General – Page 5 – MacKenzies on the Road

October 28, 2019October 14, 2019

The Lowest Place in the World

Death Valley was surprisingly beautiful, if a bit hot!

I had no idea what to expect, except heat, as we approached the turn off of 395 towards the valley, but Darrin wanted to go so off we went.

My first surprise was that it is a national park. I had no idea. I thought it was just a back road through a desolate piece of unforgiving land. My second surprise was that it isn’t all flat and dry. We had to traverse fairly high passes to get in and out of the damp, yes damp, salt valley floor, another salt flat. Another surprise was the beautiful colors and designs of the rocks. Who knew? I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

No surprise was the heat. We road with the windows down in the 100 degree heat, a great way to get the full effect. I can’t imagine what it is like in the summer.

Overall, we had a very enjoyable, or perhaps memorable, visit. I think it is what we refer to as ‘a one and done’ because of the heat, but definitely a place everyone should visit.

October 24, 2019October 13, 2019

It’s all downhill from here

So, it is my birthday! And what a day it turned out to be. It all started with a night of stealth camping next to a beautiful mountain lake inside Yosemite National Park and breakfast at almost 10,000 feet overlooking another mountain lake. From there it went all down hill…literally.

We left the mountains behind and travelled down and down and down some more, right to 200 feet below sea level at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park. The only thing that went up was the temperature! We went from a chilly night of 25 degrees to an afternoon of 100 degrees.

What a day!

A beautiful stealth camping spot inside a remote corner of Yosemite.

Breakfast above a gorgeous mountain lake just below 10,000 ft at Tioga Pass.

October 23, 2019October 13, 2019

Yosemite: Climbing Meca

We had to see Camp #4. The small campground that was the birthplace of modern rock climbing in the US. It still looks like a tiny campground with a bunch of climbers milling around. El Capitan, a climber’s dream ascent, was awesome! Climbers hauling up loads of gear for multiday assents; just crazy to think that someone made that climb in 4 hours with no rope or protection.

The little dots in the crevice are climbers.

Camp #4, the birthplace of modern climbing.

October 22, 2019October 13, 2019

This time we didn’t get caught!

Ok, for long time blog readers, there has been an often repeated scene. We are in the middle of nowhere, after a long day driving, find a hidden pool, and go for a dip! Then someone shows up! We got caught, in BC, Yukon, Alaska, Oregon, etc…..

So, here we are in Yosemite. We are walking across the Pohono Bridge with our filled jugs of water from Fern Spring. Yosemite is packed, the roads are packed, el Cap is packed, but the pool below the bridge is empty! In we go…and we didn’t get caught! (Except for the double decker tour bus that went across the bridge! I wonder if our cute little bippies photo bombed anyone’s vacation pictures?)

October 21, 2019October 13, 2019

Yosemite

Yosemite was awe inspiring, majestic and crowded. I’m not used to sharing Mother Nature with long lines of cars, buses and RVs. It was beautiful and I am glad we went, but I think I prefer the quiet woods and bubbling streams.

October 18, 2019October 9, 2019

Plan ‘B’

We are camped just outside the entrance to Yosemite National Park. Most of the forest service campgrounds are closed and gated for the season or too expensive for our budget. Our site is a small pull out a few miles into the National Forest, on a back road along a beautiful little stream. There is even a little dippin’ spot where we took a little dip! A single vehicle has passed by while we are setting up, probably bummed because we found this spot first (dispersed camping in National Forests is quite popular, free, and an under used resource allowable because of our hard earned tax dollars).

We found this site the same way we usually do; we had the Plan ‘B’. The plan B is were we spot a couple of, just OK, potential campsites on the way in. This massively takes the pressure off of us to find the right spot for the night. We then can relax and push on to the perfect spot for the night! Like here!

Definitely a great camping spot. No traffic, lots of trees and a beautiful, chilly, stream for dipping.

Plan ‘B’ – An overflow parking lot at a closed USFS Campground. Not a bad spot as it is well off the beaten track, very quiet and a short walk to the lake…but

A few miles up the hill and we have a gorgeous view of the lake.

Plan B – Hot, dusty and too near a road….but

A few miles away and we wake up to this in a fairly quiet spot on a gorgeous lake.

October 17, 2019October 14, 2019

Burn here, but not there

In the movie Twister the main character, Jo, can’t understand why a tornado will take one farm and not the next. Skipping across the landscape in a pattern of chaos indecipherable to the human mind. I’ve never really been around tornados so it really didn’t mean that much to me, but today I couldn’t get the idea out of my head as we drove through the hills and valleys of southern California.

Last summer in the far north, we had our first experience with wildfires. We saw huge expanses of forest burnt to lonely echoes of their former selves. It was eerie to drive for miles and miles amongst the burnt remains of such majestic souls. We knew cabins and homes were probably lost. We heard stories of whole towns evacuated for weeks. It never really sunk in until today.

As usual, we searched google maps for roads ‘off the beaten path’ which lead us through the dry foothills of southern California. As we rounded a corner into another remote valley, we started to encounter the remains of a recent forest fire. It was sad and eerie, but similar to what we had seen up north. Then we started to notice blank spots where a house should have been, or a store, or a cabin. But these blank spots were in between houses and stores and cabins that were untouched by the flames, little onassis where the fire swerved or dipped. Why? Why did the fire take this house or that cabin and leave the next? Why swerve around one and take the next? I suddenly understood Jo’s statement from the movie.

Why one and not the next?

100ft away a building (now the make shift store) was untouched.

Burn here, but not there

A current wildfire in Utah seen through the remains of a previous fire.

October 14, 2019October 9, 2019

Wild Horses couldn’t drag me away! Apologizes to the Rolling Stones!

If you look at the map of southeastern Oregon you see an empty quarter with one significant geological formation: Steens Mountain. We kept hearing about The Steens while travelling around Oregon. ‘You have to see The Steens’, people would say. Then we camped with a guy who said you need to see the wild horses on The Steens! Cool, wild horses!

It turns out, one of the few remaining herds of wild horses left in North America are there. But, it just looked too empty, too hot, and too distant, so we wrote it off for another day or another trip. Fast forward and we are poking around northern Nevada and we see Steens Mountain is only a jump north (a couple of hundred miles jump). We have to go!

On the way there, we wild camp at a remote hot springs in northern Nevada after driving over the mountains and through a snow squall (see previous blog). In the morning we set off through the beautiful snow ringed mountains north into the empty quarter, and up Steens Mountain to see the wild horses!

We were not disappointed! To see something so wild living in its natural state is always a gift. We have been lucky in our travels to see many such creatures but for me, this was by far the most majestic. The independent, free spirit of these magnificent souls was clearly evident in their eyes.

October 11, 2019October 9, 2019

Be Careful What You Wish For

The high 90 degree heat of summer broke a couple of weeks ago and now it’s snowing! We are exploring northern Nevada and it is snowing as we travel over the passes. Fortunately we are heading for a camping spot at a wild hot springs! The snow was beautiful, but we had hoped for a bit of a longer transition from summer to winter!

Driving up and over

We camped right next to this hot spring. It warmed our bones before the low 20 degree night’s sleep. Good thing we bought extra blankets in town!

Another hot spring down the road. This one would boil the skin right off your bones! As a matter of fact, there were some animal bones in the bottom.

What a gorgeous, if chilly, view to wake up to.

October 10, 2019September 29, 2019

Salt Lake City

We have been dreading Salt Lake City, Utah. We were told stories of horrendous traffic, extreme heat and religious zealots who would constantly try to convert us, but the old Wee Rover needs a bit of TLC and Great Basin Rovers is along our route south, so to Salt Lake City we go.

We checked into our hotel and immediately walked the 6 blocks up town to the Temple Square, home of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What we found was a beautiful busy city of tree lined streets, gorgeous architecture and really nice people. Our short stay has been a pleasant surprise.