We are off on a 3 week trip to America. Starting in San Francisco and finishing 23 days later in Las Vegas - this is an account of our crazy adventure. Sightseeing and Geocaching along the way.
We woke up to a very foggy morning but apparently this is the norm and it soon cleared.
We stopped off at Shell Beach for a virtual which was an interesting spot with cool sea stacks and noticeably the nesting pelicans were uncannily quiet.
Our USB adaptor had blown a fuse after plugging in the inverter so we had to track down somewhere that sold fuses, after trying a couple of places we managed to find the right ones in Walmart.
Next stop was Solvang - Solvang was an interesting little place, it was founded in 1911 by a group of Danes who travelled west to establish a Danish colony far from the mid-western winters. We didn't have much time there but we did buy a Christmas decoration from the Jule Hus (Christmas Store) and had a lovely chat with the lady behind the counter who told us all about the history of the place and was really interested in our travels.
Then we moved on to Santa Barbara where we did a couple of virtuals, the best one was at the court house, at first we thought it would take too long but we decided to make a start anyway and see how far we got as it had quite a few stages. It was such an interesting building we decided to complete it.
Road to Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara Court House
View from the Court House
The Big Fig
Then it was onward to our motel in West Hollywood.
Once we'd checked in we decided to head up to the Griffiths Observatory to watch the sunset. When we got to within a mile of the observatory the traffic was stationary and we were puzzled as to why there were people trying to sell T-shirts to the cars in the queue, to our surprise we saw they were Adam Ant T-shirts which seemed a little bizarre and random so a quick google and we found that Adam Ant was actually having a come-back concert in the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park - of all the days to choose. We were absolutely amazed how many people were attending this concert, I mean back in the day I was quite a big Adam & the Ants fan but not sure I'd go to a concert now. Realising we had zero chance of getting to the observatory before sunset we did a U-turn and headed back into Hollywood and went to Mel's drive-in - a really cool diner with juke box on every table and loads of choice on the menu.
Checked out of the motel and headed towards Grove Gate for the start of the '17 mile drive' stopping off at Safeway and a couple of independent bakeries on the way for supplies for the day.
The 17 mile drive is a scenic road through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula in Northern California, much of which follows the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses, mansions and scenic attractions, including the Lone Cypress, Bird Rock and the 5,300-acre Del Monte Forest of Monterey Cypress trees.
The Lone Cypress
The Lone Cypress is possibly as old as 250 years and is supposedly one of the most photographed trees in North America. It's been damaged by fire and is now held in place by cables and has been for the past 65 years!
There are numbered points of interest along the road and the accompanying leaflet or phone app gives information on each one. I got talking to someone who very kindly let me view the sea otters through her telescope, it was an amazing thing to see.
The route to San Luis Obispo is mainly along Highway 101 but we took a detour to do a webcam cache at Cayucos. The webcam is right on the beach so after getting the necessary pictures we whisked off our trainers and socks for a paddle. Yup! We have now paddled in the Pacific Ocean! 😎
Looking a few miles along the coast from the beach, there is a huge lump of rock just out at sea. Mark had some vague recollection that it was called Morro. A quick check on the phone and noticed that there was an EarthCache there so we headed there next. The co-ordinates led us to a carpark at the base of Morro. A group of VW enthusiasts had gathered there. There was a splitscreen camper and a couple of old beetles but mainly they were VW Type 3 and Type 4 (don't worry, I haven't gone all car-nerdy: I had to google what they were) basically they are the strange v-dubs which look like stretched Beetles. You don't see many in the UK although Mark says his next door neighbour had one when he was little. Not long after we got there, they all drove off in a cloud of dust...
When planning where to stop on our road trip, we noticed that San Luis Obispo had a drive-in cinema so we thought that would be a good place to stop overnight to break the journey. We checked into our motel and headed to the Sunset Drive-in. As luck would have it, it was showing the second 'Kingsman' film - we had only watched the first on the flight from Heathrow. The cars park facing the screen and the ground undulates so you can park at a slight slope. You tune the car radio to 100.7 and sit back to enjoy the film... OK.... the windscreen was smudged and no amount of water and rubbing with a tissue would shift the bugs so the friendly people in the car next to us gave us some of their bug shifter spray to use.
Everyone there was so friendly and the whole place had a really great feel to it. They charge $9 per car and for that you get 2 movies. We were really surprised at the end of the film when it said that the next film coming up was The Hitman's Bodyguard, we ummed and ahhed about staying to watch but as it was already 10.30 and we had an early start the next morning we decided against it. If we had these back home I would definitely go to the cinema more often it was brilliant.
We had a 'lie-in' until about 6.00 am and then headed back into Yosemite and towards Glacier Point. We hadn't had any phone signal since we left Half Dome Village last night and there wasn't any free WiFi at the hotel. We decided against paying for it as it was $10 for 24 hours and as we hadn't planned on being there long it didn't seem worth it. Anyway, as we drove back into Half Dome village my phone pinged into life and messages came through from our son and daughter asking if we were OK. What we hadn't realised was that the day before there had been a fatal rockfall at El Capitan and our son and daughter were desperate to hear that we were safe as the media had only released details that it was British couple involved that were holidaying in Yosemite. We felt awful that they'd worried all day about us and if we'd known about the rockfall we'd have happily paid for the WiFi to let them know all was well. As it happens we would've been on our way down from Half Dome at the time of the rockfall.
News broadcast
We stopped off at Tunnel View and there were two news crews in the car park reporting on the previous day's events at El Capitan.
Dawn at Tunnel View
Then we continued on our way to Glacier Point which is down a 16 mile dead-end road leading from Wawona Road. Just before we reached this turn off a bear walked across the road in front of us! Mark braked hard but by the time I got my camera out, the bear had wandered off into the bushes and I just managed to capture a short video of its backside sticking out from the bush. Arrgghhh! It was sooooo cute! Really glad we were inside the car though. 😆
Glacier Point road was actually closed a week ago due a wildfire and poor air condition. We turned off Wawona Road into Glacier Point Road and found ourselves in smoke!
After about ten miles we were beginning to get a bit worried as we had not seen any other vehicles and when we saw a roadside tree actually burning, we decided that this was getting too risky and turned around and headed back along the road: we had visions of burning trees falling across the road and blocking the only exit route...but all the while we kept thinking surely the road wouldn't have been reopened if we were in any danger.
After a few miles, we started to see a few other cars heading towards Glacier Point so we decided to turnaround again and head that way. Safety in numbers and all that! :) ... and we really didn't want to miss this part of the trip as we knew it was going to be amazing.
A short while after we'd passed our previous turn-around point, we noticed signs warning of smoke on the road and then nearer to glacier point there were signs saying that it was managed burning and asking not to report it! Doh! It's a pity these signs hadn't been placed earlier along the road.
The view from Glacier point is A-MAZE-ING, a bit hazy but absolutely breathtaking!! You can see one quarter of Yosemite Park and it offers an incredible view of our new best friend.... Half Dome💓.
We both agreed that if we had visited Glacier point BEFORE ascending Half Dome it would have probably unnerved us somewhat.
Yep, I've hiked to the top!!
We had planned to ascend Sentinal Dome befoe leaving Yosemite but the smoke-related faffing around earlier meant that we were running late and we didn't have time. We'd love to come back to Yosemite one day so maybe we'll get chance then.
We finally arrived in Monterey in the early evening and decided to explore what we could of the Big Sur CA-1 before sunset. When we first booked our flights and hotel months ago, the intention was to drive the whole way down CA-1/Big Sur but a landslide in March mean that it was totally impassable after about thirty miles.
When we visited the USA in 2015 we enjoyed our trip so much we were very keen to plan another one ASAP. We decided on a California road trip and when looking at some Virtual Caches in Yosemite I spotted Semidome Loft, Yeah, then I read what was involved to get to it and I didn't think it would be for me. Basically, a 17 mile hike with 5,000 ft elevation gain with a tricky mountaineering element at the end on perilous cables - when I put Half Dome cables into google the first thing that jumped out at me was 'Half dome cables deaths' - eek! Nope definitely not for me. Then we had to put the trip on hold for 2016 due to our house move. So once we'd booked the flights last December we started thinking again about what we'd like to do on our trip and I started looking again at Half Dome and decided to apply for permits. The permits are issued on a lottery style system, 200 are issued per day. You need to apply by March and you get to find out a month later if you've been successful. I put it out of my mind until we heard that we'd got permits. I'd watched a few videos and read a few blogs about it and realised it was a serious hike so decided on an action plan to get ready for it. We'd done some great walks in the Lake District and Peak District but it still didn't feel enough, I needed something during the week to help improve my stamina.
In April we both joined our local gym. I've never been a big fan of gyms, I've been to them on and off over the years but get bored easily but as we had a goal in mind I thought this would keep me interested ... and it did. As my fitness improved and I started to see results I was keen not to miss a session and we both managed 1½ hour sessions 3 times a week, then long walks in the Lakes/Peaks at weekends. All the while in the back of my mind I kept thinking that if it rains or there's a thunderstorm or early snowfall in Yosemite then we won't be able to do the walk. You are advised to not do the hike if there's any threat of a thunderstorm and that to be on top of half dome or on the cables during a thunderstorm is extremely dangerous as the rock becomes slick and this is where the accidents have occurred. I bought Mr Half Dome's book which detailed the hike and what to expect - this was brilliant. Our budget gym didn't have any air conditioning and at first I really struggled with the heat especially on the warmer days over the summer but I soon realised this was a good thing as it would get me used to hiking in the heat. Anyway back to the present day....
This is all you need for the BEST coffee when travelling
Alarm went off at 3am and we were out by 4. A 30-minute drive to the parking and we were ready to start walking by 4.50. The sky was so clear and I've never seen stars shine so brightly.
Entering Yosemite National Park before sunrise
There are signs everywhere asking you not to leave food in cars and large bear-proof containers are provided for you to lock food into. I took these photos last night when we were checking out the trailhead.
It was difficult to find our way to the start of the path in the dark but luckily we soon caught up with another couple of hikers that were also making an early start and they pointed us in the direction of the trail-head.
For the first part of the hike you follow The Mist Trail, we could hear the waterfalls but we just couldn't see them, hopefully we'll be back later with daylight to spare so we can admire them.
We can hear the waterfall just can't see it
This route involves climbing hundreds of steps and it was at this point we were glad we'd concentrated on the Stairmaster in the gym.😃
Stark warning signs
After a chilly start we soon had to stop and take off our fleeces. By the time we got to the top of Vernal Falls it was starting to get light and we could put our head torches away.
Soon after we caught up with a small group of hikers and it was quite reassuring that we felt capable enough to overtake them easily!
Once in Yosemite valley it seemed noticeably colder so Mark checked the temperature on his phone which connects to the garmin temperature monitor which was already showing below zero centigrade then a bit later went down to -1.3 - this is the part we found it hard to plan for - what clothing to wear/take.
Along the route we met a really friendly couple from Hungerford we enjoyed chatting with them and ended up leap frogging each other for the rest of the hike up to Half Dome.
We were keen to reach the cables before midday as we'd read that leaving it later would result in queuing and we wanted to avoid this if at all possible. So we paced ourselves and stopped only occasionally just to refill our bottles from the larger 2 litre bottles Mark was carrying.
We reached a point on the walk where a hikers were sitting and we soon learnt that we only had about a mile left before the cables and that we should re-hydrate well as this section was going to be pretty tough. Well they weren't kidding. There were many steep switchbacks in exposed 30 degrees heat sun.
We had to pause every turn to get our breath back and have a drink, there was no need to worry about holding anyone up as everyone had the same idea. This section was tough and we were glad to get to the top and reach the sub dome.
We made our way to the start of the cables and put on our grippy gloves. I was starting to get very nervous and wondered if I was doing the right thing. Then I remembered that Mark had said that if I made it to the top of the cables he'd buy me a souvenir T-shirt and patch from Half Dome village so this spurred me on.
Grippy gloves
Luckily there were only a few people up ahead off us, I was worried about getting stuck half way up and not being able to hold on.
The view up the cables
So, I tentatively stepped between the cables and took a hold of them remembering everything I'd read on how to get up as safely as possible. Up I went and my arms turned to jelly - great! I took a few breaths in... and.... out and tried to calm my nerves and continued on up - nothing had prepared me for just how tough this bit would be and I soon found the best technique for me. One thing I will always remember is the friendliness from everyone on the trail that day and particularly on the cable section. The people I got talking to who were passing me on their way down the cables really spurred me on and kept me going with their words of encouragement and jokes - all the way up I just kept thinking how on earth am I going to get back down!
I think anyone with an intense fear of heights would struggle which luckily I don't have but the main thing I was worried about was falling as you'd die for sure - I had considered using a via ferrata but had read that the rangers don't recommend these - they hold up the line as you would need to clip and unclip 60 times, the cables haven't been designed for use with harnesses, if you did slip you would risk serious injury to others... plus a number of other reasons.
I steadily pulled myself up pausing briefly at each board. There were a couple of very steep bits and scary ledges to step up, it took about 20 minutes to get up. It was such an amazing feeling to get to the summit, it didn't feel real, had to pinch myself a few times.
We spent a while taking photos and admiring the views and chatting to people we'd met along the way.
We had to keep in mind how long it would take to hike back down to the valley floor as after all when you reach the summit you've only completed half of the hike!
So off we went to the cables, I was a little apprehensive but but decided on which technique I was going to use and went for it. It was scarier going down and my footing did slip once and I swung round and grabbed the cable hard (some lovely bruises on my arms the next day) this did unnerve me a little but I changed my technique and this helped a bit.
By this time there was quite a few people coming up the cables and when we were about half way the small group we were following came to a stop and we learnt that someone coming up had frozen with nerves and was being talked up slowly so this held us up until they got past us then we just kept going until we reached the bottom- it took us about 35 mins going down.
What's the hold up?
Once again an amazing feeling and great camaraderie with people cheering each other, so much fun. Then it was just a case of retracing our steps back down to the valley floor.
Originally we'd planned to go back down via the John Muir trail. This adds on about a mile but it misses out the steps route of the Mist Trail and is supposed to be gentler on the knees but we were keen to get down quickly and get to the shop before it closed at 8pm, we're leaving early tomorrow morning so the only option is to get there tonight. Also we were keen to see the falls that we'd missed in the dark when we'd set off.
We stopped at Vernal Falls to take photos then continued on until we were back down.
It was still daylight and we had plenty of time to browse in the shops. Then we treated ourselves to a good meal in the Curry Village restaurant - we'd earnt it. A fabulous hike and it goes to the top of the list as being the best ever, loved every minute of it.
