Trail of 100 Giants - Sequoia National Forest: May 20 - 21, 2011

    This trip came about spontaneously. We both had Saturday off so we decided to find a place up in the mountains to camp. We drove to Lake Isabella, CA and headed north, looking for a decent campground to stay at. The Kern River runs from the north down into Lake Isabella and we were following it upstream. There are countless little campgrounds to stay at along this route, but we weren't impressed by any of them so we just kept driving. After a long drive we got a bit lost and came across a bulletin board on the side of the road with a map of the area on it. We used that to get our bearings and headed north again.
     I honestly couldn't tell you how we got there, but eventually we came to Redwood Meadow Campground, which is a lot higher and a lot colder than we had planned for, but it was perfect. It was located right across the street from a little hike called The Trail of 100 Giants. It's an easy hike among some of the biggest trees in the world. That night we set up our tent, cooked up some hotdogs, and hit the hay. The next morning we roamed around an adjacent meadow and then walked the Trail of 100 Giants. They are truly impressive. After the hike we still had a lot of time, so we drove lazily through Sequoia National Forest, zig-zagging our way through the beautiful trees, eventually driving highway 190 down to Porterville and then home. Highway 190 is a beautiful route and I definitely recommend it. Porterville and Lake Success are brown and boring and I definitely recommend driving right past those.
     Also, I just remembered that this was the weekend the world was supposed to end, according to Harold Camping. I remember seeing at least one sign inviting everyone to expect the end of days come May 21st, 2011. Good thing it didn't end. I've still got lots of places to see!

Cambria: March 18 - 20, 2011

     The beach is always a great getaway from the heat of California's central valley. On this trip we visited some of our favorite towns along the central coast: San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, and Cambria. It rained all weekend, but it was still beautiful, relaxing, and fun.

Yosemite: Feb 11 - 12, 2011

     Back again in Yosemite, and of course back in the tent cabins at Curry Village. One of the great parts of staying in Curry Village is that you get cheap tent-style lodging, but you don't have to set up the tent or sleep on the ground. But one of the drawbacks is that you're not allowed to make a fire or cook your own food. We were both satisfied with bananas and sandwiches, though.
     On this trip, we ventured out a little more. First, since it was winter, Yosemite had an ice rink set up, so we strapped on some skates and fumbled around on the ice for a while. It was pretty fun, but neither of us were that stable on the choppy ice. We then took an easy hike to Mirror Lake. NPS.com lists the hike as easy, but icy in the winter and this is definitely true. I remember slipping around on the ice in my sneakers. We were definitely not prepared for serious hiking. But it was beautiful. Everything was covered in snow and felt cool and fresh.