Tall trees and a change of plan

Having made our millions in Vegas (wishful thinking), we set off towards sequoia national park.

Our first stop was to get a picture of the ‘welcome to Las Vegas’ sign. Not wanting to park and stand in line with the rest of the tourists I took pictures as Alex did a U-ey! As I had expected the sign was pretty disappointing and tacky but it was a fitting way to leave Vegas.

We knew we wouldn’t make it all the way to sequoia and aimed for a town called bakersfield. Our drive was uneventful apart from refusing to pay the high petrol prices near LV and so running Ronda down to the wire. We had a very nervous 30 miles driving to the petrol station we ID’d ahead when the petrol light was on. We made it. Phew. Having been driving all day – well, I was navigating/following google maps and suppling Alex with lots of tea – we arrived at the campground we had in mind. It was totally overpriced but we didn’t want to drive on. Having driven through the town we quickly worked out it was a totally dive and we couldn’t wait to get out, so we settled down for the night and planned to leave early the next day.

The next morning we headed early to sequoia. We drove along some very dry country and a coyote was trotting along the field next to us at one point which was fun. At the entrance gate to the park we were warned that driving RVs along the mountain road was tricky so we nervously set off for the hour long drive. Whilst we didn’t see much, as the valley was on the other side of the road, we soon found ourselves surrounded by absolutely enormous trees. We didn’t know much about sequoia apart from it having big trees but everyone who had been said it was their favourite national park and it was also to become ours.

Having faced a ‘campground full’ sign at most campsites we tried to stay at during the trip, it was refreshing that the lodgepole campground was nearly empty. At last we seemed to be hitting off peak season! The ranger at the visitor centre gave us a hike recommendation, “the trail of the sequoias”, which would also include a walk around the largest tree on earth. To get to our trail we had to start with everyone else only doing the 5 min walk and back to see the largest tree. We soon turned off the tourist trail and headed into the forest. I normally lead the hike. Alex says it is so I can set the pace but as most of our hikes are in bear country maybe he has an ulterior motive!

Suddenly, ahead on the trail, I saw something by a rock. We edged our way slowly along and we saw a marmot. It looked like a big squirrel/ small beaver. We decided to leave him be under the rock and we carried on. I was recounting to Alex that so far we had seen a coyote and a marmot and I wasn’t expecting to see anything except tall trees. I turned a corner and threw my arm out to stop Alex. A mum black bear and a cub were just metres in front of us! We stepped back and heard an almighty crash from our left. It turned out this was another cub tumbling through the undergrowth. It was the most amazing moment of our trip so far. We were creating our own bear jam! We felt so privileged seeing these guys and with no one else around. The mum eyed us up suspiciously so we just talked to them and asked them to move out of the way, which they did. One minute they were there and the next all 3 had disappeared into the forest. What a cool moment.

We walked on about 2 mins, still in shock, and then we saw another bear! This one was alone and so maybe a male. We walked a bit faster wanting to get out of its way. 4 bears in as many minutes. Incredible. Although they are described as black bears these ones were actually very sandy coloured. The rest of the walk was great. No more wildlife but the most enormous trees. We saw the biggest on earth. Alex and I decided that we bet there is a bigger one but it just hasn’t been found yet!

The next day we headed to kings canyon national park. It’s attached to sequoia. We headed to cedar grove which was at the bottom of the valley. The road was very windy but when we got the bottom we were greeted with yet another empty campsite. We chose a spot by the river and headed off for a hike to the mist falls. It turned out to be a bit longer than planned but was good nonetheless. We got to the river and a couple said they had just seen a big bear. Sadly we didn’t see him but having seen 4 yesterday we had already been very lucky. We made our way back to camp. The sun was setting and it was getting very cold, so time for a glass of wine to warm up.

2 great days in national parks and Yosemite national park was next. We had heard about some forest fires in the area but hoped we would be ok. Yosemite is also attached to sequoia and kings canyon but you have to drive all the way out and then back into the park to get to it, which took a couple of hours in Ronda. When we got to the entrance the ranger warned us it was pretty busy and that it might be a tad smokey. As we got nearer to the main village with all the campgrounds, it was utter chaos. There were people and cars and RVs everywhere. It was polar opposite to sequoia which was only a few miles away. The air was also thick with smoke, like someone was having a monumental bonfire. Having established that there were no campgrounds available we decided that Yosemite was not for us on this trip. We didn’t want to hike in thick smoke so decided we would head to the coast earlier than planned – the beauty of being able to be flexible with plans. We found a campsite near the park and met an English couple who were on day 1 of their 2 week RV trip. At nearly 5 weeks into our RV trip we felt like professionals and passed on a few tips along with our bear spray (we would really need it for the rest of the trip)! Whilst it was disappointing that we didn’t see Yosemite we were also ready for a change and to see the sea. Next stop Santa Barbara!