Lake Isabella

Days 20, 21 and 22

Well, we made it to Lake Isabella without incident and rediscovered civilization including a real grocery store where we could buy real food. We also have a campsite that actually has a shower as well – now mind you it has one faucet that is preset to lukewarm water but this is better than what we have been dealing with most of the time.
Warren decided not to go kayaking on this lake as it was much too windy and there were whitecaps most of the time. It is pretty though with the mountains in the background. Our campsite is nice with tons of Western Tanangers (beautiful yellow and orange birds), tons of ground squirrels and miscellaneous lizards.

Sunday we took a scenic drive up to the southern end of Sequoia to see our first giant sequoias. Now, you all know the definition of “scenic drive”? It generally means a narrow road with a drop off of 2000 feet on one side and a sheer cliff of rocks on the other with frequent allusions to rock slides to watch out for!! We stopped so many times along the way to take in the beautiful scenery and walk a bit that it took us three hours to get there but only 45 minutes to return. The sequoias were awesome and we just saw the babies.

They were easily 12-15 feet across at the base. Warren went inside of one!! It was a beautiful hike through incredible woods. Not only are there sequoias but huge ponderosa pines as well. (babies as they are only 300 years old).

We also saw our first rattlesnake (it was in the road sunning itself) and our first forest fire. The fire was on the other side of the river from us but the smoke was intense. There was no civilization over there so guess they were fighting it with planes and helicopters of which we saw lots.

Tomorrow we head off for the main part of Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon where we expect to spend a couple of days before heading to Yosemite.

On another note, Lisa is madly trying to get money transferred so that she can close on her house next week. It was supposed to be this week but she hadn’t realized the logistics of getting the money to the local bank and getting the certified check. The seller had to take care of some deficiencies as well. She loves her new job and the people there – she can’t believe what a difference it is from before!!