USA 2019 - Day 2 - Driving from LA to Sequoia

Our first day of our USA 2019 Road Trip sees us driving from LA to Sequoia

Day 2

Today we started in – Castaic, California
We finished in – Sequoia, California
Miles travelled today – 222
Miles so far this trip – 272
Tonight we are staying at – Wuksachi Lodge

Sunday 24th March – Day 2

JET LAG DAY

2.15am and I’m wide awake. Impossible to get back to sleep. That damn TV from next door still hums away. All damn night.

Posting one of these a day is going to be challenging, so forgive me if the creativity lacks a little!

Max and Suzanne managed to get a bit longer in bed. A lazy lie in to 4.30am. We eventually drag ourselves out, and are ready to leave by 6.30.

Leaving this hotel is not difficult. It was noisy through the night, there always seem to be people hanging around outside and in the car park.

Table of Contents

In the past

It is so stuck in the 70’s. Floral curtains, bottle green bed covers and a sideboard my Nan would have been proud of. The heater / air con unit didn’t work, and the sheets and blankets were super thin.

As we put things in the car, the daylight has already broken through. We were surprised to see we were not the only ones up. There were still people hanging around. Young people, milling around cars. Perhaps we weren’t paranoid last night after all.

6.45am and we are on the road, to start driving from LA to Sequoia. And a little after 7.30 and we are pulling off again, into the Black Bear dinner. A rustic, alpine type place, and from the name it will come as no surprise it is themed on, and paying homage to, the Black Bear.

MacKenzie, our cheery waitress greets and serves us with tip-deserving enthusiasm. A couple of Waffles shared between us later, and we are full. As we are leaving, the place is getting busier.

Families arrive, perhaps for their Sunday morning breakfast ritual.

Full up with tasty food and good service, we leave as happy travellers.

Onwards towards Sequoia, driving from LA to Sequoia.

Highway 99 leads from Castaic up to Tulare, before we need to turn right and head east to Sequoia. But the road is boring. 3, 4 sometime 5 lanes of grey concrete, and not much to see other than sporadic clusters of Gas station, fast food places and motels popping up.

We leave, therefore, 30 miles early, and after a quick stop at Walmart, are heading east on roads smaller, slower yet with far more to look at.

We are in the country now!

Each side there seems to be a constant stream of Citrus Farms, with small Orange trees. Some have more on the floor than the tree itself. The next field might be full of Solar Panels, pointing skywards, perhaps providing power to those farms, and maybe other places too.

Off in the distance, the mountains rear up, snow capped and covered in cloud. In a couple of hours we will be in amongst them. A sure sign that we are making progress, driving from LA to Sequoia

The roads narrow as we approach the parks, and we swap for a driver switch and a photo opportunity. A calm spot, with dead looking trees in a meadow surrounded by hills.

The calmness pleasantly interrupted by a distant trickling stream, and more viciously by passing motorbikes. A mile later we stop on a bigger pull out.

Beautiful but trampled flowers – Driving from LA to Sequoia

The hills around us, both above and below blanketed by a carpet of orange flowers, engulfing us. Some disappointedly flattened by selfish photo getters, wanting that better shot that a metre of flower trampling is unlikely to get them.

We get back on the road, and as it gets twistier, it gets narrower too. We climb. Joining the mountains that a couple of hours ago were forming part of the scenery. So far we are lucky, the temperature is hovering around 18 degrees, helped by the clear skies and warm sunshine. No doubt this will fall as we get higher.

Many ups and downs and twist and turns later we reach the entrance to the parks. The fully dressed ranger in the kiosk was most kind and managed to make my wallet lighter by removing $35.

For this, we got a map, a newspaper-style info sheet and the clearance to drive on.

But we know what the money is really for, and that is fine by us. I can’t remember the last US (or Canada) trip we took that didn’t involve a National Park, so it is money well spent in maintaining these wonderful places on earth.

The informed ranger suggests we head to the General Grant Tree are. We spend 45 minutes or so marvelling at their size, navigating through the entire trunk that had fallen, and been hollowed out, and generally being happy to be out the car for a while.

The three of us spent some time at the visitors centre and watch a short 15 minute film about the Sierra region (note to self, re-watch) and learnt a few other things about the Giant Sequoia and looking after food with bears in the region.

We take the 45 minute drive and to the hotel, and check in, and before we know it, we are sitting in the bar area enjoying tea, drinks and relax, waiting for the wall of tiredness to hit us!

Day 2 complete. 22 to go!