The Turn Towards Home

Coastal road views

Today we headed south on CA-1 along the coast towards San Fransisco.  Since we were fairly close it was decided we'd drive over the Golden Gate Bridge...even if it was out of the way and we worried about traffic problems.  What the heck we threw caution to the wind...after all "the journey is the destination." 

More coastal road

 Another view

The road south did not take us nearly as long as we thought it would and we hit San Fran about noon...surprising for us to be early.  We had figured that stops along the way would create a problem getting into the Bay area later than we wanted.  The weather though conspired against us and created lots of fog along the coast so there wasn't too much to stop and look at along the way.  These were a few of the best shots of the day...a wee bit of sun and clearing make all the difference.

Yet one more

Nap time

Cooper was less than thrilled about the whole experience.  He missed his morning nap due to frequent stops and the curvy road.  He'd much rather have a smooth ride so he can nap the morning away.  Coop caught up with his nap after we got out of the city and started motoring at 65 MPH. 

Happy sailing

We stopped at the earthen works on the north side for our first look at the bridge.  Let's rephrase that...tried to get a look at the bridge.  We walked up the hill to the overlook with the wind whipping.  About the only ones thrilled with the weather were the sailboats out in the Bay.  They were really moving. 

Fog over the bay

Golden Gate- north side

We knew it was going to be socked in by fog...heavy fog shrouded the Golden Gate.  Surprised?  Nope, we had already figured that the fog would be the enemy.  Oh well on the flip side the traffic wasn't too bad...no jams, no stops.  Things moved so quickly that we arrived in Oakdale, CA early enough to enjoy a cone of handmade strawberry & coffee ice cream at The Big Dipper shop.  Cooper got his treat...the tip end of our waffle cones.

Fog...darn it

Traffic moving- south

Tomorrow we'll be in Yosemite National Park...not sure we'll be able to post while camping.  We'll see how it goes since we'll probably end up in one of the National Forest campgrounds.  Who knows maybe we'll be as lucky as we were at Diamond Lake.

Out of Oregon

Oregon coast

We left southwest Oregon behind on Monday and headed toward the Pacific Coast Highway.  We decided to head to Yosemite National Park.  Sure it's the long way, but we've got to drive the Pacific Coast Highway at least one time.  Of course the route we took from Diamond Lake to Gold Beach, OR was a wee bit shall we say curvy.  At only 186 miles you would think it would not take almost 5 hours...it did.  What a road.  Narrow in spots, no guard rails and our high speed actually hit 25 MPH!  Thankfully no lumber trucks were out and about while we drove.

Once we arrived in Gold Beach we wandered around looking for a dinner spot with outside seating...none existed.  We ended up at a family restaurant that served up homemade pies...Cindi's dessert was egg custard and mine was a local amber ale whose name escapes me.  No outdoor seating meant that poor Cooper waited in the car.  The cool temperatures were good for allowing us to eat indoors while he was in the car napping.  He did get a few french fries and a piece of toast so he was a happy dog when we returned bearing gifts.

Redwoods

The next morning we headed down the coast in search of redwoods and beautiful ocean views...we found cool morning fog.  This blocked our view of the ocean for miles...glimpses were seen that made us wish for sunny blue skies.   Once we hit the redwoods we wandered around a bit following one road and then another until we stumbled upon a herd of elk.  One could say rather tame elk despite all the signs warning people that these were "wild elk".  Cindi amused herself picking fresh blackberries along the roadside and keeping Coop company.

Damn velvet...need more grass

You looking at me?

We headed out to the beach to check out Fern Canyon and to see if elk actually were on the beach at this particular campground.  The road to this spot was another narrow, bumpy, twisty road...with creek crossings to add even more dirt to the car.  Thankfully no trees were damaged while getting out of the way of oncoming vehicles.

Fern Canyon

Since the dog could not hike to Fern Canyon Cindi wandered off to see the ferns while the guys napped.  She said that the ferns covered the entire sides of the canyon walls.  At the time she did not realize that all of it had originally been created by gold mining back during the gold rush...now totally naturalized by ferns and moss.  She also found the elk in the salt marshes close to the parking lot...off to get pictures I almost had a very close encounter with a large male elk.  He looks a bit put off, but kept on eating. 

Oops...surprised me!

What?

We headed out of the Park and found another one of those roads that our GPS claimed 55 MPH and less than 60 miles to our hotel in Fort Bragg.  The miles were correct, but the speed was 20 MPH at best.  The route was CA-1 which wandered through the redwoods and up a few hillsides on its way to the coast.  There was a good bit of laughing going on as half of us saw the turn coming up while the better half gripped the steering wheel.  Coop did his part by wanting to sniff the outdoors since we were only traveling at 20 MPH...until he needed to get out and recover his senses while Mom was driving. 

Curves at 55? Hell NO!

Once we hit town we again looked around to find outdoor seating...none existed.  We wonder what's wrong with these people...weather is nice and no one's outdoors.  McD's was Cooper's choice since it was really well past his dinner and he wanted something quick. 

Tomorrow we head over the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Yosemite Valley...should be an interesting drive.  Neither one of us enjoys driving in traffic...especially in large cities where people drive so erratically.

Roosevelt Elk in marsh

California coast

Even More Water Falls

Our last view of Mt Thielsen

It looks like we may never leave Diamond Lake, OR...the weather is terrific, the hikes are amazing and we have hot showers.  The only thing missing is?...well nothing really.   The knees are feeling better so we decided to take in a few more water falls in the Diamond Lake area.  Remember our "Thundering Waters Brochure"? 

Clearwater Falls

A few miles away was Clearwater Falls.  It was certainly close to the parking lot so there was no need to worry about the hike.  All we needed to do was pull out the cameras and decide how many shots we needed.  The falls had many different components that made it interesting to shoot.   Lots of smaller ripples dropping down the 30 foot slope created a lot of opportunities to blur out the water.

Whitehorse Falls

We jumped back in the car for the short ride to the second fall of the day, Whitehorse Falls.  It was also right in the middle of a campground.  A somewhat smaller waterfall there really wasn't much to it.  Pretty, but we've seen much nicer ones.  Off we headed for the third and last waterfall....Watson Falls.

Watson Falls

This one was almost 1/2 mile hike up the mountain slope moving along a small stream.  The Falls could be seen from a small foot bridge crossing the stream.  Easily the most impressive one of the day.  It fell over 270 feet down the lava cliff side...the tallest one in southwest Oregon.  The trail took us up the hillside about midway to the top.  It was a bit chilly as the spray fell around us.  Cooper didn't mind that he couldn't swim in the pool below...not much pool to swim in anyway.

Blur of Watson Falls

No pool for Cooper

More drama

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Diamond Lake Recreation Area...it's going to be hard to top.  Maybe we'll get lucky on our next campground in the National Forest, but we're not counting on it.  We'll be happy if there's running water!

Final sunset at Diamond Lake

Off to the coastal road heading down to the Golden Gate Bridge...if we can stand the traffic.

Twenty-four Hours Later

View of Sun Notch

After our hike up Mount Thielsen one of us could barely make it uphill to the bathroom facilities much less get back to camp going downhill.  The decision was made that the next morning we'd drive over to Crater Lake National Park.  We could not hike at Crater because of Cooper...no pets more than 50 feet from paved surface and NO PETS ON TRAILS.  He became our excuse for a day of slacking off...it wasn't the knee or calf pain, really.

View of the Phantom Ship

So blue

Mt Bailey, Diamond Lake & Mt Thielsen

Unfortunately, the very first overlook was slightly uphill.  We made it up to the edge pretty well and took in our first view of the water down in the Crater.  It was  awesome.  The color is absolutely the most stunning clear blue.   It appeared to be totally clear although there seemed to be pollen floating on its surface.  After hobbling back down the hill we drove east on Rim Drive stopping at all of the overlooks.  Thankfully each and every stop the rest of the day was flat.  No hills to climb or descend for which my body was grateful.   It was such a clear day that we could see Mount Bailey, Diamond Lake, and Mount Thielsen off to the North.  Still cannot believe that we climbed Thielsen...neither can the knees.

The resulting flower shot

Stretching for flower shot

Cindi decided she'd show off a bit by stretching out to get her 'perfect shot' of the crater's blue water and a patch of flowers.  She later took off up a hillside to take pictures of even more flowers along with a nice waterfall.  At least one of us could climb up a hill and make it back down.  Personally I was thankful that the waterfall was right off the parking area.  Vidae Falls is a beautiful water fall that tumbled down 100 feet of various rock ledges.  We took quite a number of photos and even dropped back by it when the sun moved off the water to take more dramatic shots.

Falls and flowers

Vidae Falls

Dramatic shot

Did Dr. Suess plant these?

Since we'd been in the area longer than our food supply we headed off to find a grocery store to restock.  Guess what else we discovered?  Ice cream...poor Cooper got only a taste of waffle cone.  On the return trip back to Crater and Diamond Lake we noticed that the day had became rather hazy...or smokey.  We never smelled smoke, but the views to the west were diminished by the haze during the late afternoon. 

What are these?

What Happened to Posting?

Well we've been camping since Monday on Diamond Lake near Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.  We thought we'd only be here a day or so...wrong!  So many hikes and fantastic weather.  The campground has everything including showers...only missing Wi-Fi.

So posts are going to be late...have posted a few shots on Facebook though since we do have 3G.  That's amazing considering the nearest grocery is over 50 miles away.

Mount Thielsen

Mt Thielsen ahead

After a couple of days hiking to water falls today was The Day.  From the first day of our arrival to Diamond Lake we noticed Mount Thielsen.  We found out that it was an extinct volcano and that there existed a trail all the way up to the peak.  One of the summer interns told us that 'the adventurous can hike all the way to the peak'.  He added that a rope would be helpful for the last 200 yards or so...that's when he lost Cindi.  'No way' was her reply to going to the top. 

A little rub here

We headed out a bit later than planned, but hit the mountain at 9:30 AM.  At the 2 mile mark we were feeling pretty good.  Our time wasn't too shabby considering the elevation.  Cooper was doing his part carrying most of the water.  Since he was such a good sport we let him cool off in the first batch of snow we found on the trail.  He loved it a bit too much.

A bit more there

One more spot needs dirt

Devastation

On we went hiking through sections of forest that had been devastated by something...at the time we had no idea what had knocked almost all of the trees down.  One side of the mountain had been hit hard...later we found out that a huge summer storm had hit the area.  It looked like Richmond after Hurricane Irene a few years ago.   Once past the downed trees we once again entered the forest of large trees. 

It's getting closer

Where did he go?

The trail continued up and started getting more difficult as we headed toward the tree line.  Cindi and Cooper stopped just before reaching it.  The trail was getting more difficult...rocky and footing was getting somewhat 'slippery'.  I continued on towards the top.  While I headed up Cindi and Cooper entertained themselves best they could:

Yellow snow

Flies

Naptime

Bill's between the 2 top bushes

Crazy shoeless people

At one point a father and son stopped to ask Cindi for a band-aid...the son was wearing crocs and had a blister.  Bad news on this hike.  Later I noticed this kid walking in only his socks...all of us were wondering what was up with him.  On our trip down the duo passed by us at the end of the trail...both in their bare feet!  We wonder sometimes about people.

Only 200 feet away

I tried really hard to get all the way to the peak.  The last 200 feet was just not possible without a rope.  People claimed that you could climb hand over hand up the face of the peak, but I was unwilling to risk it.  The scree was like boarding on snow...heading down was a lot of sliding and reaching for the ground to try and maintain some balance.   The views were spectacular, but 24 hours later my knees were not quite sure it was worth it.

 

Views

More views

Trail down

Not alone

Diamond Lake and Mt Bailey

Three Sisters

                       





As it turns out this hike was the longest we've ever done...Cindi and Cooper managed 8.5 miles at a elevation of 8400 feet.  My hike was a mile or so longer and over 9000 feet.



*click pictures to enlarge