Bakersfield to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks

No blogging yesterday because of sketchy WiFi in Kings Canyon National Park.

We finally got to sleep in a bit Monday morning -- the payoff for driving past midnight through the Mojave Desert. Most of the drive to Grant Grove where we're staying was uneventful -- orange groves all over the place, mostly flat but a general gradual climb from about 200' above sea level to 600'. Then we headed to the mountains and saw a sign "Windy narrow road, next 30 miles." And it was! The temperature outside was already 90 degrees.

The road was back and forth and up up up and it was a blast. At first I wondered if I could make it through all of this in high gear (but not in overdrive). Then I looked at the water temperature gauge. I think I'd seen 90C+ only once so far this trip as we climbed Afton Mountain in Virginia, but now I saw it at 96C! I took it easier and watched it rise to 98C and level off there. We had a little flat section where it dropped back down to 89C, but then the steady slow climbing ensued. The car performed wonderfully, tremendous torque, wonderful steering around the hairpins, no vapor lock. But then the temperature began going back and forth between 98C and 100C. This was my limit, especially as we continued to climb in altitude. I began looking for a shady pulloff to cool off, and finally we got to Badger Mountain House. Please go to the website and see a pic they took of the Vantom in front! :-) It was a very welcome oasis for us (we were hungry for lunch) and for the car to cool off. We took our time and met several folks including a nice French family who waited around to hear it start and see us off (and we waited at least an hour until the water temperature dropped below 80C again).

Since we arrived at Kings Canyon NP, we've let the Vantom take a couple days rest and have been using the rental to get around. Monday evening we attended a ranger led campfire talk, and afterwards we drove over to the actual Grant Grove and walked through the trail under the moonlight without any headlamps or flashlights on. It was spooky but very memorable!

Today we drove into Sequoia NP. Our first hike a short steep one (300 feet in about .3 miles) up Moro Rock. We had some really nice panoramic views of the sub-Alpine region from the top of the rock.

Our second hike was to the Sherman Tree, boasted as the largest living organism in the world. From there we walked through a Giant Sequoia Grove on the Congress Trail, a fairly easy 2 mile hike.

We closed out the day with an all-you-can eat BBQ dinner at Wolverton, and Kyle had ribs for the first time and enoyed three sets of ribs, four pieces of chicken, three half-ears of corn, cornbread, and....well I think that's it. :-)