CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Central California has to be one of the prettiest spots in the country. It offers Mountains, desert and oceans, all within a few miles. Linda and I spent 2 weeks in Gilroy. We stayed Betabel RV Park, its a very clean campground with all the usual amenities, including live entainment on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

We visited Monterey several times because of the beautiful views of the oceans. Fishermans wharf still seems to have a lot of seals in the harbor for the tourists to look at. Monterey also offers Cannery Row but it is more of an outside mall than a cannery. You can leave Monterey via Ocean View drive and take in some of the most awesome scenery. We also visited Carmel, with its quaint shops and stores. There is a beautiful old mission in Carmel that is worth seeing. Its a high dollar town, but when you had Clint Eastwood as your mayor, its gotta be high end!!!

We visited Mission San Jaun Bautista, which is part of the El Camino Real, which is the old path that connected all the missions. Its an interesting little mission with lots of flowers and a few old buildings from when it was a town.

Pinnacles National Monument was just a short drive and a beautiful country drive, at that. We hiked several of the trails. We took Balconies Cave trail, it offers a cave that you must take to complete the trail. This a talus cave created by huge boulders that formed a roof over a narrow canyon. These caves are narrow and twisty with low ceilings and uneven footing. You must have your own flashlights and gear and be prepared to scramble over rocks and wade through water. Linda and I only went in so far, as we didn't have our gear with us.

No trip to Central California would be complete without a trip down Highway 1 to Big Sur. The views of the Ocean are spectacular. We packed our lunch and made a day of it.

SEQUOIA & KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS

Given the names of these parks, you would expect giant trees and huge canyons - and you won't be disappointed. Yet the whole of the parks is even greater than the sum of the famous parts.

Rising from 1300' to 14,494' these parks protect a spectacular elevational range. This span from low to high means dramatic shifts from hot foothills to shady forests to the cold High Sierra. It means extraordinarily diverse plants and animals living in the extremely varied conditions. It means steep roads and trails that climb mountains, and cold rivers that plunge down from their heights.

There is diversity, too, in the caretakers of this landscape. Bordering these two national parks is a national monument, which is a part of the national forest

Linda and I drove through the two parks, as the side roads were still closed. We took two day trips to cover as much ground as we could. It seemed that every corner we went around offered another great view. We saw bears both days,a coyote, marmot and many squirrels and rodents. If you find yourself in this area, it a must see kind of place. The Kings River was spectular in its self, wild rapids and awsome waterfalls.

TECOPA CALIFORNIA

Tecopa is located on the historic Old Spanish Trail in Southeastern Inyo County. It was originally a settlement of the Pauite Indians in the early 1800s and in later years by early prospectors and travelers. The trail is still visible in many areas in the Amargosa Canyon.

Tecopa is a a small community. It features a post office, church, school and a lots of trailers and shacks. We stayed at the county park campground that offers a Hot Springs Pool House. Linda and I thought we would enjoy this amenity until we discovered it was "clothing optional". We found the area offered enough things to do and explore, (in the clothing mandatory area)that we stayed plenty busy. We took a day trip to the Durmont Dunes, big beautiful sand dunes that are between two mountain ranges. The area around the dunes is used by OHV's, so there are lots of "jeep" trails to explore. Shoshone offers an excellent museum that tells the story of the area and its past. China Ranch is just 7 miles from our campground so Linda and I took advantage of the hiking trails that are located there. The entire area is a paradise for rockhounders. The Tecopa County campground borders Grimshaw Lake, which is dry with a few pockets of warm spring water, which seems to attracts water fowl.

This is another place we visited that is in the catagory of "if you don't have it with you, you don't need it". Pahrump is the closest thing to civilization you will find in the area. We recommend the county campground butt we can't offer anything on the hot springs?

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

Death Valley, the largest national park in the contiguous United Stated, comprises more than 3.3 million acres of desert wilderness. This fabled park features spectacular desert scenery, unusual wildlife and rich human history. The Badwater Basin salt pan, at 282 feet below sea level, is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Death Valley summer temperatures frequently soar above 120 degrees, in 1913 Furnace Creek recorded a temperature of 134 degrees, on the Sahara managed to top this record by two degrees in 1922.

Linda and I traveled the 27 mile Titus Canyon road. Its narrow winding roads, ghost towns, indian petroglyphs and beautiful scenery made this something special. The road is a one way road and in some places its arguably not even that. We hoped that Leadville would be a complete ghost town but it was just 3 old metal shacks, but still it was pretty neat. The scenery makes the trip so pleasant. We packed ourselves a delicious lunch and let Titus Canyon provide us with a million dollar view.

One of my favorite adventures while at Death Valley was hiking the Mosiac Canyon. In some places the canyon walls were less than 2 feet wide. This canyon made you think you were at the end of the trail in several locations, but after looking around we always managed to find a route that allowed us to continue on. The end is a shear 40 foot dry falls, and you will have no doubt that this is indeed the end. I would recommend this trail to everyone that visits Death Valley. It is a strenuous hike in places but well worth the effort.

We took several scenic drives around Death Valley. It seems that every corner we came around offered us some great views of the desert. We enjoyed the Sand dunes at Stovepipe Wells, the Desert Five Spot flower that we saw at the mouth of Titus Canyon, the many different colored plants that adorned the desert. It would be easy to go on and on, I think that I will always have a special place in my heart for Death Valley. It was more than I expected.

CHINA RANCH - Tecopa, California

China Ranch is a family owned and operated small farm, It is an Oasis in the forbidding Mojave Deset near Southern Death Valley. Date palms and abundant wildlife, all hidden away in some of the most spectacular scenery the desert has to offer.China Ranch offers several interpretive self-guided nature walks.

Linda and I hiked the Crack Trail, a 4 mile round trip, that is the longest but possibly the most rewarding of the hikes. It involves a 350 foot drop/gain over its course. This trail contains an historical saloon building, an ore loading site, T&T railroad grade, an Amargosa river crossing, all leading to the crack, a narrow twisting slot canyon eroded into the igneous rhyolite rock. The canyon is eventually blocked by two boulder strewn vertical dry falls, ten to fifteen feet high.

We enjoyed the hike to the canyon. We took the oportunity to enjoy or lunch at the mouth of the canyon, with a view of the Amargosa River. The hike concludes at the China Ranch Bakery. Later that evening we enjoyed some datenut bread that Linda purchased before we left.

DUBLIN CAVES

Joe Vollmer (1858-1938) was the first old prospector to carve a home in the clay embankment where he lived quite comfortably. Soon his cronies joined him and a whole series of cave homes appeared. Often famous prospectors like Shorty Harris and Death Valley Scotty stopped by to reminisce. The last resident lived in the caves until the late 1970's.

This was a great stop. Its hard to believe but theses old prospecters lived in these caves. They drilled through the top and managed to put a stove pipe in so they could have heat when needed. Linda and I counted about 12 cave homes but we think there was more.

As you can see from the picture, there rest stop facilities leave a lot to desired. FYI the newspaper was less than a month old.