Lake Tahoe to Pinnacles NP – 8/26/24 to 9/6/24
Though we really did not want to stay at another alpaca Harvest Host after our wonderful experience at Alpaca Country Estates in Terrebonne, CA with over 1,000 alpacas, (we knew we would be disappointed), after leaving Lake Tahoe we could not find a place to stay other than Great Basin Alpacas in NV. Alicia was a very nice host, but by the time we arrived, we were hot and frazzled. Our GPS had taken us to the road above her house where we spent over an hour trying to extricate ourselves from a turn-around mess. Even after unhitching the Jeep, while trying to do a multi-point turn-around, we couldn’t go backward more than a few inches because of an antique wagon nor forward more than a few inches because of an electrical post.
Tom had Paula walk up the dirt road climbing upward toward a house to see if there might be a larger turning space up there. She knocked on the door and spoke with the owner to see if we could turn around on his property and he kindly showed her a circle drive further up the hill she had not seen. Thank you, Lord. Then we drove down to the correct road, but still had trouble finding the property because there was no sign. Finally, we were parked and took a nap in the heat, fortunately with a good breeze. After our nap, Alicia and her two young girls showed us around a bit, and we helped feed some of their few alpacas.
We thought about staying 2 nights because we had no further reservations and were coming up on the Labor Day weekend (it snuck up on us) and having trouble finding open campgrounds. But…out on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and wanting to move on, we took our chances on getting a site at one of several first come, first served campgrounds on the way to Yosemite NP. (Solution: be aware of the calendar and be sure to have reservations for holiday weekends.)
After a beautiful sunrise (one of the few we had seen), we left early the next morning for the 100-mile drive to Yosemite. (Paula actually drove WOW about .5-mile to the main road to reconnect the Jeep it was so rural; that’s news because Tom had done all the driving this summer.) As we got to Lee Vining, CA, we stopped at the Mono Lake Visitors Center and watched a movie about Mono Lake (pronounced Mōnō). Mono Lake is 2.5 times saltier than the ocean. (In percentage of salinity, at 34% is the Dead Sea in Israel, then Great Salt Sea at 32%, Mono Lake at 8.8%, Salton Sea at 4.4% and then the ocean at 3.5%. For a complete list, including even saltier ones, see here.)
The second campground on the way to Yosemite NP, Lower Lee Vining, had several campsites open and we paid for one that fit us for 2 nights. We could tell it was a popular campground for families on perhaps their last outing with the kids before they returned to school. While there, we discovered the information we had received that “no reservation was required to enter Yosemite NP from the east through Tioga Pass Entrance” was incorrect! Reservations were required on the weekends and holidays (Monday was Labor Day) through October and none were available. We did not want to stay 3 days in the Lee Vining boonies! If we entered before 5:00AM, no reservation was required, but Tom did not want to get up at 3:30AM to drive the 8 miles from our campground up a hilly and winding 9,945’ Tioga Pass Road in the dark to be sure to arrive before 5:00AM.
We did find you could get on a reservation cancellation list and receive an email if one occurred. Every time we got an email, it was gone before we could grab it. So…Paula stayed on the reservation site and refreshed it every 10 seconds (about 25 times) until one came available and jumped on it! (She got it before we even got an email.) Thank you, Lord…we could proceed the next day at our normal pace. Another lesson learned: confirm important information about parks before arriving!
One thing we learned that day which might be of interest to you is how to use Google’s My Maps to keep track of places we want to see. If interested, Click here for more info.
We got up early to avoid any lines at the entrance and got right in around 7:15AM on a beautiful cloudless day forecast to be 69°. We drove the Tioga Pass Road through the park, past beautiful meadows, and treeless peaks (Tioga Peak is at 11,526’), as well as lots of big burn areas, the last fire occurring in June 2021. We then unhitched the Jeep just prior to our exit at Big Oak Flat so we could drive the Jeep alone back into Yosemite Valley. It was a good thing we did because, without warning, there were 2 rounded tunnels with a clearance of 10’3”. WOW is 13’! We didn’t spend a lot of time in Yosemite since it was to be Tom’s next NP book. We had spent some time there previously and Tom went back and spent a week there taking pictures and had the book outlined before Master’s Books pulled the plug on it. With the NPs refusing to carry the books because they are written from a Biblical viewpoint, it was hard to justify the cost of publishing. That’s where they should be sold. But we did watch some climbers on El Capitan. A fun time to see them is at dusk as they turn on their headlamps as they hang from the side of the mountain before sleeping there. Can you imagine? See what it might be like here.
We had the campground to ourselves that night at Lake McClure near Coulterville, CA with the few fishermen who were there when we arrived pulling out before dark. Ahhhh, Fall had arrived, and we had our adventures to ourselves, all alone. No more crowds expected anywhere. The rest of our trip should be easy. (We hoped we weren’t setting ourselves up for something unexpected!) We finished out the day with our first alpaca steak. It was very good, though a little “gamey,” but it’s supposed to be very healthy for you.
We drove through Fresno the next day as we made our way toward Pinnacles NP, allowing Paula to get a blood test, pick up some prescriptions, and get fuel at Costco. That night we stayed at our least favorite Harvest Host of the trip, Rancho Notso Grande (though it did have a cute name). It was a small berry farm, but the only berries we got were 3 different kinds of blackberries – ollalie, rowa (toxic if eaten fresh but benign after frozen or cooked), and apache from their freezer. It was so late in the season (also back to 100° temps) that everything was dead. We parked in the circle driveway in front of the house just 50’ from the street. And we must have been on the route to the hospital because there were sirens during our whole stay there as well as other road noise. We ran our generator to have our air conditioners until bedtime. We learned the San Joaquin Valley has temps similar to Phoenix.
Everything was covered with dust and the air looked terrible as we continued on. We didn’t want to think about living in or breathing it. Nonetheless, the San Joaquin Valley is home to some of the premier agricultural land in the US. We saw many orchards, trees, and vines, all irrigated, of course. We saw the largest field of solar panels we had ever seen, maybe a mile long and couldn’t see to the end of the width of it. We learned later that when it was the Lemoore Solar Project and when built was one of the largest in the country.
A detour due to a grass fire extended our route 2 hours out of our way to approach Pinnacles NP from the NE rather than from the SE. We had to stop to figure out how we were going to proceed and ended up stopping at the Harris Ranch Resort. Tom saw a Cal Fire truck and the driver gave us alternate route suggestions. After reading about the Harris Ranch Resort, we passed about a 1-mile-long cattle lot. Every single cow had shade cover!
Arriving at Pinnacles NP campground, we had only 4 campers in our loop. But it was stinkin’ hot again (forecast 102°). The next morning, Tom’s birthday, we got up early and hiked the Bear Gulch Cave Trail (flashlights required) and up to a reservoir. The cave was more like a scramble underneath a series of chock rocks jumbled together. Stairs were cut into the rock with hand railings in some places. Built by the CCC after WWII, they put a ton of work into making this half-mile “cave” a very different hike/scramble. It took us only 1.5 hours, but it was good that we went early as by 11:00, it was starting to get hot again. While we had 30A power, we had to run the generator to stay cool enough in the coach because without it, we could only run one air conditioner which wasn’t enough in the full sun. The nature center where we hoped to see the Pinnacles NP film was closed.
Though it would be very difficult to choose our favorite NP of the summer, it would be easy to tell you our most underwhelming – Pinnacles NP. While most NPs suggest a minimum of 2-4 days to visit, a 1-2-hour visit to Pinnacles NP is suggested. There are only 2 roads in Pinnacles, one of about 5 miles from the east and one of about 3 miles from the west and those are not connected. To see both sides of Pinnacles, one would have to drive 2 hours around to the other side of the park. It is the 7th smallest NP. But one of the Pinnacles most interesting facts is it has 500 species of bees, the most diverse of anywhere in the world. (We didn’t know there were that many kinds and fortunately, we only saw one of them.) Some people also visit to see the California condors.
We will probably be posting just one more blog from our trip, but since we have seen the last of the National Parks, we will close this one out with a very informative, fun 3.5-minute video about our National Park System.
Thanks for joining us!
