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Published: August 4th 2014
Tuesday 29
th We stock up with food, drink and fuel as we leave the camp site having learnt to do so while we can.
We head off on the 41 towards Fresno and decide to take a look at the place. As we approach Fresno the road network's not as per our map and before we know what's happened we're at a spaghetti junction and on the road to Kings Canyon. Goodbye Fresno !
We plow on and cross open fields and lots of fruit growing areas.
The road up to Kings Canyon is another tight winding road and we get the odd glimpse of the valleys below. Eventually we arrive at the rangers station and get into the park.
We pull into the first camp ground we see and find it's really empty. We get a good choice of sites and pick one under the trees for shade. The temps cooled down to 85 degrees.
We then go over to the visitors centre for some info before driving off to Panoramic Point. It's a short narrow up hill road and we have to walk the final few yards to the view point. It's a
great view of the valley below and mountains in the distance, at least it would be but for the smoke from another forest fire. It's still a good view but a bit cloudy !
Our next stop is the General Grant Grove where we see the Grant Tree and several other giant Sequoias. It's one of the third largest trees in the world by mass and circumference, 107 feet round ! It's huge but we know that there are larger to come ! We've seen the tallest in the world, the Redwoods and now the biggest.
After a stop off to check emails and a quick beer we go back to site for dinner. We're virtually alone in the forest !
After dinner we sit around our fire pit and Christine keeps disappearing only to emerge from the dark with handfuls of wood for the fire. By 9 however it's too dark to read so off to bed for yet another early night !
Wednesday 30
th We wake to the pitter patter sound of rain on the roof only for it to get heavier. Breakfast is cooked under the tailgate of the van and we
eat inside.
Today we drive to the other end of Kings Canyon. Apparently it's deeper than the Grand Canyon.
The roads pretty steep and winding and progress is slow. I keep pulling over for other vehicles to pass us. Our first turn off is along dirt track to see the Chicago Stump. It's a terrible road and we wished we hadn't turned onto it. However we keep going and after about 3 miles we find the stump. It's just a very ordinary stump ! No explanation about it, nothing ! What a waste of time.
Back on the main road and we wind our way down into the canyon. The canyon's enormous and spectactular. We stop at various view points but the rainy showers spoil some of the views.
Our next stop is at Grizzly Falls but it's more like Whinny the Pooh ! Not that much water flowing over them.
On we go to the end of the canyon and pull in at Zumwalt Meadow where we take a short walk. It's an easy mile or so stroll and the scenery's pretty good. Lush meadow with a river flowing round it and a mountain
backdrop. The main mountain being called The Sentinel at 8518 feet.
The canyon's a dead end so we turn round and head back.
On the way back we call in at the Cedar Grove Visitor Centre where we see a discarded ice box and ice. We quickly rescue them, making us feel like real travelers !
The way back's mostly uphill and we stop a number of times to take in the views which are stunning !
Another gorgeous park.
Back on site we venture to the showers where we learn to shower and hair wash in 3 mins before the timer runs out !
Thursday 31
st We set off for Sequoia NP and it's another tortuous road with more turns than a corkscrew. The van's in third or second gear all the way as we go round bends at 15 and 20 mph. Anything over 22 feet is not allowed on the road.
The scenery is wonderful as we see into the distant mountains.
Our first stop is at the General Sherman tree. This Sequoia is officially the biggest tree in the world by volume. It's huge round the trunk
but not that high. The tree is amongst many other giant Sequoias.
We drive on very slowly and the turn for our next stop isn't marked so we miss it ! We continue down and out of the park and as we go down the temperature goes up. It reaches 105 ! Too hot hot walking.
We reach Three Rivers, a small “town” and find a camp site beside the river. It's so hot we spend the afternoon sitting beside a swimming hole and taking the plunge from time to time to cool off.
In the evening we have a bbq in 95 degrees ! We've run out of charcoal so it's our last one.
Friday 1
st A hot night and in the morning I find out that Christine's not been well and spent some of the night sitting outside. I hope it wasn't the pork chops !
We spend the morning down by the river swimming and reading. Around mid day we head off. The road's through fruit farms and some vineyards. We also pass a huge lake but the water's very low.
We've read that Visalia has some interesting buildings so
we stop off. We walk along Main Street looking for the Victorian buildings but all we see are a couple of Art Deco ones. There's lots of take away shops and restaurants but not much else. The place was hardly worth stopping for.
We press on along Route 198 and the 63 until we reach Tulare. Our stop for the night at the Sun & Fun RV Park. It's just off the highway and I mean JUST off the highway.
We park up and go to the swimming pool as the temps over 105. As we sit reading we are bathed in the sound of traffic noise until the Amtrax train goes by with its horn blaring ! It's a lovely spot !
We sit around and in the pool for the rest of the day before returning to the van to make dinner. It's still hot !
Saturday 2
nd I find that the Amtrax is a very regular train, as it goes past every 30 mins through the night sounding its horn. We get woken around 5 am by the strong smell of drains filling the van. It's awful ! Back to sleep only
to be woken around 6.30 by a light aircraft. Can people here ever sleep ?
Around 8 I ask a resident what the smell is. He tells me it's silage from all the farmland. Good luck to the residents !
A slow morning as we catch up with friends Richard and John on Skype before leaving.
Heading south on Route 63 the traffic gets much heavier and when we turn onto Interstate 5 it's like driving on the M25 at rush hour. Four lanes wide and all going at 65 mph. The large trucks shake the van as they pass. It's not a pleasant drive.
We pull off in Gorman and find it's just a McDonalds and a petrol station. We have an ice cream.
Not much further and we pull off at the RV Park just outside Pyramid Lake. It's another scruffy site and fairly typical of the private ones we've been on.
We drive down to the lake to have a look but a jobsworth on the gate won't let us have a look without paying 11 dollars for the priveledge. Another official tells us to drive up the road a couple
of miles to a visitors centre and we can have a better look for free !
The centre explains all about California's water system and is quite interesting and we get to look at the lake for nothing. The lake's huge and surrounded by semi desert hills.
Back at our site we sit around the pool for the rest of the afternoon reading and swimming. My swimming's improved while we've been away and Christine and I have our last race. I've won most of them lately but dam it ! She beats me on the last one.
In the evening we have our last dinner from the van.
Sunday 3
rd Grey skies and rain as we wake and have our last breakfast inside the van. No rush to leave as it's only about 50 miles to LA.
Back on Interstate 5 and the traffic's light to start with but as we get nearer to LA we get 5 lanes of speeding vehicles.
We turn onto Highway 405 and the traffic gets much heavier, faster and up to 7 lanes wide. Cars over take and undertake, anyway to get passed each other. Surprising that
there's no accidents.
We trundle along at 55 mph and have cars zipping in front and behind us all the way. It's not much
fun.
Thank goodness we eventually reach our turn off for West Boulevard and find the Comfort Inn next to the camper van yard for tomorrow's return.
We clear the van out and Christine starts to pack for tomorrow's flight. W then sit round the pool for a while.
This evening we eat out for the first time since arriving in the States. A nothing sort of day.
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Roger Smith
non-member comment
Biggest tree in the world
Knowing the Americans propensity to use the word 'world' when describing things in America (World Wrestling Federation for example) I am curious to know the authority that declared this the largest tree in the world. Did some work experience student working for the Guiness World Record mob spend his or her adult lifetime travelling the world measuring all the trees that were contenders or is it the usual American thing of declaring it the biggest in the world and then wait for someone to disprove it. Still a big bugger though, isn't it?