I've met so many who are great that it completely wipes out, in my mind, the people who live up to the stereotype of "ignorant American" (i.e. guy on the bus who stated "Well, the USA really sucks, but I'm sure it's better than anywhere else." Well done, moron).
SO after waking up in Death Valley and getting a funky picture of a moon set while the sun was rising we wandered around in the Mosaic Canyon and then headed for Owen's Valley. Owen's valley and the towns in it (June Lake, Bishop, Independence) were just lovely, and how could they not be considering they had the Sierra Nevada mountain range behind them? Well one thing certainly bucked the trend which was the Manzanar War Relocation Center - an area, just in front of Mt Whitney, the tallest mountain in the range - this centre was a Japanese internment camp set up after Pearl Harbour was bombed. The thing I found particularly rich about the situation was that all japanese, whether they were born in the USA or not were put in the camp because they threatened national security. Imagine their surprise a few months/years later when they were asked whether they would volunteer to fight loyally for America. Either they're American enough to fight for the country or their Japanese enough to be a threat.
It was also interesting driving through some of the ghost towns in the area which had become ghost towns not because any industry had failed, but because LA had pinched all their water.Anyway a significant portion of the day was spent hanging out in a hot spring found near bishop. It was a bit of an experience being in my swimmers in a landscape surrounded by snow capped mountains. Beautiful though. Getting out was...not beautiful. After I was all swum out we headed to June lake which was freezing and when we popped into a pub for dinner I was greeted with a "Little lady, you should really be wearing a coat"
Aww small town America,people are so lovely :)
That night saw car camping again, mainly due to laziness rather than cold, but it turned out just as well because the ice forming on the car window was the thickest so far! The next day saw us meet up with Laura's parents (Laura was a friend on mine in Perth over from the States on a fulbright scholarship) in Ridgecrest which was lovely and crashing, after driving through the red rock canyon and seeing massive windfarms silhouetted against the sky (which immediately reminded me of the hymn Jerusalem) with another friend over in Bakersfield.
The next day: SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK.
This park was just exquisite, from the wonderful curving drive up the mountains to the beautiful beautiful trees. There is something very humbling about standing next to, and touching, beings which are thousands of years old, and I must say, I do not take myself too seriously enough to stop myself from hugging them :). The sequoia groves were just magic and this feeling was magnified as it was so misty when we arrived making the whole experience very ethereal feeling. One of the things I loved most about the area is the silence, that and the beauty ...oh words fail me. Needless to say though, should I mysteriously end up living in California, there's nothing I'd rather be than a park ranger
Yosemite was just stunning. I arrive in the park early (some others at the hostel had dropped me off) and I just wandered. Eventually I ended up in El Capitan (a massive granite cliff, popular with crazies who like climbing 3000 feet) where there just so happened to be a ranger lead tour of the park (the ranger, Sam (who I now will only think of as Yosemite Sam hehehe) was hilarious and gave me lots of crap for being Australian) which I joined in on. In the middle of Sam's spiel about El Capitan, out of nowhere came A BEAR. It was wonderful, and thankfully not too close. I despair of the morons who, not getting their cameras out fast enough when the bear was in front of us, followed it. Morons.
After the tour I started talking to two Americans who had massive cameras/lenses and I asked if they were professional. Nope, just massive enthusiasts. I perfer my little point and shoot to be perfectly honest. After some banter (pretty much standard with anyone I come into contact with ever) they said they had a job for me - near the yosemite falls there was this old dead tree with a hollow in it. They asked me to climb up and stick my head through, so I did. Hopefully they'll send the photo on and I'll pop it up, for now you'll just have to look at a picture I took today of the same tree. It was fun, they had fun reflector things to get the lighting just right, let's just hope my face complemented the rest of the picture, but considering I have two charming coldsores, I kind of doubt that.
Anyway, later I bumped into a lovely french couple who were in the hostel with me and we wandered over to Mirror Lake. Sadly by this time my camera battery decided to die so I won't have pictures for a while. Saw and heard a woodpecker though! YayThe thing I really like about Yosemite are the original Native American names (apparently the term Indian now isn't PC but all of the park guides refer to them as such. Confusing) for various waterfalls/rivers. For instance Lake Merced (meaning Mercy) was once called something, I can't remember the name but it amounted to the following Lake "Will kick your arse if you don't treat it with respect" I think this is a fairly healthy attitude towards all things nature! :)
The waterfalls in Yosemite were truly brilliant, especially on day 3 after we'd had some snow. I'd love to come back in Feb sometime as apparently for two weeks, when the conditions are just right the sun sets behind Horsetail falls and makes it look like it's on fire. The waterfall is pretty great in any case and it starts falling as is it's want but then disappears into mist!
Anyway that's all for now! See you in San Francisco. Just need to find some flowers to put in my hair...
B
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