Yosemite and such
Mar. 24th, 2003 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikAs always, pictures are on the imageserver.
Friday night was prep. We packed as if staying two days, though the plan was for a single-day trip. It's just nice to have options and be prepared, y'know? Indeed I'd overpacked, having also brought the camping gear along "just in case". I ended up having to take those items out before we left due to space issues.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
revar and I finished up and got to bed around midnight for a change; rare for us.
I woke up at 6:15. Got dressed and ready and calledsassinak at 6:30 to let her know I'm coming. A few kick-a-bat moments and Revar's up and ready to roll. We actually made it out just after 7p, only a few short minutes later than planned. Fifteen minutes later and we're at Sassinak and Jon-Ra's place, picking them up. In a total turnaround of family history, I actually end up waiting on her for a few minutes. I revelled in the irony for a while. :) By 8am, we were on the highway headed north towards the Altamont Pass.
The route for the morning had us going through Livermoore and following the motorcycling-discovered roads through Patterson Pass. It's a lot more enjoyable to take lazy sideroads with pretty sights when you don't have a arrival-time deadline. Patterson pass has some nice pastoral roads and winds through the windmills that sit between the Bay Area and the San Joquain valley. We pulled over to get a few pics here and there. I have a soft spot for wind-farms; they just seem 'right' to me somehow.
Once on the San Joquain valley floor I swapped driving duties with Sassinak. The Element is the first car I've had in a long time that I could have other people drive comfortably. Most of my friends/relatives were afraid of the big old van I had prior and really weren't comfortable driving it at all. She seemed to like it just fine, however... and it's novel to me to be a passenger in a car; it doesn't happen often. Sassinak stayed behind the wheel through the boring blotch known as Modesto and out the backside until we were in the foothills, where I swapped back into the driver's seat. The foothills made a lazy wind up through Coulterville, where I re-found one of the areas I'd blasted through nearly a year ago during the Buell BRAG ride.
From here is where the 'adventure' part came in. I'd programmed the GPS to take us on some of the dirt roads that meander through the foothills up towards Highway 120. I wanted some semi-offroad time in the 4WD Element to see what it's like with a full load of people and supplies, but nothing too hard. We got just what I'd hoped for over the next 20 miles, going up and down as much as wiggling through corners, surrounded by trees and some really wonderful views of the hills. One missed turn put us back on a paved road requiring a creative re-route to get us back to where I'd planned. The road we ended up on near Smith Station was, well... challening.
It was a little muddy and a little steep in spots; more of a fire trail than a simple unpaved road. The going was slow, but not uncomfortable. The little car's "realtime 4wd" (the rear wheels only kick in when the fronts slip) did a confidence-inspiring job of holding the road. Still, I'd gotten us in to more than I'd planned and it got really hairy for a while. Finally the map showed we were a scant .6 miles from a main road if we'd take this tiny spur to the left. It had a gate across but it was open, and a sign saying "Not a maintaned road". It was also a bit tree-clogged. Hmmmmmmm. OK, fine. How bad can .6mi be? We turned down it, and it was only a few moments before we knew it was a one-way decision. This wasn't even a fire trail; more like a goat trail. Fallen trees half-crossed the road, requiring Revar to get out and push some out of the way. Still, I scratched up the plastic bodywork a bit (eeep!) by brushing through branches. One spot was about a 30+ degree downslope that had a 80 degree bend with 1-2' deep ruts in it. Jon-Ra got out with the handheld radio and played 'spotter' for me, helping guide my tires to safe spots between the ruts, then properly angled turns across them. This wasn't just dirt-roading anymore -- it was actual fourwheelin', albeit mild compared to what the fourwheel big-truck folks go for. The only casualty was one bottoming out on the left rear axle plate, giving some underbody scratches but no real damage.
We appeared between two rural houses, went down what looked like an extended driveway and suddendly ended up on a real, paved road. Revar got all this on a camcorder and I'll .mpg it for web showing sometime soon. A few short miles put us back on 120 and it was only 20 miles from there before we were at the Rim of the World.
(Be careful with this pic. It's 9260 pixels wide if you click through twice to the full image.)
The Rim of the World is just a roadside vista on the way to Yosemite. It's a nice valley view and a welcome restroom stop. A dozen or so miles later and we were at the north gate to Yosemite. A flash of the National Parks season pass and we were in (saving us $20, whohoo!). Gas was acquired at Crane Flats along with the information that Tioga Pass Road was still completely closed, which didn't surprise me. The route down into Yosemite proper took us past a couple of good vistas and little tunnels. Revar's waterfall fetish continued unabated, as proved by the many pictures of falling H2O. :)
We did a picnic lunch down at a roadside pullout on the valley floor. In an attempt to field-test the gear I'll go motorcycle camping with this summer, we cooked pork fillets and grilled cheese sandwiches on the sub-micro camp-stove using the camping-cookset. Due to its small size I could only fit so much in the pan at a time, but it cooked very fast and very accurately for how tiny it was. The only real downside is that the multi-fuel micro-jet is rather loud but not so much as to annoy other tourists. I'm very happy with the purchase and it looks like it'll serve me well on future adventures. We rounded out lunch with some beef and barley soup while Revar took pictures of suburbanites clinging to the rocks way up high, all strapped up in their REI mountaineering gear.
Afterwards was a short trip up to the tunnel vista on the south route out of the park, where all the 'postcard shots' come from. Revar got the best shot of the day here, which I'll be as brazen to post the larger size of:
Back down we went, and then down along the Merced river towards the west gate. A final rest-stop in the park led to a good picture taking spot, of which I'll include three here: Sassinak and Jon-Ra in the first, Revar in the second and then my evil twin Skippy in the third.
The rest of the trip was a nicely uneventful trundle home. The sun set as we entered the Joquain valley again, the darkness hiding the flat landscape but not the spring-agricultural smells. Yay, cow-fields. We listened to the new Blue Man Group album courtesy of XM radio, saw a transformer explode in the distance (oooh, shiny blueflash, then lights out all around) and chowed bad-for-us road snacks until we hit Santa Nella just outisde of the San Louis resevoir for our last fill-up. From there it's an easy 80 mile bounce over 152 to home. Dropping off the sister and bro-in-law got Revar and I home before 9p. We chilled out for the rest of the evening and spent all of Sunday slacking off, just 'cause we could.
We all had a mild case of flat-butt due to the Element's firmer seats as compared to the old cushy van. Even so, everybody seemed to enjoy the trip quite well and comfortably. I really think I made the right choice when I picked up this car. While I'll happily state it as A-OK for daytrips, I'd be a little worried about ones longer than that due to the hard seats. It's not so bad when you have another driver to swap out with, though, which is now possible. When I get the videos .MPGd and downloadable I'll drop another journal note. I really do love living in this state. Places as pretty as Yosemite are only a daytrip away.
Friday night was prep. We packed as if staying two days, though the plan was for a single-day trip. It's just nice to have options and be prepared, y'know? Indeed I'd overpacked, having also brought the camping gear along "just in case". I ended up having to take those items out before we left due to space issues.
revar and I finished up and got to bed around midnight for a change; rare for us.I woke up at 6:15. Got dressed and ready and called
sassinak at 6:30 to let her know I'm coming. A few kick-a-bat moments and Revar's up and ready to roll. We actually made it out just after 7p, only a few short minutes later than planned. Fifteen minutes later and we're at Sassinak and Jon-Ra's place, picking them up. In a total turnaround of family history, I actually end up waiting on her for a few minutes. I revelled in the irony for a while. :) By 8am, we were on the highway headed north towards the Altamont Pass.The route for the morning had us going through Livermoore and following the motorcycling-discovered roads through Patterson Pass. It's a lot more enjoyable to take lazy sideroads with pretty sights when you don't have a arrival-time deadline. Patterson pass has some nice pastoral roads and winds through the windmills that sit between the Bay Area and the San Joquain valley. We pulled over to get a few pics here and there. I have a soft spot for wind-farms; they just seem 'right' to me somehow.
Once on the San Joquain valley floor I swapped driving duties with Sassinak. The Element is the first car I've had in a long time that I could have other people drive comfortably. Most of my friends/relatives were afraid of the big old van I had prior and really weren't comfortable driving it at all. She seemed to like it just fine, however... and it's novel to me to be a passenger in a car; it doesn't happen often. Sassinak stayed behind the wheel through the boring blotch known as Modesto and out the backside until we were in the foothills, where I swapped back into the driver's seat. The foothills made a lazy wind up through Coulterville, where I re-found one of the areas I'd blasted through nearly a year ago during the Buell BRAG ride.
From here is where the 'adventure' part came in. I'd programmed the GPS to take us on some of the dirt roads that meander through the foothills up towards Highway 120. I wanted some semi-offroad time in the 4WD Element to see what it's like with a full load of people and supplies, but nothing too hard. We got just what I'd hoped for over the next 20 miles, going up and down as much as wiggling through corners, surrounded by trees and some really wonderful views of the hills. One missed turn put us back on a paved road requiring a creative re-route to get us back to where I'd planned. The road we ended up on near Smith Station was, well... challening.
It was a little muddy and a little steep in spots; more of a fire trail than a simple unpaved road. The going was slow, but not uncomfortable. The little car's "realtime 4wd" (the rear wheels only kick in when the fronts slip) did a confidence-inspiring job of holding the road. Still, I'd gotten us in to more than I'd planned and it got really hairy for a while. Finally the map showed we were a scant .6 miles from a main road if we'd take this tiny spur to the left. It had a gate across but it was open, and a sign saying "Not a maintaned road". It was also a bit tree-clogged. Hmmmmmmm. OK, fine. How bad can .6mi be? We turned down it, and it was only a few moments before we knew it was a one-way decision. This wasn't even a fire trail; more like a goat trail. Fallen trees half-crossed the road, requiring Revar to get out and push some out of the way. Still, I scratched up the plastic bodywork a bit (eeep!) by brushing through branches. One spot was about a 30+ degree downslope that had a 80 degree bend with 1-2' deep ruts in it. Jon-Ra got out with the handheld radio and played 'spotter' for me, helping guide my tires to safe spots between the ruts, then properly angled turns across them. This wasn't just dirt-roading anymore -- it was actual fourwheelin', albeit mild compared to what the fourwheel big-truck folks go for. The only casualty was one bottoming out on the left rear axle plate, giving some underbody scratches but no real damage.
We appeared between two rural houses, went down what looked like an extended driveway and suddendly ended up on a real, paved road. Revar got all this on a camcorder and I'll .mpg it for web showing sometime soon. A few short miles put us back on 120 and it was only 20 miles from there before we were at the Rim of the World.
The Rim of the World is just a roadside vista on the way to Yosemite. It's a nice valley view and a welcome restroom stop. A dozen or so miles later and we were at the north gate to Yosemite. A flash of the National Parks season pass and we were in (saving us $20, whohoo!). Gas was acquired at Crane Flats along with the information that Tioga Pass Road was still completely closed, which didn't surprise me. The route down into Yosemite proper took us past a couple of good vistas and little tunnels. Revar's waterfall fetish continued unabated, as proved by the many pictures of falling H2O. :)
We did a picnic lunch down at a roadside pullout on the valley floor. In an attempt to field-test the gear I'll go motorcycle camping with this summer, we cooked pork fillets and grilled cheese sandwiches on the sub-micro camp-stove using the camping-cookset. Due to its small size I could only fit so much in the pan at a time, but it cooked very fast and very accurately for how tiny it was. The only real downside is that the multi-fuel micro-jet is rather loud but not so much as to annoy other tourists. I'm very happy with the purchase and it looks like it'll serve me well on future adventures. We rounded out lunch with some beef and barley soup while Revar took pictures of suburbanites clinging to the rocks way up high, all strapped up in their REI mountaineering gear.
Afterwards was a short trip up to the tunnel vista on the south route out of the park, where all the 'postcard shots' come from. Revar got the best shot of the day here, which I'll be as brazen to post the larger size of:
Back down we went, and then down along the Merced river towards the west gate. A final rest-stop in the park led to a good picture taking spot, of which I'll include three here: Sassinak and Jon-Ra in the first, Revar in the second and then my evil twin Skippy in the third.
The rest of the trip was a nicely uneventful trundle home. The sun set as we entered the Joquain valley again, the darkness hiding the flat landscape but not the spring-agricultural smells. Yay, cow-fields. We listened to the new Blue Man Group album courtesy of XM radio, saw a transformer explode in the distance (oooh, shiny blueflash, then lights out all around) and chowed bad-for-us road snacks until we hit Santa Nella just outisde of the San Louis resevoir for our last fill-up. From there it's an easy 80 mile bounce over 152 to home. Dropping off the sister and bro-in-law got Revar and I home before 9p. We chilled out for the rest of the evening and spent all of Sunday slacking off, just 'cause we could.
We all had a mild case of flat-butt due to the Element's firmer seats as compared to the old cushy van. Even so, everybody seemed to enjoy the trip quite well and comfortably. I really think I made the right choice when I picked up this car. While I'll happily state it as A-OK for daytrips, I'd be a little worried about ones longer than that due to the hard seats. It's not so bad when you have another driver to swap out with, though, which is now possible. When I get the videos .MPGd and downloadable I'll drop another journal note. I really do love living in this state. Places as pretty as Yosemite are only a daytrip away.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-03-24 01:18 pm (UTC)It seems like a wonderful trip. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2003-03-24 09:34 pm (UTC)Beautiful photos!
Love the panorama! :D
Scott Kellogg
no subject
Date: 2003-03-24 10:09 pm (UTC)That picture of you has this 'What you don't realize Mr. Bomb is that I have a clever plan in place to kill you. Let me explain it in detail before leaving you alone (or with an ineffectual flunky) so that you can escape'.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-25 08:40 am (UTC)