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Pinnacles National Park

Over the last week of our Sabbatical trip we continued to travel South through California, arriving at Pinnacles National Park where we had reserved a campsite. The Campground is inside the East Entrance to Pinnacles NP and has tent sites and RV sites.  We chose to camp in one of the primitive sites (no hookups) in the back end of the park. The old growth oak trees gave us plenty of shade. We saw so much wildlife here, even in our campsite: deer, ground squirrels, acorn woodpeckers, northern flickers, wild turkeys, hawks and the most turkey vultures I have seen in one area. In the evening there would be about 30-40 Turkey Vultures roosting for the night in one tree, with many more in the tree next to that! This National Park is home to the California Condor recovery program because the Condor came close to extinction. We had hoped to see a Condor, but we did not spot one.

Pinnacles is popular destination with rock climbers and also hikers. The East and West sides of the park are not connected by a roadway, but many hiking trails can take you through the park.

 

Due to the heat of the afternoons, hiking was only recommended for mornings or late evenings. Getting started early in the day, we enjoyed a hike up to a view point overlooking the canyon. We also took a trail through Talus Caves and to a reservoir, hiking back along the rim to where we had parked the car.

Within the park there was also an old homestead where the old house, barn and other buildings give a glimpse into what life was like in the early1900's. 

Leaving Central California we headed out to the coast for the final two nights of our trip. We stayed at San Simeon State Park and enjoyed time to browse and shop in Cambria. We had an excellent dinner at Linn's restaurant.  We took a drive up to the Elephant Seal Vista Point in San Simeon, which we have done at various seasons in the past. There were not as many elephant seals as we have seen at other times of the year, but there were a number of calves and mothers sleeping on the beach! There were also several male seals sparring in the surf. There vocalizing could be heard far and wide,

 

Looking back on our "Adventures on the Road"

Our adventures have taken us through 8 states, to visit 11 National Parks/Monuments, and 10 State Parks. We had 91 days of all kinds of weather...sunny, cloudy, thunderstorms and downpours, cold and hot temperatures, poor air quality from fires, and beautiful clear days, windy days and calm days.

We have driven 10,400 miles (both towing the trailer and sightseeing) at elevations from sea level up  to two 11,000' mountain passes, on Freeways and Highways, along Scenic Byways and two lane country roads, over gravel roads and dirt roads, across bridges and through tunnels.

 

 

We camped in 42 different locations (with and without reservations) from Cracker Barrel parking lots, friends' driveways, overflow lots, outside an RV Park that had closed for the night before were able to get there, National Parks, State Parks, City Parks and fairgrounds. We had sites with full hookups and others with no hookups. We did boondocking on BLM Land and Forest service roads.

 

We purchased about 950 gallons of gas. We saw gas prices ranging from $2.97 to $5.20 per gallon over all those states in our three months of travel. We saw that one of our tires was wearing irregularly, and had it changed out for our spare. The truck had a mechanical breakdown that delayed us for five days in Oregon resulting in cancelled reservations, booking last minute campsites, the need to rent a car, and lots of driving and calling to find a mechanic that could look at our problem, diagnose it and eventually fix it.

 

We did lots of hiking, visited museums and art galleries, toured silver mines and explored and hiked through caves, saw historic towns and dams, looked down into steep gorges (and even watched our friend bungee jump into one of them), we saw lots of wildlife and birds. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We connected with 14 friends, who live in other states, along the way, and met so many kind and friendly people. 

 

 

 

 

 Arriving home

Now the work begins! Unpacking, cleaning, putting everything away, washing the trailer, and the truck, draining tanks, and putting the trailer into the storage lot. 

All of this took several days, and some things may not be put away yet, even a week after getting home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have a plaque in our trailer which says, "Everyday is an Adventure". This was so true! Each day brought its own surprises, challenges and blessings. There is so much to see and explore in this great nation that we live in. Getting away from the daily and weekly routines allowed us time to refresh, relax and explore. We took time to converse with fellow travelers, hikers, camp hosts, and cashiers. Steve and I were able to share the gospel with so many people we met that we are still praying for.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our "Adventures on the Road", and hope to have many more roads we travel together in the future. In the meantime we are happy to be at home where we have so many family and friends to connect with! And everyday is still an adventure; even when we are not traveling, each day has new blessings for us to experience! Be sure to take time to see what adventures the Lord has for you in your day! Take a walk, watch birds, visit with those around you!

 

We are so thankful to the Lord that we have had the opportunity for this great trip...and we are thankful for your prayers for our safety, health and enjoyment.

"The Lord has done great things for for us. 

And we are glad."   

-Psalms 126:3

 

Until our next adventures,

Steve and Lori

 

Oregon Coast and Roads South

 

We are back to our “Adventures on the Road" after being delayed in Central Oregon with our vehicle breakdown for almost a week!

Thanks so much for praying for us; the Lord is so faithful. After several days of trying to get our truck looked at and diagnosed we finally found a mechanic who worked us into his busy schedule. He determined that one cylinder was not getting power but could not tell why. He had a specialist who came in one night a week to work on any electrical issues that customers had, so we had to wait around for another two days till he would be in.  We took the truck in to the shop and left it overnight with this mechanic, who determined that there was corrosion on the “brain” of the computer, which had blown a fuse and burned out the coil on the cylinder, and also was tripping the check engine light as well as other warning lights.

We finally got all this fixed and were able to resume our travel, which was a good thing as we were experiencing extreme heat in Central Oregon. Our campground was all booked up and we had been moved to an overflow space at the campground which did not have electric hookups to our trailer, so no AC to cool us off! So as soon as we had the truck back we hooked up the trailer and headed out of Central Oregon.

 

We were very glad to be on the road again out to the coast of Oregon, where the temperatures were much better. One sight along the coastal drive was the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, in Port Orford, Oregon. Our walk out to the lonely high bluff made us appreciate the isolated life of those who manned the lighthouses along the coast. Normally there are tours of the lighthouse but those were cancelled due to covid.

 

Oregon Coastal Dunes provided a hike to break up our travels. The sand was so powdery and white and in some areas so deep that our feet sank into the sand. Although we were not far from the shore we could not see it over the high dunes. It would be very easy to get lost in the vast area of dunes, but there were many footprints and some trail markers to keep us oriented in the strange landscape. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In southern Oregon we discovered wild blackberry bushes along many of the roadways and in some of the campgrounds we stayed at, and we eagerly gathered the ripest berries, which are so sweet and delicious! One of these campgrounds was called Humbug Mountain State Park, near Port Orford, Oregon, where we enjoyed a couple of sunset hikes to the beach. Here the sand was a very dark gray and Humbug Mountain towered over the beach. A stream came down to empty into the ocean here and lots of families were enjoying time playing at this beach which was only accessed from the campground.

 

 

 

 

 Redwood National and State Parks

 

We worked our way down the coast of Southern Oregon into California, where we enjoyed visiting the Redwood National and State Parks. The immense size of the trees certainly makes one feel very small! These are definitely giant trees! We saw a herd of elk near a stream off the roadway. The buck was quite majestic with his towering antlers and there were a number of young elk frolicking along the bank of the stream. Here there were more blackberry bushes growing wild by the road way, so what could we do but gather more berries!

Fern Canyon was a very magical hike located in a remote coastal part of the Redwood NP. We drove 8 miles down a narrow unpaved road through dense forest on either side of the winding road, crossing over a couple of streams running over the roadway. Potholes and oncoming traffic made for a very rough long drive to arrive at the trailhead. The trail was basically through the floor of a narrow canyon over boards that were laid strategically to enable us to cross back and forth over the stream. Trees towered over the canyon and fern covered the dripping walls. This was perhaps the most delightful trail ever, and it made the difficult drive in and back out worth every minute in the canyon.

 

 

 

As our travels brought us out to the California coast we were unexpectedly greeted by very smoky skies! We had expected clear skies when we got to the coast. We continued south to the Fort Bragg and Mendocino areas. 

 

We toured the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens which encompass 47 acres of land near the rocky coastline. This delightful garden boasts a perennial garden which was in peak bloom rambling around a grand lawn, a greenhouse filled with begonias, a Dahlia garden in full bloom, a vegetable garden, as well as areas of natural coastal forest.  The rambling trails throughout provided for several hours of delightful exploration of unique and varied plants, insects, and birds.

 

 

We are nearing the end of our Adventures on the Road! We plan to be home by the end of August and look forward to reconnecting with family and friends soon.  There are a few more sights and places we hope to see along the final leg of our journey. After we get home I will try to post a final update to our blog.

 

Craters of the Moon National Monument

 Since our last post in South Dakota, we have driven across Wyoming to get to Oregon. We had the opportunity to drive through Grand Teton National Park again, which was just as exciting as when we visited there at the beginning of our travels! We took a stroll at Schwabacher's Landing and once more enjoyed the views of the Tetons with some amazing cloudy skies. The snow we saw before on the tops is now gone.

 

We also took a break from our drive to enjoy the National Museum of Wildlife Art which is set on a hill outside of Jackson, overlooking the Elk Refuge. The museum had amazing paintings, sculptures and unique artwork in a very well curated museum. If you are ever in that area you should check it out! The building is well camouflaged in the hillside, being built out of the naturally occurring rocks. There are some large bronze sculptures that you can see from the roadway.

 

After arriving in Island Park, Idaho we found a great boondocking site (thanks to Mike and Madeleine's recommendations) and we got set up just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset. It seems to be monsoon season in a lot of the places we have been, so that the skies are clear in the morning and then thunderstorms come in during the late afternoon and evening, bringing sudden downpours.

There were still puddles in the dirt roadway from the afternoon showers and I noticed the clouds reflected in the puddle. After taking a picture of it I noticed that the puddle was in the shape of a heart! Just a little reminder of God's love for us!

 

Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho

 

At the encouragement of our cousin Donna, we put this National Monument into our itinerary and we are so glad we did! We camped inside the national park for only one night, so we had limited time to enjoy the park. The afternoon we arrived we had hoped to do some of the sightseeing and hiking in the park, but we were rained out by the really heavy downpour of a thunderstorm. We enjoyed the sights of the park and flashes of lightning in the distance from the shelter of the car on the 7 mile loop road. The next morning we got up early to enjoy the park before our noon checkout time. Since the park is small we were able to enjoy the main sights before we headed out.  

Inferno Cone is one of the worlds' largest basaltic cinder cones. A short steep 0.2 mile walk up the side of the cinder cone brought a surprising sight into view...a beautiful tall tree and lots of vegetation on the barren bleak hillside! On a clear day the view is expansive of the Great Rift and its many cinder cones; we could see some of the closer hills through the low clouds.

A Lava Bomb, or a big glob of lava, that was blown out of the Inferno Cone. Most of the cone was black basalt lava, but at the top there were areas of red rock and this bomb that made it to the edge of the cone mountain.

Just across the road from the Inferno Cone (as seen above in the distance) are some miniature volcanoes called Spatter Cones. The steep trail winds around the side of the cone, arriving at an area to view the inside of the crater.

A view of the vast lava field from the roadway, included this large pine tree, and numerous small pines, lichens and wildflowers, reclaiming the land that is covered by thick lava.

 

 

 

 

 

The Cave Area was accessed by a 0.8 mile trail over the lave fields and required a special permit. After answering questions about other caves we may have visited and learning about the white nose fungus that is killing off bat populations we obtained our permit, had to change to clothes and shoes which we had not worn in any cave for the past decade, yes I said decade, we headed out for our hike to Indian Tunnel. The caves here are actually lava tubes, where the lava flow has hardened on the outside while the lave still flowed within, leaving behind tunnels and caves. Indian Tunnel was accessed by a stairway and a hike across the rocky uneven floor, over and around boulders. Areas of the roof are open to the sky, providing needed light!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Devils Orchard is a 0.5 mile trail through island-like lava fragments in a sea of cinders. Trees, both living and dead, dot the landscape of strange rocks and boulders.

 

We have been enjoying some visits in Idaho, and now Oregon, with some friends that have moved to those areas...Liz and Billy, Courtney and Carlo, Kathleen and her sister Pinky, and Pat and Sherry and their granddaughter Avelynn. What a great joy to be able to catch up with these dear friends that we have known for decades, or shorter periods of time. Friendships that endure over time and distance are a blessing indeed!

We have also had the privilege of meeting people along the way as we shared in last week's blog post. We pray that these brief encounters can have lifelong and eternal impact in those we meet!

In Idaho we met Andy, a young man who says "he is on a quest to find the meaning of life." We were standing on the edge of a gorge when he approached us and started a conversation with Steve. They had a lengthy conversation in which Steve was able to share how he found the meaning of life in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Andy wanted to take a picture so he could remember the meeting and conversation. Since he texted the picture to Steve, there is now an opportunity to continue to  connect with Andy. We are praying for him as we continue to encourage Andy in his searching.

Your continued prayers are so appreciated!  Currently we need to get a "check engine" light diagnosed on the truck. We are in Oregon and it is difficult to find a place to stay while we try to find someone to diagnose the problem with the truck and get scheduled in for repair. Both campgrounds and qualified mechanics seem to be few and far between, and all booked up in the area. We know that the Lord will provide for our needs!

Thanks,

Steve and Lori