Week ending Jan 29, 2015 Quartzite, Yuma

Thursday morning we headed to Quartzsite MacDonalds for breakfast, in order to use their wi-fi to post the blog.  Then we shopped for a few pieces of hardware for the solar system.  The hike yesterday had taken us to the top of a hill from which we saw a little town in the distance, time to explore. On the way back to the trailer we checked out the community of Rainbow Acres. It is a really interesting town, perfectly laid out, not a single business in sight.  There were several houses, but many of the lots had a couple RV's parked on them within the attractive standardized short brick fences.  It appeared to be larger in population than Quartzite, but there was no businesses to support the population.  We got back to the trailer so John could wire a pigtail to the batteries on to the front of the trailer to make using the solar system easier (i.e. don't have to leave the front cabinet door open for the wires to connect to the batteries). So far all seems to be working on that front. It is nice to have the space and silence of the BLM land, but the convenience of electricity without the noise of the generator.

Friday morning was cold, so we decided the best way to warm up was to go for a hike. We had found a hike in KOFA Wildlife refuge (KOFA is the abbreviation for the King of Arizona mine) to Palm Canyon. The rocky, steep trail, although not long leads to a viewpoint where  California fan palms, the only palms native to Arizona can be seen. This is the only official trail in Kofa Wildlife Refuge.

The palms

Looking out of the canyon

 After our hike we had a picnic lunch at the trail head and then headed further south looking for a lead mine and museum that had been recommended by our neighbours. We never did find the historic site, but we did find a little hamburger joint, with ice cream out in the middle of nowhere USA. This opportunity could not be passed up, so we stopped for a cold drink and an ice cream cone. By the time we got back to the trailer it was too late in the day to lay out in the sun, of course the fact that there was high cloud, so no direct sunlight may have made that an easy decision. We were impressed with our solar panels performance, even with a bit of cloud they are keeping our batteries charged so we can watch TV in the evening.

Saturday was cloudless and fairly warm. We hiked up into the hills on the west side of the BLM area where we are staying. It was an interesting walk and we found some claim stakes. Interesting that people can have claims on government land, although the BLM may surround claims. We are not sure what they are had found to justify a claim. 



We got a picture of Dome Rock that the BLM camping area is named for.

Sunday was cleaning day.  We found all sorts of things in the storage compartment in the front of the trailer. We emptied it completely, cleaned, vacuumed etc and then started putting things, that we need, back.  How do we accumulate all this junk? After we got things stored away, and the truck cleaned out we went for another walk.

Monday we headed into Burger King to use the internet ( a fellow in McD's told us that BK had plugins at every table, a bit of an exaggeration, but definitely less busy).  It was a cloudy rainy day. Rain in the desert?? Time also to explore Quartzsite a bit more.  We headed off a side street, and amazingly, there are real houses here. We had believed that this was a town that consisted only of flea markets and RV parks. Our historic stop was at the camel drivers tomb. Hi Jolly was a camel driver from Syria named Haija Ali, who was brought to Arizona with an experimental group of about 30 camel.   The camel atop the pyramid symbolizes the legend of the red ghost that roamed the desert, terrorizing man and beast.  Camels had been brought in to the desert here by the Federal Government for use in freighting and communications.  The experiment was a failure and the camels were let go to roam the desert.  



The rain stopped after this, so time for another walk.  We started out, but got sidetracked by chatting to a lady from B.C. Her husband had taken their rig into Quartzsite to use the sewer dump and get a refill of fresh water. It started to rain again so our walk was delayed. Eventually we did go for a walk.  Amazing with the advent of the rain, birds and rabbits appeared. We are wondering where they go between rainy days. Update on our solar system - cloud and solar panels do not mix, our panels were producing very little power.

Tuesday the clouds broke, nice to see the sun again. We headed out for a walk to the top of a hill that had a inukschuk on the top. The trail to the top was less than obvious, but walking in the desert doesn't necessarily require a trail. Eventually we worked our way up to the top. Sometimes its easier to see the official trail from the top looking down, not in this case. We did finally pick our way down off the hill and after a bit more than 2 hours got back to the trailer. Our batteries were being well charged now that the sun is shining.

Wednesday morning the desert was covered in fog. It was unusual because we always associate fog with moist air.  I guess the showers on Monday provided enough moisture to produce fog. Soon the fog lifted and we were back to a sunny warm day.

Vacation time. One of our neighbours on the BLM land are from B.C. We let them know we would be away overnight, so if they saw anything weird going on around our trailer, please take pictures and we would deal with it when we got back, not that we expected any problems.

Thursday we drove to Yuma.  Yuma is located where the Gila River flows through a gap in a range of hills to join the Colorado River, just north of Mexico.   We were surprised to discover that the Gila valley has extensive irrigation and produces 90% of the leafy green vegetables in the USA.

We started our time in Yuma to find Bank of America locations using our GPS, so we could use our free transaction privilege to replenish our supply of cash.   It turns out that in the last year, all of the BofA's in Yuma had been bought by Washington Federal Bank.   We bit the bullet and paid the $2 transaction fee rather than driving another 50 miles to the nearest BofA in El Centro, across the border in California.

We had booked into the Historic Coronado Motor Hotel, one of the original motor hotels built in the USA. In 1938, the Coronado was built with the beams from the old Southern Pacific Railroad Hotel. The hotel had a cottage, and 14 guest rooms. With the increase in business, the hotel expanded in 1940. Due to the shortage of rooms during the war, they received permission from the government in 1944, to expand The Coronado yet again. After the war in 1946, there was an increase in tourism and a need for further additions, including the restaurant. The Yuma Landing Bar and Grill restaurant was built on the site where the first airplane to land in Arizona landed on October 25, 1911. There was also a new brand of hotel called the 'Best Western' starting up and The Coronado Hotel became one of the hotels to join the Best Western group. With the need to modernize in 1963, a pool was added, a new lobby, and 14 guest rooms. One of the biggest advantages to this motel s that it is in the heart of "old Yuma".



We walked to the Territorial State Prison State Historic park, where we went on a guided tour

and then walked back along the Colorado River, which is about the quarter of the size it had been before a dam was built upstream,  

and then through historic downtown Yuma.  After a quick trip to Albertson's to get some Shiraz we came back to the motel to post the blog and then go for a nice dinner at the Landing Bar and Grill.

Week ending Jan 22, 2015 Quartzite

We now know why people from Canada spend the winter in this area of Arizona. We have been in the Brenda area for 4 days and have only seen one cloud in the sky and it disappeared within an hour. Although it is cool overnight, the day time temperature is in the high 70's F. After our Friday Skype visit with John's parents we went for a walk to the local grocery store, just to check it out. Prices and selection is much like all small stores in out of the way places. On our way back to the RV park we stopped at a vegetable market that is only open Wed, Thurs and Fri. The prices were no different than prices at any farmers market and the produce fresh and nice. After picking up some fruit and veg's, we went back to the trailer. We went for a hike to the top of a little hill in the park, where we stopped for lunch at the picnic table. We watched a gecko sunning itself.  The rest of the day we spend lazing around enjoying the sunshine.



Saturday we explored the area, driving some of the back roads, to end up in Parker, AZ. We decided to take the opportunity to get some cash from the Bank of America, only the bank has been closed here. No money for us. We stopped at Walmart to pick up a charcoal BBQ, and a few groceries and then went across the highway to Safeway to get wine and some groceries we were unable to get at Walmart. Eventually we returned to the trailer to watch the semi-finals of the TSN Skins curling in Banff.

Sunday morning was cool and there was high cloud. We decided today was a good day to visit the RV show. We have spent a lot of time on the internet checking reviews of solar systems, pro's. cons. which system is best etc. John has a good idea of what system would suit our needs, and which systems are rated as best. The RV show was a real zoo, but with a bit of patience we were able to find out what we wanted to know. Finally we spoke to the people from Solardealz.com out of Bend Oregon. The rep we talked to told us the system we were looking at was more than we needed. How many salesmen downsell?  So we headed back to the trailer, did some research on the company etc. Back we went to the RV show with money in hand and picked up a 160w Zamp solar system. We looked at cost of the same system in Canada, with including the exchange rate, costs we will pay when we will cross the border, we still saved over 400.00. Next week we are going out to the BLM camping area, so will put the solar system to the test.

Monday morning we took advantage of this RV parks rules (or lack of) and washed the trailer. Its nice to be able to see out of the windows again. When we were almost finished the cleaning we got a phone call from Rupert Emerson, our friend Brian's cousin. He and his wife and daughter were at the RV show. We arranged to met them, so off we went. We had a nice visit over lunch with Rupert, Helen and Carrie.  Later in the afternoon we got back to the trailer to do a bit of packing up in preparation for our move out to the BLM land. 

Tuesday morning, we woke up to the sound of an ultralite flying over the area.  They are a rarer version of the ATVs that everyone here seems to have. 



Then we packed up to move to the Dome Mountain BLM area just west of Quartzsite, to do a trial run of our new solar system. This area offers free camping, but you must be self contained as there are NO services, not even trash. We got set up, satellite aligned and the solar system set up. It appears to be working, so all in all looks like a good investment. Using electricity to cook is out, so back to using the propane stove and the BBQ. The one advantage of this area is that there is no light pollution, so sunsets and  the stars at night are amazing.

Wednesday morning after breakfast we went for a walk on the BLM land.



We can walk for miles here, much like the state parks in Texas. This week in Quartzsite, as well as the RV show there is  a rock hounds event. There are many people here who are out looking for various rocks; in fact the guy in the unit fairly close to us spent the morning out rock hunting and has spent the afternoon with his generator running so he could grind and polish rocks.  We spent the afternoon is quieter persuits, laying round in the hammock and lounge chairs doing nothing.

By the way we are now semi-official snowbirds. "People who spend 200,00.00 on a motorhome and look for free camping". We don't quite meet the requirement because we did not spend anywhere near 200,00 on our trailer and truck.

Week ending Jan 15, 2015 Mohave Valley to Quartzite

Thursday afternoon we went for a walk in the desert by the park. On our way out of the park we chatted with a couple. He was sitting on a deck by his trailer and beside him was a road runner.  He was telling us that this particular bird comes to visit him a couple times a day and if he ignores it, the roadrunner will jump on his shoulder to try and get his attention.

Friday morning we got a call from the GM dealer telling us the truck would be ready by mid-afternoon. Since we don't have a truck we have been watching some of the Continental Cup of Curling taking place in Calgary this week. We then decided that today would be a good day to get caught up on laundry.   While we were in the middle of a Wii golf game the lady driving the courtesy car from GM showed up to take us to pick up the truck.  Nice to have a vehicle again.

Saturday morning we struck out for a hike called Grapevine Canyon at Christmas Tree Pass, with better directions than last time we tried to find it.  At the mouth of the canyon we saw an abundance of Native American Petroglyphs, believed to be at least 1,000 years old. 

The general rock formations were interesting, the trail ok for the first mile or so.   Then the trail became a scramble. mostly on slick rock.  Finally Joan gave up - her knees don't bend in the directions required for this trail.  John went further on and found that the past the slick rock area the next trick was a 8 foot climb, with a tree, using its limbs as a ladder.  Make no mistake, this is not Joan's kind of trail.  At that point we turned back.

We were not the only ones that turned back at that point and we walked back to the mouth of the canyon with a couple from North Dakota. We got back to the parking lot, found a flat rock and eat our lunch.  Since the hike had only taken us 2 hours instead of 4 we had lots of time. We drove down the strip in Laughlin, neat looking casinos, but we drove right by. Our destination was Avi Resort and Casino. When we arrived at the casino we registered in their hospitality club to got 10.00 each in complementary gambling coupons. The bottom line was we spent 5.00 and came out with 42.00, not a bad ROI.  Don't we wish our stock did that well.  It was obvious that our luck was used up so time to go back to the trailer.  We got back to the trailer in time to watch some more of the continental cup.

Sunday morning John's computer again was acting up.  Time to replace it. We looked on-line and discovered that our choices here are Wal-Mart, Target or Staples. Staples it is. We did look at the other 2 places, but they did not have a computer suitable. Staples actually had a sale on - what a shock.  After dropping our purchases off at the trailer we headed to the Colorado River Nature Center.  According to the information we had there are numerous trails, and many birds and animals call this sanctuary home.  Everyone seemed to be away today, no birds, no animals and the trails where poorly marked.  We did some walks, but finally gave up.  After a short scenic drive between Mohave Valley and Oatman we headed back to the trailer so John could start playing with his new toy.

Numerous people had suggested to us that we might enjoy Fisherman's Trail at Katherine's Landing on Lake Mohave. The trail was  across volcanic rock and then through sand dunes to Turkey Cove. It was a great hike.  Of course the fact the day was warm and the sun came out half way through the hike didn't hurt.  It was a a beautiful area, the part of the hike through the volcanic rock reminded us of some of our hikes on the big island of Hawaii.  The golden sand dunes looked spectacular against the beautiful blue water of Lake Mohave. We stopped at a secluded beach to enjoy the views, the sunshine and the serenity to have lunch.  

After our hike we stopped to fill the truck up with diesel and get groceries in preparation for our departure in the morning.

Tuesday was  moving day and another warm and sunny day in southern Arizona. We arrived at Desert Gold RV Park in Brenda, AZ close to 12:00 noon. We were guided to our site by a staff member.  This is quite a park, it has 549 sites.   We usually avoid these large parks, but our desire to go to the Quartzsite RV show this weekend override our desire for smaller parks. After we got set up, John even set up the hammock, for the first time this winter.  It was warm enough this afternoon to sit outside enjoying the sun and check out our area information.

Wednesday was the perfect day for a hike. We had discovered that this RV park backs on to BLM land, so we figured we would go hiking there. As we were leaving the park we encountered a couple of fellows coming off the desert golf (ie. rocks, sand and a flag)  course on the BLM lands. The one fellow pointed out an American flag at the top of a hill and told us there was a path up to it. He  told us where the trail head was and off we went. It was a nice hike, to the top of a block lava hill. There was a metal box with pen and paper so that we could add our names to the people having been up there.  From the top we had 360 degree views, of the RV park, the town of Brenda and the neighbouring town of Bouse.

Desert Gold RV Park

Thursday  we went into Quartzsite to check out its amenities, to look into Solar systems for the trailer as well as check out some BLM land for camping. We spoke to a couple of people and got some very useful information regarding using solar as our electricity source. We also wandered through some of the booths in one of the many flea market areas set up in Quartzsite. What a strange little town. It truly is a gigantic flea market. About 4 miles of booths about 5 or 6 rows deep. After our browse through some, we headed out to the BLM camping land to take a look. There again camping on a scale unseen anywhere else in the world. Some of the areas are free camping, no facilities, no sewer dump or water, you just have to register with the campground host, since stays are limited to 14 days.   Another area, for longer stays,  is $40.00 for 2 weeks since it supplies a sewer dump and water, but nothing else.  For $180, you can stay the entire winter.   What we found fascinating with this whole process is that there are hundreds and hundreds of RV'ers camped in these areas.  We even saw a tent, think about this - yes its free, but there are no facilities. Where does a tenter go to the bathroom?  We spoke to the hosts at one of the areas and they assured us that after the RV show in Quartszite the number of people camping in the area would greatly decrease. We got back to the trailer in time to lay out and enjoy the hot sun for a while.

Week Ending Jan 8, 2015 Daggett to Mohave Valley

Friday was moving day. The temperature has been below freezing the past few nights so we figure its time to head for warmer climates. Our stop for the next couple of nights is Desert Springs RV Park at Daggett. It is nice to be back in the desert with mountains and cacti.  The days are warm and sunny, but the weatherman is still promising freezing temperatures overnight.

First thing Saturday morning we headed for Calico Ghost Town. It was a mining town.  When the silver and gold petered out they started mining Boron, more commonly known as Borax used to wash clothes. We enjoyed wandering through the town, enjoying the views of the valley from the hills the town was built on.

We came back to the trailer for lunch, had a Skype visit with John's parents and then headed back out on a scenic drive through Mule Canyon. What a drive. It would have been impossible if we didn't have a 4 wheel drive high clearance truck.  The colours in the rocks reminded us of rainbow colours we saw in Death Valley at an area called 'Artists' Palette'. 

By the time we returned to the trailer the sun had warmed the trailer up to almost 80 degrees F. We really knew we were in the desert as the temperature goes from below freezing overnight to hot by mid-afternoon.

Sunday morning we headed to Arizona. We woke up early and so were on the road before 8:00. Our coffee break spot was at Ludlow, one of the many Route 66 towns. We took our time, enjoying the scenery, finding all sorts of places that we have made mental notes to come back to for further exploration. Just after lunch we arrived at Moon River RV Park in Mohave Valley, AZ. The lady at the front desk sent us off to our site, telling us to get set up, make sure we can get a satellite signal before we pay for a week.  If we can't get a signal she would let us stay only for 1 night. They are very accommodating here.  We got set up, John set the satellite down, and boom a signal before he even tried to line it up, some days the stars (or satellites) just align in our favour. We were able to watch the World Junior Hockey semi-finals.|

Monday, after a grocery run, we headed up to Oatman, AZ.  Our RV park is on Boundary Cone Road, which is named after a hill on the road toward Oatman.

Oatman started life over 100 years ago as a mining tent camp, and quickly became a flourishing gold-mining center. In 1915, two miners struck a $10 million gold find, and within a year, the town's population grew to more than 3,500. As with all gold booms within a few years the gold ran out and the town almost became a ghost town. With the creation of Route 66 Oatman was revived as a tourist town, known for its burros. The "Wild" Burro's are the descendants of burros brought to the area by the miners in the late 1800s; when the miners no longer needed them, they were turned loose. Each morning the burro's come into town looking for food. They wander the streets and greet the tourists.  Burro pellets and carrots are for sale at many of the shops.  The burros will eat all day if you feed them.  They even have signs telling people not to feed them on the boardwalks, so they don't go into the shops.  Shortly before sunset they wander back to the hills for the night.

On our way  back to the trailer we scoped out some areas for hiking for later in the week. We got back to the trailer in time to watch the Canadian Junior hockey team win the gold medal.   We also saw what happens if you lock your keys inside a motorhome.  One of our neighbours had to climb in his bedroom window.  Our 5th wheel can not be locked without a key, so we should not have that problem.

Tuesday dawned warm and of course sunny.  We headed out to look for the Tri-State visitor information  which is marked on our California Atlas.  Just up the road is a point on the Colorado River where California and Nevada meet on one side of the river, with Arizona on the other side.   Either the map is wrong, or we can't follow a map, because there was no evidence of a visitor center.  We then stopped at Walmart vision center to get Joan's glasses fixed.  We eventually found a book store to buy a backroads atlas of Arizona. These atlases are very useful, pointing out all sorts of places, some historic and some just plain interesting.   By then it was lunch time, so we stopped at the Firehouse Coffee Roaster which turned out to be a great little coffee shop.  It was obviously owned by firemen as there were many t-shirts and badges from many fire departments adorning the walls. As well as many from all accross the USA we found some from various cities in Ontario, one from Moose Jaw and Yellowknife. We are sure there are many more, but we didn't want to lean over other patons tables to read them. We got back to the trailer mid-afternoon, the outside temperature was a great 24 C and almost 30 C in the trailer. How nice to have the door open in early January. Finally we have found shorts weather.

Wednesday was a perfect summer day. We went west of Mohave Valley to a recreation area below Davis Dam on the Colorado River that forms Lake Mohave. We were looking for a trail head for Grapevine Canyon.  When we didn't see any evidence of  the trailhead, we decided to walked along on the river trail towards Laughlin.  According to our truck, the temperature was again 24C, so we didn't need jackets.  The river seems to be a winter home for many ducks and of course the spillway is a habitat for cormorants. We watched the ducks float down the river and then fly back upriver to the spillway area and then float back down in the current.  On our way back to the RV, we stopped at the Bullhead Visitor Center to find that they did have information for locating our hike.  

Thursday morning was an early day.  John had to have the truck into the GM dealers by 8:00 A.M. for servicing. Joan stayed at the trailer and cleaned.  Today was predicted to be a cloudy day with showers, so a good day to take care of necessities.

Week ending Jan 1, 2015 Auburn to Sequoia National Park

Friday morning was cold, a bit of frost on the windshield of the truck. By 8:00 A.M, it was above freezing, sunny and cloudless. We drove into Lincoln to Camping World. They did not carry the part we are looking for, and we aren't here long enough to order one.  We then went to REI for John to replace his sunglasses.  We wandered through a few other shops to see if there was anything we wanted or needed. We stopped for lunch at Red Robin, for John to have his favorite bonzai burger. We then stopped to pick up some wine and few other supplies before heading back to the trailer. We chose a back road and discovered some very interesting countryside, mostly orchards, mandarin fields and ranching.  In the distance we could see the snow covered hills close to Lake Tahoe, where the ski hills are now open.

Saturday, after a quick stop at the farmers market to get fruit, veggies and some great bread,  we headed out to Hidden Falls Regional Park.  The parking lot was extremely full, mainly due to the Woodcreek High School Cycling Team having an event.  We had a lucky moment when driving around the parking lot looking for a parking spot someone backed out in front of us. If we had been 2 minutes earlier or later someone else would have got that spot.  Our chosen hike was about a round trip 3.5 miles to Hidden Falls at the confluence of Deadmans Creek and Coon Creek. We enjoyed the sunny day and had lunch sitting on a rock enjoying the rapids just below the falls.

Sunday was cool and sunny. A perfect day for a scenic drive.  We headed south on 49 to Coloma to visit the Marshall Gold Discovery Center.  This the location of Sutter's Mill where the gold that was  discovered started the California Gold Rush in 1849.  We went on an interesting guided tour, learning many facts about the original gold discovery here, as well as about the indigenous people who have lived in this area for hundreds of years.

We then decided to continue south to Placerville.  After discovering that John had left our lunch at the trailer, we stopped at Brick's, the busiest restaurant on main street, for a great lunch.  We then headed west to loop around via Folsom, home of the prison in one of  Johnny Cash's songs.    After we got back to the trailer, a red-headed woodpecker knocked on the window, and then landed on the tree next to the trailer. 

Monday morning was the day to prepare for moving.  We get lazy when we are parked for 2 weeks, like we were in Auburn, so preparing to move takes longer than usual. John took the recycling to the recycling center, filled up with diesel and washed the truck, while Joan went shopping for clothing essentials. The shopping center was only a couple of blocks away so very handy. We then cleaned, packed some things away, drained the water system, added some fresh water to the tank. The weatherman was predicting temperatures below freezing, so we put away our hoses because they are hard to put away when they are stiff.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and hooked up. Our truck warning system alerted us to a low tire. Great! We had a fairly long trip (for us) and wanted to get an early start. We stopped at America's Tire and spoke to Jim, the manager. He looked at the tires, and agreed with us that the problem was likely the cold temperature. He filled all the tires, checked and filled the tires on the trailer and even crawled under both the truck and trailer and topped up the spares. What service!  We have never had anyone check our spares. The cost of this fast excellent service was a "have a safe trip". We told him where we were headed so he said if there was still a problem check in at the America's Tire in Visalia. Since we have been traveling through California we have not seen any evidence of the drought they have been suffering until we got south of Sacramento.  The rivers are dry and the fields look quite brown. I guess the rain that has fallen further north did not reach this part of California.  We arrived at Country Manor Mobile Home and RV Park in Visalia shortly before 2:00 P.M., so in plenty of time to set up. The manager greeted us, took our money, gave us the usual info and told us to help ourselves to some of the oranges in a bucket on the table outside the office door. There are orange trees loaded with fruit all over the park, but they do not want people to pick them, because often the trees get damaged if people are not careful. The owners/managers pick the oranges and leave them outside the office for the park residents to consume. The park has good facilities and the long term residents are very friendly.

Wednesday morning we had our fresh oranges for breakfast. We will insure we have one each morning we are here. After breakfast we headed out to Sequoia National Parks. It was foggy in Visalia, but the weather channel said it was clear out in the park. We spoke to some of the people in the RV park and they said we needed to carry chains if we were going to the park. so we tossed our chains in the truck.  We enjoyed the drive out to the park, we could see glimpses of mountains through the clouds and the foothills we drove through were picturesque. When we got to the park entrance, there was line-up of cars and the park rangers were turning back anyone who was not carrying chains.  We stopped at the visitor center, and decided to go to the Giant Forest Museum, at which point we could take a shuttle to the General Sherman Tree.   The road is narrow and switches back and forth up the side of the hills, with a speed limit of 25 mph, climbing from below 1000 feet.  Once we got up to over 5000 feet, we found ourselves in the clouds and finally got to a point where the road was snow covered, although well sanded.  We figured any hope of seeing anything further up wasn't worth the stress of driving on this road with minimal visibility.  The fact that this violated our main rule, being able to see snow, but not touch it, did not escape us. We also compared this trip to hiking up to a viewpoint to look at the inside of a cloud. After stopping at a waterfall in the process of freezing and chatting with two couples from Montreal, we decided to turn back, hoping for better weather the next day.  On our way back we stopped at some viewpoints along the way Tunnel Rock, Big Fern Springs, Hospital Rock , the Kitchen Rock. At Hospital rock we stopped for lunch where we saw a couple of red headed woodpeckers.  We walked down to the river to see some of the magnificent rock formations along the Kaweah River. 

Once we were back down out of the park, we returned to Visalia on side roads which took us through some of the many acres of orange orchards in the area, most of them with oranges still on the trees.

Thursday, the first day of 2015 dawned clear and sunny so we headed back to Sequoia National Park. What a difference 24 hours makes. Not a cloud to be seen over the mountains.

When we got to the park gate, we discovered that today chains were not required for the first 24 miles into the park, instead of the 11 miles yesterday.  We were really happy that we had turned back yesterday, because we saw the fantastic scenery which was hidden in the clouds yesterday.  We got to the Giant Forest Museum, where we took the shuttle to the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree, by volume, on earth, 36.5 feet in diameter, and still 13.7 feet at 180 feet up the tree.   The giant sequoia trees are interesting, perfectly straight, and the tallest, largest trees in the world.  They only grow on the western slopes of the Sierras in this area of California.   Although the road was steep, narrow and winding it was well worth the trip in to see these spectacular trees.