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Published: October 25th 2010
South Tahoe Lake
Saturday September 25th. 9.30pm. I get the car at the SFO airport.
Only one thing in mind: Driving. Driving to get away from the big city and face the Nature.
Oakland, Richmond, Sacramento, several interesting cities I overtake just to reach the lake, South Tahoe Lake.
200 miles after, here I am. Lost in the deep dark night, "I saw the sign" (Ace of Base copyright). South Tahoe Lake. It is almost 2am, I have driven 4 or 5 hours, and I am dead meat. Let's park the car, grab the sleeping bag and... sleep. But for that I need to make sure I find a quiet spot for the house (I mean my car). Exploring the forest and search for a place, thinking "it should be easy, no ?". Until I met a bear ! Yes, a big bear going around the streets seeking for food. Well, not that I am afraid the bear will open the door of my car and grab me for dinner but it's a rental car and I would like to avoid on the 1st day to get bear scratches on it... so back to the main road with cars and
trucks passing by to find a place among the "no overnight parking" and get some sleep.
South Tahoe Lake is really nice, it is, just as the name indicates it, a big lake in the middle of the forest. Very popular in winter (especially the North side) as a ski resort, and in summer for all nautic activities (mainly waterski and sailing). It is typical american, meaning full of picnic areas with fire places to enjoy a barbecue with friends (by the way, I take the oportunity to tell you that barbecue does not come from "barbe-au-cul". It is mexican) despite you cannot bring alcohol. Not even a bottle of rosé.
In late september not much is happening, so I just went around and then headed to my next visit.
Bodie
Bodie, close to Carson city (Nevada), is a ghost town. It was one of the biggest place for the gold seekers until they did not find gold around anymore... SInce that the city has been abandonned and some times after the State decided to maintain it as a National Park. So you can feel the life at that time, with the saloon etc.. Quite interesting, although
you can see other smaller ghost towns on the roads around.
What is more interesting is that you are in Nevada. So typical. Signs for the holy bible everywhere, and casino everywhere too !! Quite common to have slots machines in the fuel station or a casino in the middle of nowhere, just because it is along the border with California. So you drive on a road where you have not met anyone for the last 2 hours, and then you find a casino ! So weird.
Yosemite
Biggest national park of California and definitly most visited one, Yosemite is all-about trekking and hiking. This park is soooo big that you already need half-day just to go through with the car ! Moi, vous me connaissez ? J'adore le sport et je deteste sortir. Quel bonheur de faire des ballades en montagnes !! I came via the Toga entrance, next to Mono Lake, and started very confident with myself on my abilities to go hiking. After one day, and maybe 20 miles (not exagerrating), I couldn't feel my legs anymore. I still managed to reach some high points, up to 9000ft high, and I am very proud
about my performance of climbing barefoot the bridalveil waterfall. Some of the hikking trails/ places I visited: Dog lake, May lake, Dom, Sunset glacier point, Mariposa grove, etc..
The valley is fantastic, just a bit overcrowded, you will find many many places for picnic in beautiful landscapes. I only regret that after summer there is no more water on the Yosemite falls, so it is less spectacular.
Mammoth Lake
One of the most famous ski resort of the west coast, Mammoth Lake has few interest out of that. I can only recommend "Jack's" in Bishop, most probably the best place for breakfast.
Very amazing is the Devil's postpile monument. Due to heat and cold over years, very strange phenomenon led to these strange pieces of stones. Check the pictures
Death Valley
Totally amazing area. The reputation has not been stolen, it is damn hot there ! When I went is was around 110 Farenheit, about 45 Celsius ! And whatever the greeks can say about temperatures in summer, it has nithing to do with that ! At some point they advise to swith off the A/C when going uphill to avoid over-heating issues, but
the outside temp is around 50 celsius !! Even when driving over 60mph the outside air is burning your face.
Thanks god the 2nd day I was there it was cloudy and windy so I could handle it much more easily.
The landscapes are totally breath-taking. You feel sooo small in the middle of the mountains, fade in the pallet of colors. The artist drive is stunning. Basically you drive uphill and downhill all the time, so it brings you a totally different approach of the valley/mountain. Every corner is a discovery. Every side is a new excitment.
But what is even more amazing is the surrounding. I stayed overnight in villages of less than 100 unhabitants, with no even a pub/bar to get a beer in the evening. The town is basically a motel, a fuel station, a "restaurant", and a shop. What you see is a lot of old pick-up trucks and RVs (camping car) laying in the fields, abandonned. You can drive hours and hours without seeing a car, without phone coverage, exactly like in the movies. so it exists. like in the movies !!
Zion National Park
Pretty similar to Yosemite in a
way that this park is mainly about hikking trails, Zion is the typical red rocks area you can imagine in those states (Nevada/Utah/Arizona). Unfortunately it was raining like crazy when I was there, so not so many oportunities to discover the park by foot. According the the guards it was a loooong time they have not seen such a dramatic rain. It is usually extremly dry and you can't imagine how happy they were with the rain (it was more than 4 months without any rain at all...). The particularity of this park is that you park the car and you get on the little bus train to go around. THe raod is closed for private cars until november. 7 stops on the way with trails to visit by yourself. Very nice. But due to the weather, the guards were advising not to go too far... It is a bottom-up visit, so you see the rocks from the low part.
Bryce canyon
Thanks to Sandra for telling me about Bryce. The most amazing place I have ever seen !! You won't find various views/landscapes like in Yosemite or Death Valley, but you will be astounded by Nature.
Soooo spectacular. It is surnatural. Again, the weather is extremly bad, it rains like hell and it is very cold (max 15 celsius). Some camping are closed because of rain rivers and people are locked in !! Then came the dusk... I guess I am part of the happy few having pictures of Bryce canyon in the rain with dusk ! This day I discovered the important of the baseball hat, not to protect from the sun but from the rain !!
Grand Canyon
Here is the trick. The Gand Canyon (at leat the West part) is located on the Indian ground, so they basically decide everything there. After driving 20 miles in the dust on unpaved road, you reach a big parking where the "Hualapai Tribe" asks you over 40$ to get in the bus to see the Grand CAnyon, and an other 30$ to go on the skywalk where you cannot even take your own pictures !!! A found it a total hop-up so I did not go. I have been advised after that the Noth SIde is the best, because it is very cheap to enter and not so touristic.
The West side is
basically the worst one, full of helicopters, planes, etc. But at least you can have (priced) pictures with the tribe and have the oportunity to see a indian show. What a joke !
Conclusion
I liked very much Yosemite, because you find various landscapes and so many trails that despite all the tourists you can have a quiet ballad. It is a must for hikers. And you can spend 2 or 7 days there, you won't get bored.
But I prefered Death Valley for the colors, the height variations and especially the multitude of landscapes, as well as the "heat feeling" you have. And at last Bryce for the astonishment: How the Nature could have produced that ???
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In a city called BEATTY, between Death Valley and Las Vega, at the Sourdough Saloon, I have put on the wall a banknote of 1$ (the tradition in the village.) with the following message :"Jingle was there". The person who brings a picture of this banknote will be offered 100$ to play at the casino of his/her choice in the fabulous Las Vegas.
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Nikki
non-member comment
Grand Canyon West Comment
Bonjour Laurent, You took some great photos on your National Park trip... It must have been a very memorable experience. I was very disappointed, however, to read that you think that the efforts of the Hualapai at Grand Canyon West are 'a joke'. They are one of the few tribes that have turned towards tourism to aid their ailing economy, not casinos or golf courses. Because their land is not a National Park, the government does not provide certain amenities such as paved roads. Therefore, the tribe must pay for and build all of these types of amenities. For that reason, they charge entrance to their reservation and entrance to the Skywalk. Improvement at Grand Canyon West comes from this revenue. They are proud of their land and heritage and have chosen to share it with visitors, people who would never have had the chance to meet an 'Indian' otherwise. And if you've never been there, how can you know that it is 'the worst one, full of helicopters, planes, etc.' Some people appreciate their visit to the North Rim and find the experience much more fulfiling than visiting the 'cheap' North Rim. I hope that the next time you are in the Grand Canyon West area, that you will play the game and see for yourself.