Home

3272 miles, 24 nights, four national parks and a host of state campgrounds, what a trip! Both Linda and I agree that it is good to be back home, but we are already planning our next outing. This past one will be hard to beat.

As you know, I found a phone app called Polarsteps. All you do is download the app, create a login and then tell it the day you will leave and return from your trip, it basically does the rest. I would look at the app every night and then take a picture or use a picture I took during the day and that would mark our day of travel. You can see the results below. Very easy to use and in the entire trip there were only two times that something went wrong and the GPS goofed up. Oh, just another toy for me to goof with as we explore.

The Final Legs

We are well into our Oregon part of the trip. Our nightly stops have included Bullards Beach State Park, Beverly Beach State Park, and Nehalem Bay State Park. We said goodbye to our traveling partners, Steve and Jodi, after Beverly Beach as they had a rendezvous with Steve's daughter's family just outside of Portland. They just couldn't be this close to their grandson and still enjoy being beat at the card game, "5 Crowns" by Linda.

At each of the beach campgrounds, we have made a routine of setting up, going for a walk, eating dinner and playing cards. Now that our traveling partners are gone, things have changed a little. Instead of playing cards in their 5th wheel, Linda beats me at Cribbage or Mexican Train in our camper.

We are on day 20 of this adventure and here is what we have to look forward to in the upcoming week.  Today we will drop in and visit Caroline and Don at their home in Westport. Once we start to be a bother, then we will move on and travel to the Tacoma area where we will visit Hal and Jennie.

We met Hal and Jennie on our Mex-ECO trip to Puebla and Taxco. They were traveling with their good friends, Pete and Rita. While we are at their place, the six of us will have dinner.

Our final leg home will take us up and over Snoqualmie Pass. By that time we will have about 23 nights in our camper and will have put over 3000 miles on the Dodge. We will post a wrap-up page and close the book on this adventure when all settles down once we are back in Post Falls.

Polarsteps Map and Photos

Redwoods and Beyond

The days were beautiful and it was time to move on so we loaded up and exited the park via Hwy 140. This took us up and over a pass and dropped us on down to Corning California, the Olive capital of California. It was a needed overnight stop and each of us got a good shower.

The next day we drove up to Redding CA and pointed towards the coast to our next stop at the Redwoods National Park. We had made reservations at Prairie Creek Campground and when we arrived we were greeted by the Rosevelt Elk and a wonderfully warm afternoon.

We spent the late afternoon lounging around and then after a good nights sleep we explored the Redwood groves. 

We moved on from the Redwoods to Crescent City and did a little tourist stuff. Mostly we just looked around and ate lunch. It was a fun afternoon and very relaxing.

Our next exploration stop was to the Oregon Caves National Preserve. This cave system was very interesting with over a mile of cave walking included in the tour. We recommend this stop if you are ever in the area.

Linda at the cave entrance.

Linda finds heart shapes everywhere she goes.

Signatures from way back in time, now encased in stone. 

Our campsite at Bullards Beach State Park, Linda on the beach, and the lighthouse at Bullards Beach.

Yosemite

Morning found us on the road again. We traveled the winding roads of California and hooked up to Hwy 41. Climbing high up into the mountains, we entered a huge long tunnel and when we popped out into the bright sun, before our eyes lay one of the most beautiful panoramas of our trip. The Yosemite Valley spread out before us with El Capitan to our left, Bridalveil Fall to the right and a far off glimpse of Half Dome pulling it all together.

Traffic was heavy so we couldn't stop at this time, but came back up to Tunnel View twice during our stay. Our campsites were in the Upper Pines Campground and this meant that we had to drive the entire Yosemite Vally road system to get there. The park was packed! Never have we been to a national park, on the shoulder season, and run into so many people. We kept saying "imagine how packed this place would be during the peak season."

Our campsites were good, but not great. Linda and my site was located on a corner so we didn't have people to our right, but a group to the left. Steve and Jodi had people camped on each side, but they were out in the open where the sun was welcome and warm.

Once we were set up we took Steve's truck and drove around. Everything in the Yosemite Valley is relatively close and the park provides free shuttle buses to keep the traffic down. We lucked out and found parking spots wherever we went, but after the first day, we left the truck home and used the shuttle system.

While we were in the park we walked to many of the viewpoints and took a couple of longer hikes. Pictures were a huge focus and everyone found themselves stopping regularly and snapping a hundred shots or so.

It would be pretty hard to tell you about all the things we saw so I will just list them: Half Dome, El Capitan, Bridalveil Falls, Lower Sentinel Fall, Lower and Upper Yosemite Falls, the Merced River, and Staircase Falls. We did a hike up to Vernal Falls and on the way spotted Illilouette Falls. Two coyotes came within eight feet of us as they hunted field mice, and on the way out of the park, Jodi and Steve spotted a big black bear. Quite an exciting few days. We loved Yosemite and want to return.

El Capitan, can you see the climbers?

Pulling gear on the route called "The Nose."

Look at the light square in the center of the photo.
That is where the climbers are.

They came within eight feet of us.

Half Dome.