11.6km, 823m, 5.5 hours

Yes well here we are after the hellish drive from Lake Tahoe. If there's one thing that I am sure of, driving a large vehicle up and down steep grades (with sharp corners) is not something that I enjoy.

It's made all the more hair-raising when one is uncertain of the quality of the workmanship that went into servicing the brakes. I'm pretty sure the nasty squealing noise is the sound of brake pads that need to be replaced, so The Turd™ is booked in to have them looked at on Monday.

Normally, I would do it myself, but despite Euan's scorn, I shall entrust this job (and no doubt several hundred dollars of my hard earned cash) to the local mechanic. I have many excuses for this, some of which include:

1. Not having the time to do it (I'm a very busy man).
   
2. Not having done them before on this particular vehicle.
3. Not having an appropriate place to jack the vehicle up (e.g. level and not dirt or gravel).
   
4. Not having appropriate auxiliary jacking equipment (e.g.. jack stands).
   

If you want more excuses I can probably think of some, but that will do for the time being.

Moving backwards through time (because as well all know there is no good reason not to) let us cast our attention to yesterday, Thursday 29th of May.

A day I would like to call "The Day the Mountain Nearly Killed Me".

It started off much like any other day. Some tasty All-Bran and Granola, topped with what are the sweetest, nastiest blueberries I have ever had (on a side note, who adds high fructose corn syrup to dried fruit?!?! Don't even get me started on that stuff.....), some coffee and an hour long drive to Yosemite.

The hills are relentless here. Up, and down. Round and round. I guess that's what you get for being in the Sierra Nevada ranges, but it's difficult to get used to for someone who's from the land of flat.

The approach to the village is mainly downhill, and you pass through a couple of tunnels. The last seems to descend almost vertically to the floor of the valley and is a little disconcerting. Once you get there though it's amazing. The rock faces just seem to rise vertically from the floor, towering above you. Some photos of that later in the week....

Our chipmunk overlords seem to have continued their surveillance of our trip.


Kat selected the "Lower Yosemite Falls" trail for our first hike, which was rather short and crowded. Spurred on by our ruggedness, we decided to tackle the "Upper Yosemite Falls" trail.

This is where it all goes wrong.

823 vertical meters doesn't sound like much really.
But let me tell you that it's a FUCKING LONG WAY.

The first mile or two was pretty strenuous, although I thought it was going pretty well.
We got to the point where we could see the Upper Falls, and decided to press on to the top.


Bad idea.

The next two miles was hell. The trail gets steeper and steeper the further you go. It seems to stretch on forever. You can see the top, and it seems like it's getting further away.

I honestly felt like it might beat me. But somehow, I managed to haul my failing body to the top...


...and here I am. Surprisingly not looking as bad as I felt.

This is the view down.


I am not a huge fan of heights to be honest, and this vista was a little stomach-turning. Just for perspective, we climbed from the VERY BOTTOM where the pine trees are......

This is the dirty little path you have to climb down to get to the view:


Sadly I must admit I hung on for dear life and had to mutter to myself "don't look down, don't look down" the whole way down. Of course you do look down, and it makes you feel a little queasy.

Never mind.

This is the view from the top looking across the park. It was very hazy.


Just to prove we both made it....

The overlords sent their blackbird minions to keep watch over us.


On the way down I took the opportunity to take some photos. In fact these were more rest stops disguised as photo taking. I thought my legs were going to give way, they were shaking like jelly the whole time.


You can see the Half Dome in the background of this picture.


The falls in the afternoon light.


One of Kat's from the way up.


By the time we reached the bottom, I was absolutely shagged. My legs were shaking and I had a headache. It was very nice to catch the shuttle bus back to the village, and buy a drink and an ice cream. Holy crap.

It's safe to say that physically this was the most challenging thing I've ever done. Today I am a little rooted, and we have done nothing. Mainly because I am too tired to move my ass.....

Tomorrow, Yosemite beckons again.

Edit: My new tripod arrived today. Sadly I have emulated young CHUNG and gotten a Manfrotto 190XPROB Tripod and a 488RC4 ball head. I look forward to carrying another 2kg around with me.

:-)

From Poo to Pines

I'm happy to report that we have left stinking Lake Tahoe and have arrived in sunny Yosemite Pines. Not without problems though....

We knew the HWY out of Tahoe was windy and steep so we unhooked the Jeep and drove the 2 vehicles separately until we cleared the mountains... which was all good until we hit stupid US 49 ... This road was windy, steep, narrow and just plain annoying and we had to stay on it the whole way to Yosemite. The turd's breaks were playing up, screeching like crazy, so there was no way we were going to risk towing the Jeep only to have it provide extra momentum in the event our breaks failed.

Speaking of accidents, we saw a nasty head on collision between an SUV and motorbike. The bike was crumpled beneath the front bumper of the SUV and the biker was on the road unconscious receiving much needed medical attention. It didn't look fatal though.

Anyways, the weather here is beautiful, the place we're staying is relaxing and quite fancy (they have a nice looking pool and volley ball courts) we had a lovely dinner of ribeye and blue cheese polenta, add in a few beers and wine, an early bedtime and that's all from us.

Until tomorrow,

Kat

Lake Tahoe - AKA TV Land

Yes this is where it's at. Watching TV here in Lake Tahoe.

Yesterday we went for another quick hike, but like the day before, it was thoroughly uninspiring.

I have a feeling that if the weather was nicer, the scenery would be stunning. When it's grey, it's just a bit... how do you say, grey.

So we finished up with Season 1 of Life. Yes I know I keep going on about it, but it's a good show, really. Not as good as Battlestar Galactica of course, but hey.

We also watched The Warriors, a nice depressing example of Hong Kong cinema.

Everyone dies, just like in real life I suppose.

For more excitement I changed the oil and filter in the Jeep, and the ignition coil in the Turd.

I think we're both looking forward to leaving Lake Tahoe - I don't think we've seen it at its best, but that's life.

Toodle-pip.

Lake Tahoe Fugitives

It's still cold and raining here, so not very photogenic.
Yesterday we ripped out a quiet 8 miles into the hills. Nothing particularly interesting about this.

I was fascinated to learn that the story back in Melbourne is that we're running from the law here in the USA. Allegedly Kat is here illegally, and we're sticking to the back-roads to avoid the "authorities".

That's pretty funny.

Today is Memorial Day here in the USA.

So respect goes out to all those who have fallen in battle, regardless of who they were.

Honour, Duty, Valour.
(or here that should be Honor, Duty, Valor).

Lake Tahoe

I'm honestly not going to bore you with the details of yesterday's excruciating drive.

It's cold, and wet here at Lake Tahoe. It rained all night. The roof started leaking again. I got on the roof and put a tarpaulin over the leaky area. I have no idea why it's leaking, as I sealed it specifically just recently.

We have neighbours with an annoying dog that barks the whole time. Poor guy, not surprised, since he's tied up outside all day (while they're in their trailer). Just before he had to take a dump just near where he's tied up. Awesome.

On the other side we have surly neighbours. If the dude is surly with me one more time I might fuckin' just smack him in the mouth.

It was also rainy and cold today. So far, Lake Tahoe, and Lake Tahoe Koa have sucked ass.

To make myself feel better about having to pay for internet, I decided to download season 1 of "Life". Jolly good.

Friday Update

Sorry for the delay, the wireless at Hat Creek was a bit flaky, oddly enough only in the evenings.

Geez there's a few days to be caught up on eh?? Better get cracking.

Tuesday - Foiled Again
Today we had planned to do a bit of driving - firstly up to Glass Mountain - a 7000ft mountain of obsidian, then on to Medicine Lake (another lake in a caldera) and such.

We had a slow start, mainly due to me not wanting to get out of bed, but finally at around 1030 we headed off.

We drove, and drove. Past a strange looking installation that's painted all black and has a nice repeater on the side of it.
Past loads of trees, dirt roads, railway tracks, and more trees. Until finally we came to... SNOW.

I engaged 4WD and we cruised through the first few bits of it, but as we got up the road it became deeper and deeper, until there was nearly a foot of it covering the stinking road.

We decided to turn back. I don't have the experience or confidence to tackle a lot of snow by myself. I also figure that a whole lot of shovelling would need to be done.

We explored a few 4WD tracks on the way back, but got stopped by snow again (and my cold feet). I'm not 100% keen on getting stuck in the forest in the middle of nowhere. Call me a wuss.

So we spent the rest of the day at the Turd. We did watch the new Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie, "The Forbidden Kingdom". It was a weird combination of "The Neverending Story" and "Karate Kid". Great for the kids, a little cheesy for adults. Chan and Li however were excellent, and Yuen Woo-ping never ceases to amaze with his choreography and wire work.

Two words: Battlestar Galactica.
That is all.

Wednesday - Tionesta to Lassen
Despite my impression of the USA as the "country of the car" there are very few gas stations here in country California. Gas is also darn expensive, at more than $4 per gallon. I think the lesson learnt is that we need to ensure we fill up when we can.

Anyway, aside from some empty-gas-tank nervousness, the journey was great - the turd is feeling very strong at the moment, so fingers crossed she lasts the rest of the journey and then some.

The campground here at Hat Creek (so named allegedly because someone lost his hat in the stream) is pretty nice, set by a creek (none other than Hat Creek) and within 10 miles of the sights at Lassen.

Lassen is another volcanic national park, for the uninitiated. You can read more about it here.

After we'd set up, we headed up the road to the aptly named "subway cave". It's a rather large lava tube, like a subway not surprisingly, and was a pleasant walk through.

The freaky thing about this landscape is that it's pretty much flat, and like a prairie, but every now and then there'll be some rock features - and at some point these were pushed out of the earth, and were possibly even molten.




Next a pleasent stroll around a 2 mile loop showcasing some spatter cones and associated bits and pieces. The loop crossed the Pacific Crest Trail - which I'd never heard of, and I imagine wont ever walk the length of.

I can't remember what this was, but at some point lava came pouring out of here. Probably not a good place to stand and take a photo if it was.


This is the view back towards Lassen Peak.


A tree, and a Kat.


I really like how the rock is all jumbled up, like something was trying to put a puzzle together by brute force. As you walk around, there's a good chance that the ground beneath you is hollow.


I believe this guy was formed when the pressure of the magma flowing underground became too great, and buckled the rock upwards.


This tree by itself, not so interesting, but if you look closely you can see a scar on the trunk from lightning.


Again, this tube of what one was lava just pops out of the landscape.


The spatter cones themselves were deep cones surrounded by a spattering of rock. Interesting to look at, not so interesting in a photo.

Time for dinner, beer and bed.

Thursday - Manzanita Lake, Cinder Cone
Time to exploit our one full day at Lassen. Whilst the road through the park is now open, the high trailheads are all closed due to snow.

We entered the park, proudly displaying out annual park pass (and avoiding the park fees) and decided to hike around Manzanita Lake.

It was really windy, and very cold as well. Good thing we'd packed warm clothes. It was kind of freaky to see the giant pine trees swaying in the wind. I was going to make a movie of this with Kat's camera, but forgot. Oops.

A lazy 2 miles later and we'd seen an otter, some deer, and fantastic scenery of Lassen Peak.

I thought it was cool to find the two stages of some kind of flower in the same area (well I hope it's the same plant, otherwise the coincidence of colour is just amazing):



It was a really beautiful day, despite the cold.


The squirrels were out:


...and the view of the lake and the peaks was stunning:




Some ducks. Mmm duck.


We stopped to have a snack, this guy came very close. I guess a lot of people ignore the "don't feed the wildlife" signs.



Rather than do the old-people style drive through the park, we decided to scale the nearby cinder cone.


Fuck me, what a decision that was. After about 1.5 miles uphill on a black, sand-like trail we beheld the cone itself. Rising blackly out of the landscape it beckoned, and promised suffering all at once. I thought I was going to die walking up it. Not only were we at around 6000ft elevation, the wind was icy cold and whipping pieces of pumice into your face. Pumice isn't that tasty let me assure you, and my stinky backpack felt heavier and heavier by the step.



Kat for some reason just powered up, which made it all the worse for me.


But the view from the top did make it all worthwhile. Also gave me a sense of how fit one must be to scale any large mountain. Shit, even a small mountain.


We had lunch inside the cone. Mark that off your lists of places to eat your sandwiches.




You can see the path down to the centre of the cone. We didn't venture down. I was a bit afraid I'd never make it back up again.


Gosh it was desolate up there. And cold. And windy. Did I mention cold?



The colours of the surrounding lava don't come out well, but it was a strange undulating orange and red landscape, bordered by jagged black rocks. Couple this with sitting on top of a giant black hill, it's certainly otherworldly.


This tree looked cool.



By the time we made it back to the Jeep I was well and truely rooted. So we had some beers and made some pasta, and then I went to bed.

Until tomorrow kids, g'night!

Petroglyphs, Lava Tubes, Sand Butte, Eagles Nest

Sunday - The Day the Gas Ran Out
After the small gas issue of Sunday morning (that is, running out of gas) it was a big relief to get gas, not have the turd roll over on top of us (it was parked on a bit of an angle by the side of the road) and finally make it to the tiny village of Tionesta (population 28) and the RV park.

It was a bit disconcerting to be told that there was no gas within 20 miles (and that they only took cash or cheque) so we had to do a little road trip back over the Oregon border to get both.

On the way back from Oregon for the second time that day we stopped at the "Petroglyph Area" of the Lava Beds National Monument. I don't know about you but I had no idea what a petroglyph was until a couple of days ago - and for those not in the know - it's basically a fancy name for a rock carving.

The petroglyph area is a giant rock that used to be an island in the middle of a lake, before someone had the bright idea to drain it for agriculture. Never mind.


Carved around the base of the rock are various symbols and such, thought to have been left there by the American Indians of the area between 4500 and 2500 years ago.


There's also plenty of graffiti, but strangely some has now become part of the history of the rock itself, as it was carved by Japanese people when they were interned here in camps during the Second World War.


Apparently nobody knows what the symbols mean - they might be ancient graffiti for all we know.


It's a really large rock, and we climbed to the top.
I thought I was going to have to have a little lie-down when we got there.
Looks like my conquest of Everest is going to have to wait until next week.


There are many birds that inhabit the rock, from the little swifts that next on the rock face, to eagles and owls. If you look closely around the base of the rock, you can see little bones of unfortunate rodents that have been consumed.


I thought this was an interesting contrast to the ancient Chinese art we saw of similar ages - I wonder if the sophistication of your art is a reflection of the sophistication of your culture.


But look what happened to the brothers since, bowl-hair cuts, red dye and big wings on crappy cars. The fall from grace is complete.

The RV park here is kind of out of the way I guess, but it's very peaceful. These little fellas aren't poisonous thankfully.


It was quite nice to be making my previous blog update while the sunset looked like this:


This is a turkey vulture sitting in a tree. Do not be fooled by its diminutive appearance in this photograph. This bad boy has a wing span of up to 1.8m according to the oracle, Wikipedia - and let me tell you when they're quite close they look massive. Good thing they only eat dead things. Bad thing is when Kat tells me to go pretend I'm dead.




Monday - Caving, Driving
Not surprisingly the focus of our first full day here at the Lava Beds was to explore some of the lava tube caves. As you might imagine it's pretty darn hard to take a photo in the pitch black.


But Kat gave it a go anyway. It was very cool (literally and metaphorically) in the caves, and a bit scary too.


Some are massive, but some get really small very quickly and branch off in many different directions. It's again hard to describe how strange the landscape is, especially underground.

Some parts look like rock-ropes, some look like rock-frosting on a rock-cake. There are strange golden bacteria on the ceilings that glimmer in the torch light.

It's also hard to imagine how much lava was flowing, and hard to imagine what lava looks like as it flows. If you can explain "thixotropy" or "shear thinning" to me, then you'll get a prize.

This is the Skull Cave - so named because there's a whole bunch of animal skeletons in it, along with two human ones also - this cave is also the home to a permanent floor of ice as it never gets above freezing in the bowels of it. Apparently you used to be able to see several feet into the ice because it was so clear, now you can't walk on the ice because it's all messed up. Still it was certainly cold and a bit eerie, there were a few bones still lying around.


Given the Jeep was built to be an off-road vehicle, we thought it was about time that it did some off-roading. So when presented with a dirt 4WD track that lead into the desert, we took it - and a few miles later arrived at the East Sand Butte.

Unfortunately the light wasn't great for feature/sky photos, but hey. The ground is small pebbles of pumice-like volcanic material, and the butte itself features strange stripes of yellow/orange/red colour.


I guess someone had been doin' some shootin' and drinkin' around here at some stage...


I'm pretty sure it wasn't this little fella though.


Unless ladybugs have developed arms technology while we were worried about the middle-east, I'm also sure we can rule this guy out as the cause as well:


In these next pictures you can see the colours that I refer to a little more clearly.



Except for the fact that I'd have to get up at 4AM, it would be great to shoot this site at sunrise. Then the rocks would be nicely lit up with the early morning light, and the sky would be a cool colour. Oh well, you'll just have to make do with a nice sky.



This is the sand butte viewed from the Jeep as we head back down the trail which would have taken us to the top. It was super steep and rocky, and I wasn't comfortable tackling it without someone with more experience there with me - another vehicle might have been a good idea too.


Another feature on the way back down.


Astonishingly in this rock-strewn desert, wildflowers grow.


The Jeep, at home on the range.


That's all folks!