After Redwood National Park we drove down the coast for a while and then inland to Clear Lake State Park, the largest natural lake in California nestled below green hills and with small settlements hugging its edge. It reminded us both of the lakes in Northern Italy, although not quite as expensive as Como I wouldn’t believe.
On Monday, we took the B’s out for a kayak and I managed to get a tear in B1, most probably from a discarded fish hook on the boat ramp. I repaired it with the included patches, however I haven’t had an opportunity to test it so perhaps in the near future Alex will write up the sinking of B1 with all hands (hopefully no lives will be lost). Alex spent a gorgeous sunny morning filming Ospreys fishing in the lake and I fixed B1.
Tuesday, we drove to Upper Lake where we did some research on local wines at the Lake County Wine Studio, run by a pleasant woman who sold us four bottles of a very nice local Pinot Noir and slightly further afield Cabernet Sauvignon. Our next stop was Jackson but en-route we had a warning of how hot the weather had become and how dangerous as we saw a fifth wheel’s rear drivers side tyres besides the road guarded by several fire trucks. This was the only remaining part of the vehicle and was beside a scorched area of grass that crossed the hillside beside the road.
We then drove on to our first Casino on a reservation, Jackson Rancheria, where we stayed in possibly the smartest RV park we’ve been to. It was on top of a levelled hill and even the dump station was housed in its own building. Because it was on the reservation we weren’t allowed to walk or cycle from the RV park to the casino itself so as not to disturb the members of the tribe who lived there. We had to take the shuttle bus and to our horror, we discovered that the Casino is dry! We made do with a slice of cheesecake and a coffee but no substitute for beer in my humble opinion.
From Jackson, it is a relatively short drive to Yosemite, or it would normally have been apart from the large bush fire raging between ourselves and the park. Google maps sent us on a route that avoided the fire, without telling us there was a fire, consequently we were within 20 miles of our destination when we were stopped by a county employee who advised us on an alternate route, unfortunately the diversion was 100 miles in distance! Slightly despondently we set off and about a mile along the road we watched a fire fighting helicopter fly over us on the way to tackle the blaze. As he disappeared behind us we spotted the verge of the road we were travelling on had caught fire ahead of us. Bit of a dilemma with fire behind and ahead of us we paused to consider our options and a country fire truck raced passed to tackle the grass fire ahead. After discussing with other vehicles, we drove through the fire with it fiercely burning beside Reg but we made it through the other side and past the onlookers who had got out of their cars to watch the firefighters, if the wind had changed I’m not sure I would have much sympathy for them! As we drove further along a convoy of six other fire trucks raced past to tackle it.
To reach our campsite we had to drive into Yosemite, where there was a stream of traffic leaving and not much entering, and out again. We reached our campsite in Mariposa around 8:30pm and were greeted by ash falling from the sky. There was a notice on the office explaining that the local town had been evacuated and the power cut off to our area, there was some water remaining but the pressure was low. The local emergency services had closed the road disrupting many peoples travel plans. A neighbour knocked on Reg’s door to ask if we had any phone signal as he had left his wife in Yosemite to catch a shuttle bus back while he drove to the campsite in his RV. She hadn’t then shown up and it was over three hours since he’d seen her and couldn’t reach her. Fortunately, she arrived during the night but many people were displaced and worried about their safety. We settled in to a sombre campsite and hoped that B, Tim, Sophie and Ollie would be OK to reach the park the next day.
Thursday dawned clearer with less smoke, however ash had settled on Reg overnight. The campsite owner had decided to close down the park until further notice as it was difficult to operate without power and water. We drove into the park and it was slightly hazy but still very hot and the sun was breaking through. We parked Reg in his primitive campsite and went to the Half-Dome Village and had just begun our first beer when the Wilko’s arrived. It was lovely to see everyone and Sophie and Ollie have both grown since we last saw them at Christmas.
They had booked into the permanent tent sites in Half-Dome and what can be best described as looking like a military encampment, square sided tents with bear cages outside for any food or toiletries that might attract the attention of the local black bears. They all seemed happy with the arrangements, although there may have been some nervousness about the security against bears of simple canvas.
We gave them a tour of Reg and then set off to walk to the foot of Vernal falls and spent the way catching up on news back home. Alex, B, Tim and Sophie went back to Reg to begin dinner (and it seems sneak a couple of rounds in) while Ollie and I climbed the Mist Trail, so called because of the spray from the waterfall, to the top of Vernal falls. A great trail but we were both soaked on our return. We had a barbecue for dinner along with several bottles of Modelo and three bottles of red.
On Friday, we had booked a campsite back outside of the park, however we put our name down for a cancellation in the parks own campsites in the hope that the fires would deter people from arriving. After doing so we rode our bikes to meet the Wilko’s who hired single gear bikes for the day and we rode around the park loop, stopping to admire the beautiful vistas and, in particular, Yosemite falls within the park. Alex and I returned to the campsite reservations desk for the 3pm ‘auction’ of available sites, this is a nerve-wracking process where the campground employees shout out the names of those on the list who have been lucky enough to get a cancelled site. We were delighted that for the three names before us on the list there was no response and we landed the 15th and last available site, meaning we didn’t have a one and an half hour drive to our campsite, woo-hoo! We chatted in the queue to a pleasant grandfather and his grandchild who lived in Oakdale and had been visiting Yosemite since the 1960’s.
Sadly, on Friday we had to leave Yosemite, we stopped on the way out to look at a stand of Sequoia trees, it’s humbling to realise they have been on the earth longer than the majority of civilisation and that man spent much of the 19th and 20th centuries cutting these majestic trees down for timber. We drove to Davis, California, where the Wilko’s had rented a house for a week. Really comfortable house with a pool and excellently appointed kitchen and good air conditioning which was required as the temperatures hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit, around 39 degrees centigrade over the next week. We lounged by the pool and relaxed for the rest of Friday and most of Saturday and Sunday with only a walk into Davis for Saturday lunch to break up the days.
M
Travelling Bradburys 