America 2015: Part 4 of 4


From the Palm Canyon to Lake Kaweah

After the farewell lunch with Tom and Jennifer we made - on their recommendation - an extra trip to the nearby "Palm Canyon".
There a short hike leads up into a canyon, and at the end of the trail you can see a protected, shadowy terrace high up in a side
gorge on the left - with a small population of indigenous palm trees growing up there, well seen in my binoculars. Here is some
additional information.

A terrace with native palm trees (center)

Cactuses of ...

... different sizes
On this sunday we drove no farther than Blythe and stayed on a campground on the banks of the Colorado river.The next day we had
a long stage of nearly 400 miles - already completely in California - via Needles to Bakersfield. The camping site there was close to a
railway, and we often heard the characteristic blare of the trains we know from American films. But Julian had taken along his earplugs
anyway, and he had provided me with them as well. On Tuesday forenoon we visited a supermarket, plus a laundry, before we departed
to the mountains, to a beautiful campground on Lake Kaweah, a bit before the entrance to the Sequoia National Park.

Blythe: Campside on the Colorado river

On the long stage to Bakersfield

Coming along big wind farms

Campground on Lake Kaweah, with much room for the drone

Sequoia National Park


Wednesday, March 25: We drove up to the Sequoia National Park to see the most massive trees on Earth. That was very impressive
and beautiful; including a hike around a hill moor, which was surrounded by many giant trees. Of course we also visited the most
famous of all these trees, the "General Sherman". Wikipedia : "By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on earth ...
With a height of 83.8 meters (275 ft), a diameter of 7.7 m (25 ft), an estimated bole volume of 1,487 m3 (52,513 cu ft), and an
estimated age of 2,300–2,700 years, it is ... among the tallest, widest and longest-lived of all trees on the planet."

"General Sherman" is the largest tree on Earth, but other ...

... specimen are also tremendous


Yosemite National Park


After a night on a camping site in Oakhurst we drove on to the famous Yosemite National Park on Thursday. This kind of landscape was
more familiar, since it reminded us of some landscapes in the Alps. Here is the well-known, nearly 1000 meters high climbing wall of
El Capitan, a much-desired goal for the best climbers in the world. And deeper in the valley is a tourist center, with shuttle buses, and
surrounded by the Halfdome and several impressive waterfalls - a gorgeous scenery ! Since we intended to stay the last two nights in
San Francisco we left the mountains already in the afternoon, and eventually stayed on a campground in Livingstone before Modesto.

Campground Oakhurst on the road to Yosemite

Grand scenery with the sheer wall of El Capitan (left)

View to the Halfdome

Waterfall

San Francisco

Friday, March 27


And finally the last two nights in San Francisco ! That meant two half days and one full day from Friday noon on, since our flight departed to Munich
on Sunday evening from San Francisco airport. We had chosen a campsite in the southwest of the city, from where we had a near one-mile hike to
the tram, which brought us directly to the Market street in downtown. We bought a ticket for three days, so we could also use the various bus lines.

The central Market Street

Chinatown

One of the typical steep streets

The famous Cable Cars
A very colorful and diverse city; concerning the different ethnic groups, concerning the architecture and also - quite literally -
the different colors of the houses. Of course we also drove with one of the famous cable cars, on a track with several steep
passages. These steep steets are very common here, a quadratic street network was simply imprinted on the rolling topography.
And we went to the Pacific, using the winding bus line 71, and made a hike along the beach, observing some surfers in the cold
ocean. And to the Golden Gate Bridge, till the first pier: Great view of the "Bay", with downtown San Francisco, the former prison
island Alcatraz and over to Berkeley and the other islands.

Golden Gate Bridge

A good stand

At the Pacific

In an old-style diner

On our way home

Sunday, March 29

On Sunday afternoon we returned the "Escape Camper Van" in San Francisco one
hour before the deadline, after 2500 miles from Las Vegas with many geographical
bends in between. An at 8:50 PM was the start of the flight back to Munich. I felt some
underlying tiredness after all these dense activities, but also a deep contentment after all
had worked out so well. An altogether very positive experience, not least the friendly
and relaxed encounters with our American observing colleagues.



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