Creek walkers

We are in Zion on my birthday.  We went horseback riding in the am had a great lunch at the local brewery then hiked the narrows.  Called that because the trail and canyon meet and you can only hike in the river.  Very swift and deep in some parts.  Had a blast.  Think I will hike that every afternoon.  Very hot here.  Tomorrow angels landing

You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere they won’t make it home but they really don’t care.

Las Vegas

They will never get hungry they’ll never grow old and gray

I have learned that death valley and las Vegas have one major thing in common DESPERATION.  Oh, two things, I don’t like either one.

However, we did hook up with our old friends the fearful dead and enjoy a fantastic concert.

I met and talked with a nice man in death valley he was from California but he had duck stuff.  Graduated from uo.  Anyway we were in linewith 20000 other people for the show and there he was.  How funny we hugged and laughed like old friends.  After all, everybody is a friend at a dead show.

 

I went so you don’t have to

What I learned in death Valley

You can not drink enough water, 50 sunscreen does not work, dry heat is hotter than anything in the world, you can outrun a sand storm, hike at night in the dark, trust nothing living.

We got up early to go for a hike in the dunes at 282 feet below sea level.  By 0800 it was already 85 degrees.  No shade no breeze.  It was a very short hike.  We stopped and did a couple short ones along the way and that was good enough for us.  We saw a borax mine and a borax wagon that was pulled by a 20 mule team.  We saw a side winder track.  We saw a jack rabbit.  We saw a lot of turkey vultures and you know what they eat so we left.

We just drove off and left it all behind us.  Where were we going without ever knowing the way.

Lee Vining and Monogram Lake

Today we went all over the place.  Old mining ghost town called Bodie.  Everybody just got up and left.  The school had desks and books and a lesson on the board.  The blacksmith still had tools etc. And the bars had table chairs and old bottles.  8300 elevation and can get 20 feet of snow.  The houses were covered in hammered out tin cans for water proofing.  There is a picture of the school bar house jail and bank.

Then we went to Tufus park.  Part of Mono lake with huge minerals from fresh water bubbling up into the lake.  There is no outlet for this huge lake and the water is oily, naturally, and very salty.  80 percent of the sea gulls, 60,000, of the state of California come here to bread and nest.  The stay on a huge island in the middle of the lake.

We then went to Panic crater.  The youngest mountain in the US.  Formed 600 years ago.

We are finished with this area.  Blowing out of here and moving onto death Valley!  CLOSED ROAD TO YOSOMITE.

 

Then

Taking you back to the beginnings

Ok dad now I have you all caught up. Below is a picture of a huge sequoia in sequoia national park and pictures of kings canyon  a 7000 foot drop from the road.  Pictures of Dons b day when we road our bikes to Huntington beach and had beer and pizza.  Don with medals from the Disney land half marathon and a picture of us drinking a beer in monument valley disney land.  The old building on the hill is the old school/church in plymouth.  Very little house on the prairie.20170514_09575520170514_16124420170519_19162620170515_15343120170513_12580020170509_13210720170509_141045.jpg20170509_173133.jpg