Saturday 21st October - day 32.

Ridgecrest to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park.

Well, good old Walmart... we half expected to be woken by a knock on the door from the store manager, but none came and we woke at first light to an almost empty car park and sun streaming through the window (is the weather always this consistently good in America?)
We popped into the store to buy fruit (yes - this branch of Walmart sells the kind of fruit you actually want to buy!) used the Wi-fi and for Bill to charge his laptop and camera in the electrical sockets set aside for charging the supermarket mobility scooters...
After a mug of tea and a vote of thanks to Walmart for their hospitality, we left civilisation behind and set off back into the desert.
Our target destination today was the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. This was only about 100 miles north-west of Ridgecrest as the crow flies, but the Sierra mountain range stood firmly in the way, and google maps suggested a 253 mile route looping south via a series of major highways.
We didn’t fancy 4-5 hours of boring driving on flat multi lane highways and so pored over our maps to discover a route using small roads to wind our way over the southern part of the mountain range - the Alta Sierra. About the same journey time, but quite a lot fewer miles and much more interesting.
We drove through desert populated with cacti and yucca plants to reach Isabella Lake, parked up on a headland overlooking the water and had breakfast. It was very quiet and we could here a musical warbling noise. There were no trees nearby and the sound appeared to be coming from the lake below us. Binoculars revealed dozens of Western Grebes - crisp black and white plumage with yellow bills, diving and catching fish as we watched.
We commenced our uphill climb over the Alta Sierra, passing two yellow warning signs advising snout steep grades and narrow roads. There were also plenty of warnings about ice and snow chains - this area is a popular skiing spot and the hillsides were littered with small wooden chalets with steeply pitched roofs.
As we drove up, we seemed to pass through different climatic regions. To start with we felt as if we were driving through Greece or Spain - there was some greenery - wild flowers, grasses and loads of small trees that looked like olive trees but were in fact stunted oaks. As we climbed into the alpine areas these were replaced by conifers - very Scandinavian. The road was steep and winding, and travelled through undulating land with tree covered jumps and valleys.
Highway 155 reached its high point at elevation 5,718 feet.
Then we started our descent down the western side of the hill.
We drove down through what felt like Scotland, then North Wales and then Eastnor Park, with rolling parkland with green grass and huge deciduous trees dotted everywhere.
As we descended further towards White River the grass turned yellow and was burnt off creating a scene of golden coloured undulating hills scattered with dwarf oaks. This was real ‘cowboy country’ with ranches and horses everywhere.
Further on we were on a flat plain covered with acres and acres of citrus trees - lemons and oranges on trees and on the ground underneath, all around us. At first it was a novelty, but after 40 miles, it became a bit ‘sameish’!
Finally we arrived at Sequoia National Park.

Our plans for today were quite well formed. Kings Canyon and Sequoia parks are separate but linked. Kings is to the north and if you drive in there, you can drive north along a no through road to the Kings Canyon, or turn south to follow a road to Sequoia National Park - and out again.
We thought we would drive that in reverse - into Sequoia from the south, with a view to heading north and onwards to San Francisco tomorrow.
What was not made clear on any notice or in any guide book is that there is a section just inside the Sequoia Park that, due to road works, does not allow RVs over 20 feet long...
So, having wound our way all the way up the road to the park, we were turned away and sent on a 2 hour detour to the northern entrance to Stump Grove in Kings Canyon.
Miles and miles down winding mountain roads, through the valley citrus groves and back up again...
However, we eventually made into Kings Canyon at about 4.30 when a very cheerful bearded ranger directed us to the Azalea camp ground.
We drove there - grabbed a spot and set off in search of a good scenic hike to make the hours of driving worthwhile.
We found the perfect place at the well-named ‘Big Baldy ‘ - chosen not just for its name but for its route which headed due south along a west facing ridge - it had stupendous views, peace, pine trees, sun-warmed rocks, birdsong, sunset, Kodachrome sky - it had everything - and the woes of the last few hours of driving were swiftly forgotten.
As dusk fell we gathered bags of fir cones and starting wood and headed back to the campground to light our camp fire. We really missed Chris - chief fire-lighter on previous camps...
It was a chilly evening with a clear sky. Most other campers had campfires too, so the woodland setting felt very companionable, even though were well spaced out.
We wrapped ourselves in a ‘comforter’ as the Americans call duvets, and sat with a bottle of wine watching our steaks cook over the fire, and looked at the stars overhead between the fir trees. A very romantic last night in the mountains!