Spent this summer (June-Sept) as an Aquatic Bio Tech in Sequoia and Kings Canyon Nat'l Parks. Most of my time was spent trippin' around north of the border in Kings Canyon. Talk about some seriously beautiful wilderness. I'll have to take some time to relive some moments, post some pics, whatever. for now I'll just try out this bloggy thing and see if it clicks. [View Full Entry]

---

---

A few photos from my trip to California earlier this year. Coming up in future posts: Las Vegas, NV; Deception Pass, WA; a Colorado potpourri; and Dyer, IN. Safe travels. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Next stop: Sequia National Park... Wir machen uns also auf, packen das Auto, verabschieden uns von Gudrun und Billy und fahren los... 1/2 Mile... dann drehen wir wieder um. Ich habe die Kamera vergessen... In dem moment ruft auch schon Gugi an um uns das zu sagen und Billy kommt mit seinem Jeep angebraust um uns vor dem National Park noch abzufangen. Ok, nun sind wir endlich unterwegs... Der Verkehr aus L.A. ist ziemlich angenehm... wir lassen L.A. langsam hinter uns liegen und passieren die grossen Waldbraende, sehen können wir davon zum Glück nichts, aber man riecht sie. Langsam ver [View Full Entry]

---

---

Finally Marek was able to leave everything behind and go on vacation. We took our little boat and went where is green, cool and not too far, to Sierra (officially called Sierra Nevada). It is 6 hours of driving from our home (with the boat in tow 8). Sierra is about 350 miles long and 80-40 miles wide, having picturesque alpine lakes, deep canyons, numerous cascade waterfalls, little glaciers, high summits to conquer (with Mt. Whitney including) and many more, is a playground to people who like hiking, fishing, rock climbing and any other adventures. It has Lassen National Park, Yosemity [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today, concluding the 2nd full week of road tripping, I packed up and headed out of Yosemite around 8 a.m. It was about a 3-hour drive to get to the entrance to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The 2 parks are connected with Kings Canyon being to the north. I couldn’t get reservations for a campsite because they were all booked up so I decided to head to Kings Canyon because it is usually a lot less busy. It took about an hour to drive to the campgrounds that are deep inside the canyon floor. It was an awesome drive [View Full Entry]

---

---

Zo vandaag weer flink gereden maar ook aardig wat gewandeld en veeeeel gezien. Beetje te, na een slechte nacht slapen. Maar we hadden dit ook zeker niet willen missen. Vanavond maar vroeg naar bed. Wat hebben we allemaal gezien. We zijn begonnen met het binnen rijden van Sequoia N.P. aan de kant van Exeter waar we zaten. Dan kom je na een slordige 40km rijden bij de ingang van het park. Vanaf daar gaan we flink omhoog via wat haarspeldbochten. De Amerikanen zelf zijn hier schijnbaar niet zo mee gewend want ze gingen allemaal vol ontzag voor me aan de kant. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Zo na een heerlijke woensdag bijna niks gedaan te hebben dan alleen aan het zwembad hangen moesten we de donderdag weer gaan. Jammer want het hotel beviel ons wel. Wat een heerlijke kamer. Nadat we aan het zwembad met een Amerikaans stel gesproken hebben, gaven deze ons de tip om Death Valley over te slaan en via Bakersfield naar Sequoia N.P. te rijden. Dit is groener, minder warm, heel mooi en je komt hiervanuit ook de goede kant bij Yosemite N.P. binnenrijden, aldus hun. Deze mensen wonen net boven Los Angeles bij de Nasa landingsbaan oftewel de omgeving is hun niet [View Full Entry]

---

---

Oh man what a long and amazing day! Today we started off on the Sherman Tree trail. General Sherman Tree is the largest tree in the world, meaning that it is not the tallest or widest, but its combination of height and width gives it the most density than any other tree in the world, this shit was super huge. It was taller than the statue of liberty and weighes more than 10 blue whales. After we checked out the tree we took a quick pit stop back at the lodge and while my dad took a power nap, mother and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Alright so this morning while my Mom was doing complamentary yoga (yikes), my father and I drove down to the visitor center near our lodge to check out some hikes in the area. We gathered our reconnaissance and went back to mother with all of the info. We settled on a trail called the Tokopah Valley trail, which was 1.7 miles there and back traveling around the Tokopah river and ending near a waterfall, sounded pretty sweet. I can’t find a map of it online so take my word for it. The trail was amazing, it literally went through the valley [View Full Entry]

---

---

We headed east on 198 through Visalia, driving through groves of orange trees, smelling the most pleasing fragrance (and we knew it wasn't Moe's breath.) We realized we were smelling the orange blossoms, for though the trees still have fruit on them, they are again in bloom. The lemon trees in bloom were just as sweet smelling. We passed Kaweah Lake, very picturesque, and finally arrived at the Ash Mountain entrance to Sequoia National Park. We drove up Generals Highway, climbing and winding, watching the Kaweah River tumbling down, stopping often for pictures. We watched Moro Rock ge [View Full Entry]

---

---