Day 1: San Diego to Marin County via Pacific Coast Highway
Lunch stop in Morro Bay where the fog really rolled in
Day 2: Campground in Samuel P. Taylor State Park with big coast redwoods, and visited San Francisco
Our campsite
Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge
Fort Funston, an awesome off leash dog park and beach that the dogs lovedAn abandoned gun battery from WWII in Fort Funston, there were a bunch of theseLola having fun despite the crazy wind up on the cliffs
View of Alcatraz from fisherman’s wharf in SFView of downtown SF from Sausalito across the bayAn awesome off leash beach in the Marin Headlands called Rodeo beachSalty sea fortThe most excited we’ve almost ever seen Rio and Lola
Day 3: From Marin County drove inland to Bass Lake in Sierra National Forest
Started the day with a hike at Redwood Regional park just outside San Francisco to get the dogs tired
Between San Francisco and the Sierra Mountains are hundreds of miles of grassy rolling hills, we saw a lot of wind farms
Day 4: Drove the Sierra Scenic Byway through the mountains to Nelder Grove of Giant Sequoias
Stopped for a fishing break at a hydroelectric plant on the riverRio and Lola spent the whole time trying to catch the fishing lure and digging rocks out of little pools
img_1756 Video of Rio being noisy trying to get the fishing lure
View of Mammoth Pool from the edge of the byway road
Arrived at Nelder Grove just as the sun was setting. The giant sequoias are the largest trees in the world
Bull Buck is the largest giant sequoia in the grove
Day5: After camping at Nelder Grove, we drove up through the mountains and through Yosemite.
We stopped at Sugar Pine Mountain Railroad to take a ride on an original logging train from the 1800’s. Rio and Lola got to come along
Yosemite valley viewsEl Capitan
Bridalveil Falls
Lunch break in Yosemite valley
View from the back side of Yosemite Valley
Tioga Lake
View from the campground on the Eastern side of Yosemite in Inyo National Forest
Day 6: Mono Lake and Bodie
These huge tufa formations are calcium carbonate that collected under the big lake that was here 100,000 years ago. Now the water is 3 times as salty as the ocean and 10 times more alkalineSalt crystals make a lot of the formations sparkly
Hiked into the newest volcanic crater outside of Mono Lake, there were huge formations of obsidian
Historic Abandoned Mining Town of Bodie
Mining elevatorsA building last used for the men’s athletic clubOriginal wagons from the late 1800’s
Fire hydrant from 1879
The power station that supplied the town
The big gray building is the stamp mill
Safe in the original bank vault
Blacksmith’s shop
Jail cell door
Day 7: Northern Inyo National Forest to Bristlecone Pine forest
Campground at Saddlebag LakeDriving along the eastern Sierra Mountain RangeMobius Arch rock formation in Alabama HIllsPit stop at Alabama Hills is a big area of volcanic rock formations, lots of Westerns were filmed hereMt. Whitney behind Alabama Hills
Evening 4.5 mile hike to the oldest part of the Bristlecone Pine forest, trees here are 3,000 to 4,000+ years old
Looking across the valley at the Sierra Mountain range, we’re at 10,500 ft elevation
Day 8: Bristlecone Pine to Kern River in Sequoia National Forest
Morning hike on a different trail to see some of the most photographed trees in the park
Burned section of forest up in Sequoia National ForestCreepy tarantula in the road
Campsite right on the Kern River
Day 9: Kern River Valley to San Diego
Stopped at Trona Pinnacles out by Death Valley. These used to be tufa formations at the bottom of a volcanic lake. Lots of sic-fi and fantasy movies have been filmed here
img_1756 Video of Rio being noisy trying to get the fishing lure
