Welcome to the next day of our 2019 Road Trip. Today we are travelling to Yosemite from Sequoia. If you want to catch yesterday’s adventure, then here it is.
This, is Day 3.
Day 3
Today we started in – Sequoia, California
We finished in – Yosemite National Park, California
Miles travelled today – 186
Miles so far this trip – 458
Tonight we are staying at – Yosemite View Lodge
Monday 25th March – Day 3 – Yosemite to Sequoia
I awake at 3.30am an hour later than yesterday, so I guess that’s progress.
Max and Mummy join me at 4.30, although one of them gets another 30 minutes or so. One watches Paw Patrol. I’ll let you decide which is which.
Temperatures nudge freezing as we load the car up. No signs of the bears trying to pick the lock or disable the alarm to steal any crumbs we may have left inside.
Mountains, Elephants, Blue Whales. There are lots of big things in the world. Trees are one of them. One is the tallest, one will have the thickest trunk.
The General Sherman tree is the biggest tree in the world based on mass alone. It towers above us, somewhat normalised by the other giant trees around it. The depth of the snow at its foot makes it look 8 foot smaller than it actually is.
Where we have parked sits just one other car. No one is on the short trail to the tree, so we have the place to ourselves. The benefit of being there at 8am on a Monday morning.
The only other sound is the odd passing car, and the noise of a trickling water fall. That sound is muffled by snow.
Lodgepole market has a Lodgepole grill that is shut, so we are now sitting at one of their 8 tables enjoying cereals from a ready made pot.
The actual grill may be closed, for about another week we are told, but they do have tea and coffee, and a microwave for those wanting to heat something.
We head off to Sequoia
We leave the market, and the snow is piled, reaching probably a normal storey high. A fraction of a giant Sequoia tree, but enough to smother the outdoor vending machines, making them inaccessible to any wannabe purchaser.
I kick one of the piles with my foot. Solid ice now. These 15 foot piles must surely takes months to disappear. I wonder if there are still remnants left when the snow starts again in 10 months time?
We start our descent from an elevation of 8,000 down to 1,500 foot, at last check. The narrow road is momentarily made narrower as a Snow Plough passes the other way.
Perhaps getting in position at the top, to be ready for the predicted snow falls in the next 24 hours.
With the drop in altitude come a rise in temperature.
4º up to 26º. The biggest temperature change in a couple of hours I, personally have ever experienced.
The snow that was so dominant a short time ago is gone. Flowers reappear,and the roads dry out.
The twist and turns become less frequent and less aggressive. The beautiful mountainous scenery is not there for long.
It changes.
Wide open grey roads. Thundering construction lorries. Flat and dare I say it, boring. But at least the orange trees are back.
Trucks trundle along, clearly knowing the traffic light sequences as they predictively start edging forward while the red lights keep everyone else stationary.
The speed limit picks up from the sometimes, and quite rightly, 25mph in the mountains to 65mph and the world continues to be flat again. The hills and mountains firmly behind us in our rear view mirror.
Farmland and cows seem to be the order of the day. Most of them nose in grass, munching away. I hope they are paying attention as they eat, for if they eat and amble, they could look up in a couple of hours and be some way from where they started.
Their habitat is such a vast open space.
To our right, and over looking the cows’ pastures, snow capped mountains come into view.
A quick stop off
We are now heading North on California 41 as lunch time approaches. A quick map check and we head for Woodward Regional Park. We pay the $5 to enter with the car.
Max is being a good boy, and is rewarded with some fun time in a small, simple but adequate play park. Within an hour we are strapping ourselves back into the car.
It is at this point we forgot to remind Max not to shake his bottle of milk when the lid is off. Another 30 minutes passes and the milk is cleared up, Max changed and the car seat semi drying in the 80º heat.
We exit the park to continue Driving to Yosemite from Sequoia, and surprisingly the Sat Nav turns us off Highway 41, onto Triangle Road, but we trust it. It turns into a narrow twisty road, taking us though isolated houses. We always wonder how they live, how they shop etc, when there doesn’t seem to be anything around for miles.
The road narrows further, and turns into a twisty route, but still with over 30 miles to go. Eventually we join Highway 140 which turns out to be the road that will lead us straight to our hotel, but still with over 20 miles to go.
We continue our drive to Yosemite from Sequoia
Weaving through the mountains, the 140 is a pleasant drive, and familiarity sets in, the environment becoming familiar from our 2013 road trip.
We continue at a decent speed, interrupted by a couple of construction sites, or road works as we in the UK call them.
The road continues to wind down. Today we have gone from being in the mountains looking down, to being in a valley look up. I think we prefer the later.
We park next to a stream to stretch our legs and give Max some attention, who has just woken up from a much needed nap.
Further along, and one of the construction areas diverts us over a narrow bridge, along the other side of the road, before it takes us back to the correct side, confusing the sat nav for a moment.
Our drive to Yosemite from Sequoia Before long we are pulling into our hotel for the night. Yosemite View Lodge. Just a couple of miles from the park entrance, the hotel is a complex of different ‘blocks’.
We are put in one the furthest away, and on the 3rd floor. The numerous 3 storey blocks are dwarfed by the sheer cliff faces that surround us.
Adequate rooms, but overpriced everything else
It is very busy, as people check in and get their rooms assigned. Rooms that are more than adequate, but you do feel like you are being taken advantage of.
$10 for 24 hours of WiFi and overpriced restaurant food.
This is our third night and third hotel of the trip so far. And it is the first one to charge for WiFi.
We begrudgingly pay the food prices, but not the WiFi.
Our hotel yesterday, the Wuksachi Lodge was equally as isolated, and surrounded in snow, but a simple burger and fries was some 30% cheaper. And the (albeit slow) WiFi was free.
We amble back to our hotel room, and within an hour are tucked up in bed, looking forward to another exciting day tomorrow.
Day 3 complete. 21 to go!
See below for Previous Days posts
Full Itinerary
Day 1 – London to LA
Day 2 – LA to Sequoia