Nosebleeding in the Sierra Nevada

Guard Tower #8, Manzanar Internment Camp, California
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11/17- We only made it 7 miles down the road before pulling over to sleep. Up at 4:30 am and out the western Panamint Springs entrance. Driving 190 in the dark from sea level to 6000' got us a little dizzy. Too much for Max. He dropped into a gnome coma so you won't see him in this update. We hope for the best. Reaching Lone Pine I discovered that I read the map wrong in the dark and there isn't a road that penetrates the Sierras in that area. I did note that Manzanar Internment Camp Historical Site was just north so I went there. To say it's a powerful and moving place doesn't do justice. Sometimes the emotion from past events bleeds into the photographs and you just ride that wave as I did for 4 hours. I saw no one the entire morning until visiting the exceptional interpretive center. The juxtaposition of the state of civil rights then and now is jarring. You cannot leave here without being changed. I stopped back in Lone Pine for lunch then south on 395 to 178 west at Walker Pass where I noticed bars on the cellphone and had a wonderful conversation with my wife Karen. It was then that she gave me the gift of another week out on the road. I'll miss Thanksgiving with her but I don't know if or when I'll ever have this opportunity again. Thank you, you're the best!

Panamint Sunrise, Death Valley
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Making a fateful decision to turn north on 190 condemns me to the rest of the day in FYI at 25mph, climbing and twisting back up to 7000'. I did play a bit at the Trail to 100 Giants, my first taste of the sequoia forest. I didn't know that all those campsites I was passing were the last for 70 miles. Note to self-- Bring better maps!!! I then twisted and turned at 25mph back down the mountain, picking up 65 north at Porterville through Lindsay and Exeter, arriving at Sequoia NP at 9:30pm. I could only make it to Potwisha where I cleaned up and downloaded the day's images. At midnight I heard "Bad Bear, Bad Bear" accompanied by much hullabaloo and banging of metal implements. I got out of FYI to make sure things were secure, heard a whoof from very near by and decided to get back in the truck. Amazing how a noise in the dark can immediately rearrange priorities. I slept great.

Bad Bear, Bad Bear!

Death Valley Water
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11/18- Poking my head out at 6am I see no bears. Following the park road through oak and yucca, FYI once again chugs back up the mountain to 7000' and the Giant Forest, greeted by 7 does and a 4-point buck. I hiked a bit at the General Sherman Tree until noisy people showed up then breakfasted on a couple of PB&Js. The trees being too large to effectively photograph and the weather being too nice (68 degrees and clear) I declare this day Tourist Dan Day. Yeah for me!!! I find the beautiful new Wuksachi Lodge with WIFI and beer and settle down to do an update. I wish you could all be here with me or at least see through my eyes and smell the spicy sweet air that finally killed the fish smell from Salton Sea. The locals go home today leaving the Europeans and me to enjoy the sunset. I think it's time to unass and find a trail to amble.

Sacred Circle and the Woman of the Desert, Rhyolite, CA
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Later on Down the Road,

Dan the Driver