West Coast travels

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The rest of our time in San Francisco was a ball- lots of cable car and tram rides, lovely day in Carmel and Monterey before crossing the Golden Gate and Richmond bridges and a fast trip via Sacremento to San Andreas (which is not where the famous fault line lies) on the H49. This was the area where gold was first discoveres in 1849 and reminded us all of our own gold field areas. Ken our host is a Head of Department in Agriculture and runs a commercial catering business whilst Linda is Auditor /General Manager of the local county. They were great hosts and we had a fabulous time with them - it reminded us of a certain Putney 2 party with John and Noel in the kitchen as they whipped up some fabulous meals. Imagine fluffy pancakes with sour cream and loads of fresh strawberries for breakfast - they sure beat our usual muesli and trail mix breakfast!

Yosemite was special with its high peaks and massive water falls and luckily we were there just after lots of rain so they were all in full flow. We saw a number of climbers on the face of Half Dome doing a Phil - and even one at the top peeking over the edge at where he had climbed who deserved a medal after 4 days going up the face. There were too many people travelling through the park for us to feel the personal impact Yosemite must have had on the first explorers and those who know it in all it's moods and weathers but it is certainly a place you can't miss on your travels.

Afer San Andreas we took local advice and travelled on Highway 4 to Calaveras Big Trees State Park with Sierra Redwoods and Giant Sequoias, one with a diameter of 9m (still 6m diameter 2m up the trunk) and with many over 20 metres tall. WOW!!

We had a wonderful couple of hours there before we moved on and things only got better as we drove and climbed up the High Sierras to a pass at 8,900 ft after going up and down valleys and ridges at around 6000 ft. Heavy snow coverage and ice on the rivers and lakes was spectacular and it was all overlooked by towering mountains in the distance. It was cold and beautiful and us lowlanders from Oz were very impressed and lots of pictures were taken that day! Finished the day at Lake Tahoe where they were swimming below snow capped mountains and Reno for a touch of R&R at a casino.

Our Pontiac Mondeo took us and Ross and Helen plus 4 x 3 months of gear in comfort through 2200 miles over 6 days driving until we hit the outlet malls in Oregon when the luggage space seemed to be not quite enough for us all.

After Reno we drove back into N California skirting 3 sides of Mt Shasta (over 14000 ft), one of the cascade volcanoes. We met a father and his 18 year old daughter who had climbed the mountain over 2 days as part of an annual ritual they follow. The mountain was an (as they say over here) AWESOME sight and we were a bit disappointed later to read that it is only the 49th tallest in North America! Our travels in this area have coincided with a series of earthquakes off the the coast and it was not comforting to read the headline "Series of Quakes in California. Foreshadow a Big One. Or Not). The facts and figures are scary but I guess people just get on with living in a quake zone same as they do in NZ and Japan.

Accommodation that night was a log cabin below Crater lake with our G&T's enjoyed next to a delightful mountain stream. Crater Lake the next day was as magic as we had heard it would be even if it was a bit overcast. Snow iwas n abundance causing some parts still to be closed. However we feasted on hot coffee at the Lodge in front of the fire and looked in awe at the spectacle of the lake before driving along the eastern ridge. The erruption of Mt Mazama that created Crater Lake occurred 7,700 years ago and it was 42 times more powerful that the 1980 Mt St Helen erruption that we saw the effects of the next day. Lots more photos taken!!

We drove on to the Columbia River Gorge that night and stayed next to the River where we could see the trains on either side and barges travelling up and down.

Our last driving day was down the Gorge to Portland past a sequence of beautiful falls (and also another outlet mall) before we took a 45 mile detour to the Johnstone Ridge Visitor Centre which is as close as you can get to Mt St Helen these days. The clouds lifted enough for us to see into the crater itself. The impact of the 1980 erruption really came home to us all as we drvoe through the lava, pumice and mud scarred landscape and as we saw and heard about the impact on the area at the fabulous National Park centres. The recent activity has slowed down and the mountain is slumbering again (or not) depends on what you want to believe I guess as the prediction of volcanic action seems a very inexact science.

We made it into Seattle last night and certainly weren't sleepless as the four of us were exhausted from the long drive but happy with what we had managed to see in that time.it was 6 days of contrast and rugged beauty. It's a rest day in Seattle as we prepare to travel to Canada and board the cruise boat on Sunday in Vancouver for more adventuring. Keep up your stamina as we have a way to go yet before your cyber trip ends!

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Photos

The cable centre
The huge wheels that drive the cable cars over the hills of SF

Col and a tram
surprise - surprise

Cable car hanging
Ross, Helen and Col

Lyn - the tree hugger
A giant sequoia

Helen at Multnomah Falls
In the Columbia River Gorge

Us in front of the volcano
As close as i ever want to be