Hey it's Mitchell! We've been on another wild camping adventure and this time I'm writing the blog.
We left very early on Friday morning to go camping (I took a day's vacation, incidentally not a day's holiday which apparently gives the confusing impression I've booked a public holiday to Americans). We drove for six hours and after a switch around at a Starbucks at the halfway point, I drove the last three hours. While I'm not especially fond of driving I would definitely do it more if most of it was like that; driving downhill on empty mountain roads without any junctions. Emily's note: This was the first time I've heard Mitchell singing away and actually go woohoo while driving.
 |
| The road through King's Canyon |
We arrived at the campsite and set the tent up while hearing ominous thunder rumbles in the distance. We managed to get the tent up without any rain and went for a walk to find the ranger station and some maps for our hikes the next day. We had stopped at the side of the river on our way back when it started to rain! We just made it back to the tent in time to hide inside during the shower. It didn't last long and we were still able cook dinner without getting soggy.
 |
| Starting to feel rain! |
As the camp site was deep inside the National Park we had to keep all of our food in a bear box, or risk our tent being attacked by bears! We were however in the middle of the campsite which was pretty busy and there were plently of dogs around so the chances of us even seeing a bear from a distance was super low.
 |
| Gotta keep our snacks safe! |
On Saturday we set off at about 8am and I drove us a little further into the mountains for a hike up to a waterfall called Mist Falls, so called because of the spray that comes off it. The route was long and fairly steep in the second half, but pretty covered in trees so we were quite nicely shaded from the sun and not so hot.
About halfway along there was a bridge going over the water which looked lovely in the early morning light. We didn't paddle here, but thought it would be a good place to go on the way back down when we were hotter and dustier.
 |
| Such clear water! |
A little further up we reached a plateau with some fabulous views of the canyon. It almost felt a bit claustrophobic because there were these huge mountains on all sides. This part was pretty exposed to the sun, but we found a stone bench in the shade of a tree and stopped for a snack as it was about 10:30am by this point.
About an hour later we got to the waterfall which was quite big and we heard it before we saw it. It pooled at the bottom before rushing out along the river we'd been following all morning. We climbed over some rocks to cross the river and sat on some larger boulders closer to the waterfall spray which was nice and cool after walking all that way. Emily even did a little paddling although the water was super cold as it comes from the glaciers which form in the winter. Emily's note: Mitchell also took his shoes and socks off, but did not go very far in
On the way down, we stopped at the bridge again. By this point in the day it was a lot busier and there were a few groups sat on the banks enjoying a paddle. We found a nice spot and ate our lunch and then Emily went for another paddle. Emily's note: It was slightly warmer here and felt so nice to cool my feet down and wash the dust off my ankles before we finished.
When we got back to the trail head and were resting on a bench outside the (other) ranger station, we actually had another couple of raindrops, even though it had been so sunny for most of the hike! It didn't last for long and soon after I drove us the 10 minutes back to the campsite. It was still a bit early for dinner though so we walked through the campsite again and went back to where the river crossed over it. We both paddled here and washed some of the dust and sweat from the hike away. There were no showers at this site, but a crystal clear river did just as well! It was warmer, but still too cold for us to go swimming unfortunately (and not really deep enough either).
 |
| Pretty rustic |
For our dinner that evening Emily had bought a veggie chili in a tin but had forgotten a can opener! I had to walk over to large family group nearby and ask if they had a can opener. They didn't, but instead very kindly opened the can with a massive knife for me!
 |
| Trader Joe's did not disappoint |
On Sunday we packed everything up ready for our 6 hour drive back home. On the way out of the national park (our campsite was like an hour into the mountains) we stopped at the site of some sequoia trees including the General Grant tree, one of three largest trees in the world apparently! (By volume, which seems an odd measure of a tree, but it's very impressive up close). We weren't allowed to walk right up next to it to protect the roots, but I got some pictures of Emily near other less impressive sequoia trees which still give a really good idea of scale.
 |
Went for a walk through a tree
(Emily's finger apparently had to be in this picture to block out the sun) |
 |
| Spot the Emily |
Interesting sequoia fact: young trees have branches all over rather than a distinct trunk making them pretty good Christmas trees, but as they grow older and taller their branches are mostly located at the top of the tree. It's just occured to me I don't know much about trees and maybe they all grow like that, but at the very least, sequoia trees can be very tall while still in their Christmas tree phase.
While we didn't see any bears on our trip, we did see some smaller wildlife including some woodpeckers on the trees and a very chatty squirrel.
We then drove home, again sharing the journey although we had a couple issues. Firstly there was no mobile connection in the national park so we drove out on the road we knew we came in on and were pretty confident we'd have signal by the time we needed it. We drove for quite some time with me regularly checking to see if Emily's phone had connection. It was only after we passed the turning that Emily recognised as the one we had taken on the way there did I work out Emily had turned data off on her phone to save battery and forgotten about it. Then, at Bakersfield where we intended to swap drivers, it seemed like almost all of the ramps on and off the highway were closed so we had a bit of a fight to get in and out which wasn't helped by our GPS not cooperating very well.
But we made it home just before it started to get dark, exhausted, dusty, but very happy with our weekend and with some amazing photos which you can see in
this online album here.
Lots of love,
Emily and Mitchell
xxxx
Comments
Post a Comment