Yosemite and Onwards

Goodbye Dinkey, Hello Highways

The Roamin Gnome got air in the tires and the Subaru had a tune up to a sum of $1,500. We were ready for action and the open road. The destinations include Denver → Saskatoon → San Diego → Phoenix AZ. The in-betweens were to be decided.

After leaving Dinkey, we posted up our camp nearby in the Swanee Grotto while the Subaru was worked on. With all fluids swapped and a few other unexpected fixes that lingered, we hit the road heading north. The route to our campsite right outside the south entrance of Yosemite was twisty and seemed much longer than the 2.5hr suggested time. We arrived at the Goat Meadows Snow Play Area and found our spot fairly quickly; large lot with private entrance and access to sun for the panels. GREAT. We spent a few days exploring the area of Yosemite. Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome and Vernal/Nevada Falls were excellent points to seek out and enjoy the magic of the area. Even though we traveled in early October, Yosemite was still crowded and hectic. There is just no way around the crowds unless you plan to hike the solitude of the Yosemite Wilderness which requires some trail studies and skill sets.

Viewing Vernal Falls from above.

At the top of Nevada Falls

Atop Sentinel Dome

Post Yosemite, the Gnome took Kaiser Pass to the northeast out of the park and into the Mono Lake Region. Two days were spent exploring the region but a few more could have been had. While in town, we had many explorations including the Mono Lake tufa's at Sunrise. The cold morning air chilled me to the bone but Liz powered on to capture some amazing photos of the tufa's as the sun rose. A tufa is a towering structure formed from calcite deposits in the saltwater lake. Some of these structures stood 15 -20' tall and were a valuable ecological resource for the areas bird and biological wildlife. On the way back from the tufa exploration, we stopped at the nearby Panum Crater which offered a short hike to either the rim or the plug of the volcano which hasn't erupted for at least 350 years. Should be safe. The Panum Crater lies along the Mono Lake fault line which is responsible for the chain of other volcanic mounds which line the area. Panum was fantastic for its rich obsidian and pumice rock formations.

Furthermore, we also made a visit to Bodie which is a historic ghost town a few miles north of Mono. The town was fairly inexpensive to access and the 2$ informational brochure was needed in order to read what which building was known for. As you walked the main streets, you could almost feel the stagecoaches blow by or the saloon brawls breakout. Unfortunately, due to two major fires in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the towns size had burned down to just 10% of its once magnificent size of ~8000 residents to a handful by the mid 1900's. By the 50's, the ore had gone dry and the people left for other explorations leaving the town to collect dust.

Before we left Mono, I urged Liz to drive out to one last adventure at Black Point. The miles of dirt road eventually lead to a parking zone and a suggested hiking path. We opted for our own hiking path and went straight up the terraced hill. Each terrace was filled with scrubby and thorny brush and once summited, would reveal the next unforeseen terrace. It was fairly grueling to say the least. Once on top, we quickly realized that the volcanic fissures we sought were on the other side of the peninsula and thus our hike continued. Eventually, we reach the fissures which ranged in length and depth from 10-80ft deep. The volcanic activity of this area was breathtaking and reminiscent of some sort of Indiana Jones exploration.

We packed our gnome and headed south. A quick stop by Devils Post Pile once again had us in awe of the geological powers in the area. 

On to the town of Bishop where we hoped to camp at a cheap campground called Grandview. Unfortunately, Garmin decided it would be best to direct us up a very rough dirt road which may or may not have led up the mountain slope. In the waning sunset, we consulted our options before delving too far into the world of 'dark off roading'. Liz determined that Garmin was full of it on this route and found an alternative which would take an extra hour. As we turned on the road to begin our climb to the campground, we noticed another campground right near the highway. This unnamed campground gave us a safe place to call it a day and included showers and a water supply. We gladly paid the $15 to spent the night. In the morning, before check out, we drove up the road to find the Ancient Bristlecone Pines at 10,000ft elevation. The pines, which were nothing spectacular in size, are the oldest known living organism on the earth. Their bark, weathered from years of snow and sun and the occasional fire, showed some signs of wear and tear but when the dendrochronologists got involved, they noticed that the rings of these pines aged back thousands of years. The oldest living tree was deemed Methuselah and aged back 4,500 years. Some of the fallen pines were dated to 11,000 years old. This find actually reinvented and recalibrated the carbon dating system for high altitude organisms, since now they had a visible scale to measure carbon decay rates at. Ziggy enjoyed trotting down the deserted freezing cold trail at high speeds to pee on the elders before mom and dad saw his deeds. The afternoon was spent driving the 5+ hours to Garnet Hill outside of Ely NV.

Arriving in the dark, the GPS once again led us to a extremely rough and impassible road in the hills of an unfamiliar place. We managed to make a jackknife turnaround in the dirt gully and started to head to Plan B which was 45 minutes away in the wrong direction. As we drove, we passed a sign for Garnet Hill (3 miles) and seemed like a much better option than Garmin and Plan B combined. The road took us up a hill as expected and in the dark, we managed to find, set and explore camp. Dinner was prepared and sleep was inevitable.

In the AM, we rose to explore the top of Garnet Hill which featured a free to explore policy. With hammer in hand, Liz and I began to split large rocks while Ziggy watched. The first few were nothing to be desired but upon further inspection, small maroon to black garnets were located in the smashed rock. A few are left to be extruded but we were satisfied with our haul. With rocks in pockets, the gnome bounded on towards Utah with the destination of Capitol Reef. I had no expectations or knowledge of the area and maybe that made for a bigger surprise.

That night, our free campsite lead was a straight success and we made camp before dark! WOOHOO. Laying in the camper bed, Liz remarks upon the high winds and being in the camper, makes suggestions for a safer option. We would hate to be stranded without a roof or risers let alone a rip to our precious and frail canvas. We opt to drop the top. The gnomes roof descends for the night and the tent is erected. The wind continues into the moons full glow and blows anything under 10lbs towards the butte face. We came to realize that the tent wasn't even an option. It was Texas all over again. Rocks were placed on the camper to keep the roof and canvas down and the tent was abandoned. Subaru's 'roomy' outback seats became the beds for our limited nights sleep.

Groggy and grumpy, we settled our camp in the morning and headed into Capitol Reef. We were not expecting the beauty and amazing geological structures that were in the park. Think Zion meets Bryce but less crowded and a majority of the viewing areas are along Highway 24 and thus free to see. If you wish to access the other parts of the park, you can pay a small fee via drop box. Additionally, the historic orchards on site are still maintained and free fruit picking is encouraged with a small donations box on site. Dont worry, the resident deer don't bite. We grabbed a few apples and dropped a few coins for our drive in the park. Make sure you're vehicle is capable of the terrain of the off road areas. Since Capitol Reef was just a stop through and our nights sleep was lacking, we decided not to pursue any of the trails this day but hope to be back soon enough for further exploration.

On to Moab we drove and arrived around 4pm. Our first campsite was about 10 miles from town. We pull off the highway and onto the dirt road and notice the massive amount of campers in the area. Every turnout had a tent or campers or someone car camping without much room to spare. In addition to this overcrowding, we checked the weather for the evening and next day and gusts of up to 30mph were predicted again. The desert doesn't offer much in the way of wind breaks so a night in a hotel was our option for a good nights sleep. We hastily got on our phones which luckily had service and surfed for the pet friendly spots in town. A couple calls led to more misinformation than we could handle. Then, Liz remembered that sister Kathryn stayed a night and two weeks more at the local Lazy Lizard Hostel. One phone call to Brett and he assured us a cabin was ready for our arrival. The cozy bunk beds let mom and dad take top while doggie bunked on bottom. As the night went on, we could hear the wind howling outside and we felt the struggle for our tent neighbors, many of which woke in their cars. We, well rested, arose and explored the center of town with its many gift shops and eateries. The gnome team located camp two and headed there after checkout. This camp is on the other side of town (opposite of Arches NP) and had about 3 other camps set. Plenty of room to find our spot and behind some berms too so any additional wind will blow over and not decimate us. Arches will be explored over the next couple days and we will be Denver bound by the end of this week.

Post Denver, our plans are still loose as we aim to stay warm. A journey south of Denver may loop us through Great Sand Dunes, Natural Bridges, Mesa Verde and Escalente which has been highly recommended by numerous people on our travels. Then a shot north to Canada in November where we will have a house to stay in. The gnome plans to stay state-side at storage while we explore Canada. That's about it for now. Thanks for reading and getting caught up with our activities.