Sequoia National Park & King's Canyon National Park

I'd never been to either before, but Sunday I drove in to these two parks, which for all practical purposes are one big park. I started out from Fresno and entered King's Canyon after about an hour. The first real pictureworthy place I came to was General Grant Grove, which has a lot of effin huge Sequoias, some with big holes in the trunk that one can actually stand in. It also sports the second largest known sequoia in the world, the General Grant Tree. It is effin huge, and a beauty to behold for those of us who like trees. There was also a fallen tree you could walk through and various other informational and entertaining stuff. Highly recommended!

I'm skeptical of standing in front of a giant sequoia.


I'm skeptical of the value of sitting in the lap of a giant tree so to speak.


But I soon learned to love it.


The General Grant. Impressive.


The inside of a sequoia, if you ever wondered what that looked like.


Big ass trees in the parking lot.

Quote of the Day

When authorities warn you of the sinfulness of sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities.
- Matt Groening

Quote of the Day

I’m still puzzled how people smart enough to become Bishops and Cardinals can be dumb enough to believe in God.
- Stephen Netherwood

Return to Yosemite

I've gone through Yosemite four times now, and there is still more stuff to see in there. Yellowstone has more animals, so will always be number one in my heart, but for sheer beauty, Yosemite is top dog.

As I've taken most of the pics that need taking in Yosemite, I limited myself to a handful of shots this time, including, of course, a skelfie.


No trip to Yosemite is complete without a picture from Tunnel View.


This mule deer was one of three crossing a little stream as I drove by. It did not seem to be much affected by people taking photos of it.


This group of deer were down by lovely Tuolumne Meadows, where there is ALWAYS something going on, animalwise.

Quote of the Day

It's a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water.
- Franklin P. Jones

Owens Valley

Finally, just before I made the home stretch into Mammoth Lakes, I stopped and took in the majestic view of Owens Valley and the huge, beautiful mountains around me. T'was magical, people.

Return to Mount Whitney

I also returned to Mount Whitney, where I'd first been in 2011.

The top was covered in fog. It also rained.


The waterfall was still purdy.

Quote of the Day

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
- Thomas Babington Macaulay

Quote of the Day

Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account.
- Doug Hofstadter

Quote of the Day

Geteilte Freude ist doppelt Freude. Geteilter Schmerz ist halber Scmerz.
[Shared joy is double joy. Shared pain is halved pain.]
- C.A. Tiedge

Bishop

I was going to drive straight up to San Francisco today, but on a whim I decided to take the purdy route; US 395 up along the Sierra Nevadas. I decided to stop and stuff food in my face in the little town of Bishop and right after leaving I saw some very beautiful landscapes. A few hours later I was driving up Yosemite and just before the entry point I saw a muthafuckin black bear down in a meadow. But being an idiot I had my camera settings all screwed up so the pics came to sweet nuffin'. Le sigh.

Quote of the Day

We seldom attribute common sense except to those who agree with us.
- De La Rochefoucauld

Quote of the Day

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
- George Burns

Bighorn in Zion

Sunday evening I drove through Zion National Park in Utah, one of my favorite sites in one of my favorite states. And Zion, beautiful, lovely, breathtaking Zion did not disappoint. Less than five minutes in I spotted traffic along the way (which almost always means animals) and when I slowed down I was rewarded by the sight of a good dozen Bighorn Sheep going about their business and giving not a flying fuck about the people standing right above them, clicking away with their cameras. I turned around and pulled over (because I'm a careful veteran of National Parks driving), got my camera out and thus began the great photo feast of 2015. I took almost 350 pics of that little herd alone, but since there is a strict limit to how many sheep, even big horned ones, one can look at before going a bit funny in the head, I trimmed the number down for y'all.

About half a dozen split off to the left to go do their own thing. Which, judging by the males sniffing the females, included some horniness (horniness, cuz they're Big Horns, got it, got it?)


The rest were standing around with nothing to do at first.


The males, whose horns curve much more than the ewe's, were playfighting, as teenagers are wont to do.


These tree stumps were infinitely interesting to some of the sheep. They would lick the stumps.


Then head butt them.


Then head butt each other for good measure.


"Now that you mention it, we do look kinda stupid. Sorry."


Peacefully nibbling on the grass not ten yards away from people.

Glen Canyon Dam

Glen Canyon Dam was built across the Colorado River from 1956-66 and today generates roughly 3.46 billion KWh pr year. The section of the river that was dammed is called Lake Powell, and it is the second largest manmade lake in the US, after Lake Mead (behind the Hoover Dam).

The concrete beast itself.


Lake Powell is a popular recreation area.


Pylons bringing electricity to the masses.

Horseshoe Bend

My first adventure on Sunday nearly became my last altogether. I was adamant to go see the famous Horseshoe Bend, in northern Arizona. What I had not counted on was the deadly heat. A short 1.5 mile hike became a race against thirst, sunburn and my own pathetic physical condition. But I survived, dear reader! So know that these pictures that you so carelessly peruse were taken with only the utmost effort by yours truly.

(PS: The only person I "beat" in the snailpaced race up the last hill was an elderly Asian woman who looked like she was on her fifth heart attack)

Horseshoe Bend in all its might.


The bend from the high point. The tiny figures bottom right were people.


This red sand almost covered my parched bones today.


No blog post is hereafter complete without a skelfie.

Quote of the Day

I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.
- Thomas Jefferson

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly National Monument lies in northeastern Arizona and is a joint venture between the US Parks Service and the Navajo Nation, on whose ground it is situated, or rather under whose ground, since we're talking about deep canyons here. This is yet another of those misnomers (like The La Brea Tar Pits), since "De Chelly" is a misunderstood Frenchism from the Navajo word "tséyi", which means... yeah, you guessed it... canyon.

Dozens and dozens of smaller canyons fork off from the main one and there are over 2,700 archaeological sites in the Monument. Around 40 families still live within the steep cliff walls, scraping out a living from farming, hunting and tourism. There are plenty of injuns around peddling pottery, blankets and various objects of art. You can walk down to one of the sites, but for the rest you need to be accompanied by a park ranger or a Navajo guide. Next time I'm here I'm going to book a tour in the morning and really explore, but for now feast your eyes on the stunning landscape that is the south rim of the canyon - it was all I had time for today.

The first canyon where you could stop and take pics.


Small patches of cultivated land appear where you would not expect to see anything.


The sand and the rock have been carved out by wind and water into everything from cozy little nooks to majestic pillars.


And every now and then some rock formation will appear out of the ground.


The river is usually a small creek, but it can flood.


Some of these little valleys almost have their very own microclimate.


An injun artist I talked to pointed out a cave and said there were three small water streams inside it. I think this was the one he meant.


Ever the gullible tourist I bought this piece of art for $20. It probably took him ten minutes to make it, but at least he had the decency to sell something, not just sit there and beg like a fuckin' gypsy. Sweet Jeebus how I hate begging.


Slightly to the left of center is a dirty-white patch of stone with some tiny people below it. These ruins are known to the injuns as the White House. It is one of the most popular destinations for a tour and you can hike the 2.5 mile stretch down to the bottom of the canyon, but then you have to get back up again. Uhmmmm, no thanks.


And now, the most famous sight of them all: Spider rock. It's been used in countless commercials. The injuns in the southwest have a mytological creature known as Spider Grandmother (or variations thereof) and the Navajos and the Hopis believe she lives in the tallest spire. I do not wish to meet Spider Grandmother, as I still have nightmares about Shelob.


The land around the two spires is so beautiful I even forgot to take a skelfie.


Sho cozy.


Sadly, the road endeth here but this little valley continued on. Wail.


I know this is not a sparrow nor an ostrich, but it could be a helluva lot of things in between.

Some stuff from the road today

I arrived in Farmington late Thursday, only to find out that the Motel 6 room I had booked did not come close to meeting the criteria for that category. Still mightily annoyed about this I started out Friday by driving down towards Chaco culture sumfin sumfin, but appx. 15 miles from my destination the road turned from paved to gravel of a sort that threatened to turn my kidneys into mush. I decided I could not be bothered to waste my time and drove back to Farmington. Having had a good, long think in the car I quickly packed my bags and fucked off on out of that hellhole of a place (Farmington and its Motel 6 both fit this description), and set off for Canyon de Chelly and Gallup instead. I took some pics along the way that didn't really fit into any category, so here they are for your viewing pleasure.

The best juxaposition in the world deserves another showing.


This strange mountain is called Shiprock, and lies outside the little town by the same name.


Several places along the way you could see cattle and horses walking around outside their fences.


This old beauty was driven by a couple from Nebraska. They had just finished driving Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica and were now on their way home.


This is from just north of Gallup where the rain had flooded the highway.


This was what I had to drive through.

Quote of the Day

"Dear Mr. President,
There are too many states nowadays.
Please eliminate three.
P.S. I am not a crackpot."
- Grandpa Simpson