Once we arrived in San Francisco the group of cyclists I had been travelling with went our separate ways. Christof and I travelled to Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon. First we got a ferry from San Francisco to Oakland, then a train from Oakland to Merced, then a bus to Yosemite from Merced, then the bus back, the train from Merced to Fresno, and then we started pedalling to Sequoia and our adventures began.
Yosemite was amazing, the valley was stunning, and so much fun to cycle through, the road leads through the most heavenly scented forest, beside a river and meanders through a steep sided valley, at the top of which are the most enormous cliffs I think I have ever seen, and in all directions too. We were lucky enough to get a wilderness permit and so we could leave the crowds behind and escape to a hillside where we camped under the stars. It was incredible. We hiked the next day, although unfortunately not far as we were ill equipped; the one problem with cycling is I haven't figured out how to do a smooth transition to hiking, half of our bags were left at the visitors centre, our smellies in a locker in a car park several miles away in a metal bear proof box, our bikes under a tree half way up a trail, and our walking stuff poorly packed as I didn't have the right bags; and it was hot, with no water filter, and we were in bear country!
The views from the hills were so super, and then we returned to the valley to find people with binoculars watching climbers so small and high that they were impossible to see with the naked eye. When we left the park the sun was setting and the cliffs glowed pink and orange with the evening light, it was one of those so happy and lucky to be here moments (I seem to be having so many of those on this trip).
Yosemite was amazing, the valley was stunning, and so much fun to cycle through, the road leads through the most heavenly scented forest, beside a river and meanders through a steep sided valley, at the top of which are the most enormous cliffs I think I have ever seen, and in all directions too. We were lucky enough to get a wilderness permit and so we could leave the crowds behind and escape to a hillside where we camped under the stars. It was incredible. We hiked the next day, although unfortunately not far as we were ill equipped; the one problem with cycling is I haven't figured out how to do a smooth transition to hiking, half of our bags were left at the visitors centre, our smellies in a locker in a car park several miles away in a metal bear proof box, our bikes under a tree half way up a trail, and our walking stuff poorly packed as I didn't have the right bags; and it was hot, with no water filter, and we were in bear country!
The views from the hills were so super, and then we returned to the valley to find people with binoculars watching climbers so small and high that they were impossible to see with the naked eye. When we left the park the sun was setting and the cliffs glowed pink and orange with the evening light, it was one of those so happy and lucky to be here moments (I seem to be having so many of those on this trip).
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