[at-l] (no subject)

[jbryankramer at msn.com (J Bryan Kramer)]

Well we're back from our Death Valley-Yosemite-Great Plains-Pipestem-North
Rim-Walnut Canyon NP trip.

1) Death Valley was darned hot as expected, 120 degrees. We camped just
outside the park at Panamint Springs which was slightly more temperate.

2) Yosemite, well what can you say about it except that it is the greatest
of the great. We camped for 5 days up at Tuolumne Meadows. Perfectly
terrible campground except that it is in Yosemite which makes up for the
many defects. Millions of mosquitoes. We had no problem getting a campsite
on a Tuesday I think, but you would be SOL on a weekend. Gas prices in
California are stunning, almost $3 in places and generally more than $2
everywhere. No wonder they want to throw the governor out.

We wanted to hike up to Clouds Rest but for some reason all of us had a
terrible time getting acclimated to the altitude (the meadows are about 8500
feet). My nose and everyone else's had a very low grade bleed the whole time
we were there.  We did the Gaylor Lake hike which was at almost 11000 feet
at the lakes and it was darn hard even with a only 1000 foot altitude gain.
We ran out to look at the Sequoias and Valley one day and had to make a
supply run to Merced one day since I idiotically left my CF card for my
camera in the printer. Temps in the low 70's days and mid 20's nights. Sent
the kids to climbing school the last day and then we had to be off for:

3) Great Plains NP, this is a little utilized NP on the NV/UT border. Very
nice cave, much better than Gem Cave and for formations much better than any
other of the 5 or 6 NP caves I've been in. Not very extensive though and the
tour guide rangers don't seem to know very much about their own caverns. The
park has a glacier too, again at about 11,000 feet. Campground OK, say a 6
on a 10 scale.

4) Pipestem NM, just happened to pass this on the way to the North Rim,
rather interesting if you have a annual park pass, too expensive if you
don't. Mainly a historical site.

5) North Rim of the Grand Canyon, much better than the carnival on the South
Rim. Back up at 8500 ft but we are finally feeling acclimated. We were not
tempted to do the 6,000 feet down and 6,000 back up from the river though.
Plenty of good hiking and very spectacular sights too. Temps in the low 80's
days and 40's nights, a lot like Bryce weather-wise. Campgrounds good, 7 of
10 maybe. Make sure you get reservations before trying the North Rim tho, we
tried two other times and never got in even in the middle of the week. The
campground is fairly small, 80 units or so I think.

6) Walnut Canyon, we were driving by and had not been to this one. We have
hit all the others in the area over the years, Sunset Crater, Pet forest and
so on. Very, Very hot place in July let me tell you. Probably 500 feet down
to the cliff dwellings and the same back up. We were back to normal fitness
and it wouldn't have been hard except for the heat. Not as impressive as
Gila Cliffs or other Cliff Dwellings, no rangers at the cliff sites oddly
enough ad so no interpretation. Somewhat of a disappointment.

We hit Arizona, New Mexico and Texas Parks on the way back east. New
Mexico's were a surprising disappointment, the others were as expected, OK
but nothing special.

And last of all, Shane, a curse on the Louisiana DOT. What a bunch of
idiots. We ran into two-one hour delays on I-10. one was almost
understandable was still idiotic, they were paving one lane but US 90 ran
just south of I-10 at that point and in Florida they would have posted a
warning telling people to detour  to US90 but not in LA. The other was just
enraging...a hour delay with at least a 10 mile traffic backup, right before
the Mississippi bridge. We finally got off the bridge to find the cause of
the problem, they were hand painting stripes on the road-way for no more
than 200 feet! Argghhh! We missed our final camping session at Big Lagoon in
Florida since we were running so late.

But still a great trip, no flats or other disasters like we usually have.
Saw some interesting ghost towns in NV too, and I highly recommend US 50 in
Nevada. The call it the Loneliest Highway and it might just be that.

But its great to be back home.

Bryan

"Si vis pacem para bellum"