We're on our way home at last. Only 250 miles in the log today, but we could have had more. It was just so damned hot after we left the cool breezes of Hollister, we decided that we'd spend a much cooler night at 5000 feet, high in the Sierra Nevadas. We're not really at Donner Pass- that's just a few miles south of where we're parked, which is called the "Donner Summit Rest Area". It's very cool.. both literally and figuratively. There's a trail that takes you to the Pacific Crest Trail.. the Appalachian Trail of the West.*****
Meanwhile, here's a teaser.. well, no... it's not a teaser, it's the best shot I got at the Pinnacles National Monument. If you can't click it to enlarge, you'll have to take my word for it: That's an endangered California Condor. More on our condor-watching and high-altitude hiking in a future post.
I'm still miffed that I wasn't able to make that trip. At least I got to see the Mission in the daylight this time!
ReplyDeleteHope you got to go to Johnny's as well. Not quite the same natural beauty as the Pinnacles, but interesting none the less.
We were too tired after the Pinnacles hike to go to Johnny's, but we did get exterior pix on the way out of town.
ReplyDeleteThat must have been quite the haul for the HB Express. I feel lucky to have been up and around Donner several times -- happily not for a forced picnic. It's a beautiful spot.
ReplyDeleteA+M+M+J
Yeah, that was some climb out of Sacramento! One of only two places on the whole trip that the HBE dropped all the way to first gear =0 (the other was Salt Lake to Park City.. that's a bitch, too.)
ReplyDeleteI resisted the tasteless joke at the time, but I just ran across this while looking for a different xkcd:
ReplyDeletehttp://xkcd.com/30/
---Cindy
...http://xkcd.com/30/
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious!
While I'm at it, I need to make a correction: The rest area at Donner Summit was 7000+ feet, not 5000 as I wrote. Quibble.