francisco is my all time favorite. Prarie Creek Redwoods State Park, esp. Fern Canyon trail, is the beyond words kind of beautiful. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of your photos from Northern CA. Continued happy travels Shay and Kate.....Denise

[Scott]

BAKERSFIELD!!
BAKERSFIELD