June 2003

Well, here we are doing our Willy Nelson impersonation on the road again. Sadly we continue our travels without our faithful furball, Tory. Tory had a massive heart attack May 30th and we had to let her go. We know she is in a wonderful place, doing all the things she loved best to do but we miss her.

This season may not look as ambitious as past seasons but looks can be deceiving. We plan to visit Sequoia, Inyo, Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Eldorado, Tahoe, and Plumas National Forests. The thing is these forests have a ton of developed campgrounds. Example, Inyo, located on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range, between Bakersfield and Yosemite National Park, has nearly 60 campgrounds that, to our knowledge, qualify for our attention! But, thankfully, the campgrounds are generally clustered together in canyons and around lakes or along paved roads. Dirt roads are fun but we do love those nicely paved asphalt surfaces. Anyway, it appears we will have a busy season and many adventures.

This season began with a leisurely drive to Bakersfield to visit Suzi's Aunt Thelma, a fun lady. The drive may have been comfortable but the temperatures were anything but! Daytime temps were 100 plus. At night things cooled off to 70 degrees. It was actually cooler back in Bisbee for most of our June travels. When we reached Bishop, California it cooled off because we were camping above 7000 ft. Our first night at this elevation there was a 2" snowfall at 9000 ft which the locals referred to as "a dusting."

Some of you may remember we were chased out of the Sequoia National Forest last year by the huge McNally wildfire. There was no such problem this year. After completing our research on the Forest we did take a couple days to explore the two adjacent National Parks - Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Both are impressive but we prefer the less structured opportunities of exploring in a National Forest. Two highlights were wandering among the giant Sequoia trees on the Trail of 100 Trees (trees ranged in size from about the diameter of your arm to the size of a spacious bathroom) and Grizzly Falls were the heavy spray cooled us off and provided a lush, as well as damp environment for everyone from butterflies to tourists.

After our exploration of Sequoia NF's northern region, we headed south and found the International Whitewater Races on the Kern River. Participating in the ten days of races seemed very exciting. However, watching can be summarized as follows: wait, wait, wait, there he/she goes, wait, wait, wait, there well you get the idea. The Elks Club held a Spaghetti dinner for the Racers and that was fun. We got to have a good meal, listen to different accents, and see the racers without helmets and kayaks.

We couldn't spend time watching much racing as we had work to do. This is where we got to see the results of the McNally wildfire. Incredible! In route to the campgrounds were miles of black charred forests. As Fred remarked, "The destruction is sad but the views are great."

After completing our work in Sequoia National Forest, we moved on to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Inyo National Forest. The difference between the east side and west of this mountain range is amazing. The topography is almost gentle on the western side and the eastern near vertical. We have rarely had to concern ourselves with grade on the west side but that is not case for the Inyo. There is one place, off a hairpin turn on the way to Horseshoe Meadows campground, that was the launch point for a world record hang-glider flight. The guy glided from Watts Point, the hairpin turn, all the way to Nevada. Amazing!

Mt. Whitney is the crown jewel of Inyo's many attractions. At 14,494 feet, Mt. Whitney is the tallest mountain in the United States. Hiking to its summit is such an attraction, the Forest Service holds a lottery for permits each year. Besides having hundreds of hikers using the Mt. Whitney Portal as the starting point for an assault on Mt. Whitney, more come to explore the John Muir Wilderness and escape the heat.

One thing that will be a challenge is finding a bear around the Mt. Whitney Portal area. Two years ago, the Forest Service was liable for something in the neighborhood of $100,000 per month for damage to cars due to bears. So the Inyo National Forest undertook an intensive education effort to remove the danger of bear incidents. We were told by campers in the past bears would come up at dinner time and just sit down, waiting for their share. No fear what so ever. Another story was about a stealth bear.

The Mt. Whitney Portal General Store sells a little of this and a little of that. Its major claim to fame comes from the postage stamp size kitchen - pancakes bigger than a diner plate, and "the best burgers in the county." Access to the kitchen space is via a sliding glass door. Well, it seems this stealth bear taught himself how to open that door, clean the prep table of everything, and then close the door as he left! Pretty smart for a furry critter.

With the Forest Service's successful efforts on Mt. Whitney, there will be fewer bear stories. Unfortunately, according to the local radio station, the problems have moved to the township of Mammoth. But never fear, that is the Inyo's next target for their bear abatement program.

But concerns for our furry friends isn't limited to bears. The rodent populations seems to have exploded. In all our years on the road, little furry things have never been a problem. This year, one or two claimed Kermit, our truck, as their residence. Just for your information, these critters love Lays' Ruffles potato chips, much to Fred's regret. And, truck air filters make lovely living quarters too.

Oh, the adventures one has traveling- wish Tory was with us. July will see us finishing the beautiful Inyo National Forest, begin our work in the Tahoe Basin Management Unit and move on to Eldorado National Forest. What a job! When can you join us?

Suzi and Fred

P.S. Published our fifth book on the Eastern Region this spring - feeling good about that.