Saturday, October 25, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Side Notes
All pictures will now be uploaded to my myspace. www.myspace.com/mikemul. It is way too time consuming to upload them on this blog. Myspace is much easier.
Living out of your car gets extremely frustrating after a while everything must be put in its place every time. If not, you will lose it. Once its lost in the Abyss, you may not see it for days. However, this means everything needs to be packed, unpacked, then repacked. Over and over and over. If you need one thing, you need to move seven things to get to it, then everything needs to get repacked. You see the cycle. It can drive you mad, but if you get lazy just once, your car if filled with junk immediately.
Pictured and my descriptions do not do any of these places justice. Seriously, you need to see this stuff. If you plan a vacation to some island before doing this, punch yourself in the face, then change your plans.
I will have a day in between San Fran and Vegas, but don’t know where to go. Any suggestions?
Living out of your car gets extremely frustrating after a while everything must be put in its place every time. If not, you will lose it. Once its lost in the Abyss, you may not see it for days. However, this means everything needs to be packed, unpacked, then repacked. Over and over and over. If you need one thing, you need to move seven things to get to it, then everything needs to get repacked. You see the cycle. It can drive you mad, but if you get lazy just once, your car if filled with junk immediately.
Pictured and my descriptions do not do any of these places justice. Seriously, you need to see this stuff. If you plan a vacation to some island before doing this, punch yourself in the face, then change your plans.
I will have a day in between San Fran and Vegas, but don’t know where to go. Any suggestions?
Day 15 – San Fran
One of the goals of this trip was to make it to the Redwood Forrest. Due to time constraints, this wasn’t possible. However, Yosemite has a few Giant Sequoia groves. So on my out this morning, I hiked to one.
The trees really did not disappoint. Giant Sequoia’s are the largest living thing by mass on Earth. They grow 275 feet tall and around 75 around at the base. Like everything else in the park, their size is overwhelming. Its something you have to see in person, a picture will do it no justice.
After the Giant Sequoia’s, I drove into San Francisco. This city is beautiful. When I was coming over the Bay Bridge, I could smell fresh food. I went down to Fisherman’s Wharf and got a crab-salad sandwich for lunch. It was pretty good, but a little salty for my taste.
Next, I went over to check out the sea-lions. These things rock!!! They really do. All they do is sleep and fight. The entire time, there was a battle royal going on. Some of them play king of the mountain on the wood platforms. Other ones try and bite the sea-lions that are climbing along to try and find a place to sleep. There was one sea-lion that was climbing across a group of sleeping sea-lions. All of a sudden, one of the big boys got upset and slapped the little guy right in his face with his tail fin. The entire crowd heard the slap. It was awesome.
After that, I hopped on a ferry over to Alcatraz. First thin you will notice about Alcatraz is that the island itself is beautiful. It sits right in the San Francisco bay. Next thing you will notice is that life on Alcatraz was not fun at all. I enjoyed the audio tour. Going into some of the cells is creepy. Another reminder that jail has to be the worst place to be on Earth. Unless you are visiting one I guess. Haha.
Anyway, so I’m at a hostel in downtown San Fran right now. It seems fine. Its like college dorms, just in an older building. It’s filled with mostly foreigners. I’m sure they are pretty interesting, but I’m too tired to make conversation now.
Tomorrow I’m gonna check out the Golden Gate Bridge and anything else this city has to offer.
Take it easy…
The trees really did not disappoint. Giant Sequoia’s are the largest living thing by mass on Earth. They grow 275 feet tall and around 75 around at the base. Like everything else in the park, their size is overwhelming. Its something you have to see in person, a picture will do it no justice.
After the Giant Sequoia’s, I drove into San Francisco. This city is beautiful. When I was coming over the Bay Bridge, I could smell fresh food. I went down to Fisherman’s Wharf and got a crab-salad sandwich for lunch. It was pretty good, but a little salty for my taste.
Next, I went over to check out the sea-lions. These things rock!!! They really do. All they do is sleep and fight. The entire time, there was a battle royal going on. Some of them play king of the mountain on the wood platforms. Other ones try and bite the sea-lions that are climbing along to try and find a place to sleep. There was one sea-lion that was climbing across a group of sleeping sea-lions. All of a sudden, one of the big boys got upset and slapped the little guy right in his face with his tail fin. The entire crowd heard the slap. It was awesome.
After that, I hopped on a ferry over to Alcatraz. First thin you will notice about Alcatraz is that the island itself is beautiful. It sits right in the San Francisco bay. Next thing you will notice is that life on Alcatraz was not fun at all. I enjoyed the audio tour. Going into some of the cells is creepy. Another reminder that jail has to be the worst place to be on Earth. Unless you are visiting one I guess. Haha.
Anyway, so I’m at a hostel in downtown San Fran right now. It seems fine. Its like college dorms, just in an older building. It’s filled with mostly foreigners. I’m sure they are pretty interesting, but I’m too tired to make conversation now.
Tomorrow I’m gonna check out the Golden Gate Bridge and anything else this city has to offer.
Take it easy…
Day 14 – Yosemite Take 2
Yesterday was incredibly frustrating. I was determined to have a better day today. I have to say; I started the day off right. Like always, I was up before dawn. I got everything packed up, and was off into the park.
I would first like to add that while everyone is enjoying gas at $2.60 per gallon at home, I paid $4.99 per gallon to fill up today. Frustrating…
As soon as I made it into the park, I saw a fox run across the road. It was a fairly large fox. I’ve only seen one before, and that one was much smaller.
I drove straight through without stopping and made it to Camp 4. Camp 4 is located right in the heart of Yosemite Valley in between El Captain and the Upper & Lower Falls. The campground sits about 40 yards from the base of the Mountain. I later saw a sign saying that Camp 4 is on the national registry of historical places. Apparently, rock climbers have been coming to Camp 4 for over a 100 years. This is not suprising considering the setting. I really would have liked to spend more time here. I would say that the camp was made up of about 5% Americans. There was people here from all over the world. They created a makeshift community revolving around rock climbing.
Anyway, so here I am staying at one of the most beautiful places on Earth. No reservations. Just walk up and pitch your tent. 6 tents to a camping area. All for just $5 dollars a night. Im sorry, but you cant beat that.
Anyway, my first hike of the day was to mirror lake and half dome. I was not aware that mirror lake is dry during the fall, but the hike was still nice. I decided to break off from the paved trail, and take a trail through the woods. Turns out it was a horse trail. I walked over a mile on a horse manure filled trail. Hahaha. It was still awesome.
The next hike was up to Vernal Falls. This hike was pretty challenging. Not due to the terrain, but the altitude change is fairly significant. Right from the beginning you start climbing. After 1 mile, you make it to the footbridge where you can see the falls. This wasn’t good enough for me, so I decided to hike to the top of the falls. It is another .3 miles to the base of the falls, then 600 granite stairs cut out of the side of the mountain to the top. This was by far the hardest part. You are pretty high at the base of the falls, and 600 stairs at altitude is a taxing task.
The entire experience was absolutely worth it. I stopped about halfway up the falls and had a sandwich. The sun was getting low at that point, so the mist was putting off a cool rainbow.
That was the best part though. On the way down, I walked by a woman and over heard her saying that a bear was across the ridge. Sure enough, right across the stream that the falls emptied into was a brown bear. First bear I’ve ever seen in my life. Lucky for me, it was a few hundred yards away on a different slope. I watched the bear for a while, then made my way down the mountain.
At the bottom of the mountain, I saw a small gathering of people. I walked over to investigate. Just off the road there were three 6-point buck sitting there. I was probably 15 feet from them. They just sat on the ground chewing away, not paying attention to us at all.
Later that night, I was able to get a shower. I hadn’t showered in a few days. It’s amazing how luxurious a gym room shower can be… when you stink. Haha.
I would first like to add that while everyone is enjoying gas at $2.60 per gallon at home, I paid $4.99 per gallon to fill up today. Frustrating…
As soon as I made it into the park, I saw a fox run across the road. It was a fairly large fox. I’ve only seen one before, and that one was much smaller.
I drove straight through without stopping and made it to Camp 4. Camp 4 is located right in the heart of Yosemite Valley in between El Captain and the Upper & Lower Falls. The campground sits about 40 yards from the base of the Mountain. I later saw a sign saying that Camp 4 is on the national registry of historical places. Apparently, rock climbers have been coming to Camp 4 for over a 100 years. This is not suprising considering the setting. I really would have liked to spend more time here. I would say that the camp was made up of about 5% Americans. There was people here from all over the world. They created a makeshift community revolving around rock climbing.
Anyway, so here I am staying at one of the most beautiful places on Earth. No reservations. Just walk up and pitch your tent. 6 tents to a camping area. All for just $5 dollars a night. Im sorry, but you cant beat that.
Anyway, my first hike of the day was to mirror lake and half dome. I was not aware that mirror lake is dry during the fall, but the hike was still nice. I decided to break off from the paved trail, and take a trail through the woods. Turns out it was a horse trail. I walked over a mile on a horse manure filled trail. Hahaha. It was still awesome.
The next hike was up to Vernal Falls. This hike was pretty challenging. Not due to the terrain, but the altitude change is fairly significant. Right from the beginning you start climbing. After 1 mile, you make it to the footbridge where you can see the falls. This wasn’t good enough for me, so I decided to hike to the top of the falls. It is another .3 miles to the base of the falls, then 600 granite stairs cut out of the side of the mountain to the top. This was by far the hardest part. You are pretty high at the base of the falls, and 600 stairs at altitude is a taxing task.
The entire experience was absolutely worth it. I stopped about halfway up the falls and had a sandwich. The sun was getting low at that point, so the mist was putting off a cool rainbow.
That was the best part though. On the way down, I walked by a woman and over heard her saying that a bear was across the ridge. Sure enough, right across the stream that the falls emptied into was a brown bear. First bear I’ve ever seen in my life. Lucky for me, it was a few hundred yards away on a different slope. I watched the bear for a while, then made my way down the mountain.
At the bottom of the mountain, I saw a small gathering of people. I walked over to investigate. Just off the road there were three 6-point buck sitting there. I was probably 15 feet from them. They just sat on the ground chewing away, not paying attention to us at all.
Later that night, I was able to get a shower. I hadn’t showered in a few days. It’s amazing how luxurious a gym room shower can be… when you stink. Haha.
Day 13 – Yosemite Take 1
So I woke up this morning to an amazing site. I was aware that I camped right next to a lake last night, I had no idea that the surrounding area looked like this. Just off Lake June was a HUGE granite mountain. The lake served as a mirror pool to the mountain, the view was quite amazing. 
So after getting up and seeing where I was camping at, I was amped for Yosemite. I decided to leave camp setup at the lake. I figured I wouldn’t be able to camp inside of Yosemite, and if I could I would come back for everything. What a mistake this was.
I started into Yosemite from the East entrance, which takes you through the Tioga pass. This drive is incredible. You drive up these granite mountains to an altitude over 9000 feet. There aren’t any guardrails, and they are literally sheer cliffs. One mistake, and you are going for one hell of a last ride. The Tioga pass is incredibly impressive though. Definitely something you must do. After that, I stopped at a bunch of lookouts and checked out some of the views that Yosemite has to offer. I really can’t say enough about this park. The views are incredible. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. My camera won’t come close to capturing the scale of the cliffs and rock formations.
After checking out some views, I kept moving on until I reached the Yosemite Valley. I was completely blown away the entire ride in that I hadn’t realized how long I was driving. We will get to this. So I decide to hike to the Lower Falls once I get into the Valley. I was very excited to finally get out and go for a hike. It’s pretty much my favorite activity at this point.
The hike to the falls was a short one. I think it’s around .25 miles. Anyway, it only took me a few minutes to get there. The rock formations are incredible. However, the lower falls has been reduced to a trickle due to the season. Nonetheless, I hung out and watched some rock climbers. There were a large group of tourists coming up and I wanted to move up for a better view, so I threw my Gatorade in my back and moved closer. About 1 minute later, I started to feel my back getting wet. I turned to look, and I didn’t close the cap on the Gatorade all the way. I had one of those half-gallon containers of Gatorade, and half of it dumped into my book bag. I was immediately angry, because my lower back and ass were soaked. So now I looked like a fool.
I sat my backpack down to empty out the contents, and I saw the little string to my camera. During this entire trip, I had not put the camera in my backpack once. The first time I did, I spilled a whole bunch of Gatorade in it. Figures.
The camera is destroyed. Luckily, I was able to pull of the remaining photos from the memory card.
After walking back to my car with a wet ass and changing, I figured I might be able to salvage some of the day. This is when I started my trek for the visitor’s center. It took me over an hour to find the visitor’s center. I’m not sure why I found it so difficult to find it now that I know my way around, but when you get into that park it is very confusing. I personally think their maps stink.
Once I got into the visitors center, I learned that I had a two-hour ride back across the Tioga Pass to June Lake. So at that point, my day was shot. I didn’t get to do any hiking, got my ass all wet, and destroyed my digital camera. It may seem impossible to have a bad time in Yosemite, but this was by far the worst day of the trip so far.
Things picked up back at camp. I made a little dinner, packed up everything so bears wouldn’t eat me, then sat back and watched the stars. The stars are incredible out there. Best I’ve ever seen. The previous night I was fortunate enough to see a shooting star, and tonight I was again fortunate and saw one.
So after getting up and seeing where I was camping at, I was amped for Yosemite. I decided to leave camp setup at the lake. I figured I wouldn’t be able to camp inside of Yosemite, and if I could I would come back for everything. What a mistake this was.
I started into Yosemite from the East entrance, which takes you through the Tioga pass. This drive is incredible. You drive up these granite mountains to an altitude over 9000 feet. There aren’t any guardrails, and they are literally sheer cliffs. One mistake, and you are going for one hell of a last ride. The Tioga pass is incredibly impressive though. Definitely something you must do. After that, I stopped at a bunch of lookouts and checked out some of the views that Yosemite has to offer. I really can’t say enough about this park. The views are incredible. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. My camera won’t come close to capturing the scale of the cliffs and rock formations.
After checking out some views, I kept moving on until I reached the Yosemite Valley. I was completely blown away the entire ride in that I hadn’t realized how long I was driving. We will get to this. So I decide to hike to the Lower Falls once I get into the Valley. I was very excited to finally get out and go for a hike. It’s pretty much my favorite activity at this point.
The hike to the falls was a short one. I think it’s around .25 miles. Anyway, it only took me a few minutes to get there. The rock formations are incredible. However, the lower falls has been reduced to a trickle due to the season. Nonetheless, I hung out and watched some rock climbers. There were a large group of tourists coming up and I wanted to move up for a better view, so I threw my Gatorade in my back and moved closer. About 1 minute later, I started to feel my back getting wet. I turned to look, and I didn’t close the cap on the Gatorade all the way. I had one of those half-gallon containers of Gatorade, and half of it dumped into my book bag. I was immediately angry, because my lower back and ass were soaked. So now I looked like a fool.
I sat my backpack down to empty out the contents, and I saw the little string to my camera. During this entire trip, I had not put the camera in my backpack once. The first time I did, I spilled a whole bunch of Gatorade in it. Figures.
The camera is destroyed. Luckily, I was able to pull of the remaining photos from the memory card.
After walking back to my car with a wet ass and changing, I figured I might be able to salvage some of the day. This is when I started my trek for the visitor’s center. It took me over an hour to find the visitor’s center. I’m not sure why I found it so difficult to find it now that I know my way around, but when you get into that park it is very confusing. I personally think their maps stink.
Once I got into the visitors center, I learned that I had a two-hour ride back across the Tioga Pass to June Lake. So at that point, my day was shot. I didn’t get to do any hiking, got my ass all wet, and destroyed my digital camera. It may seem impossible to have a bad time in Yosemite, but this was by far the worst day of the trip so far.
Things picked up back at camp. I made a little dinner, packed up everything so bears wouldn’t eat me, then sat back and watched the stars. The stars are incredible out there. Best I’ve ever seen. The previous night I was fortunate enough to see a shooting star, and tonight I was again fortunate and saw one.
Day 12 – Driving Day
So the plan for today was to drive. Man did I accomplish that task.
So I was up before dawn again. I got everything ready the night before, so all I really had to do was breakdown camp, shower, then roll out…
At this point I am becoming much more efficient at packing and upacking everything. It is interesting when you are traveling like this alone. Every single task must be completed by you, so even minor things end up taking at least twice the amount of time.
Anyway, today was especially quick about packing everything up. Not too sure why though. All I did was drive and that desert is not that interesting. Well I shouldn’t say that. There is some amazing canyons that I drove through, but I was coming from 3 days of amazing canyons. So canyons weren’t getting me that excited.
After I got into Nevada, there really was nothing. Some mountains, but it is all barren. No cars, no people, no nothing.
All I kept thinking all day is that someone could just kill me out there, and no one would know. Seriously, I told my family I was driving to Yosemite, but that’s about it. I was on the roads and I still didn’t know where I was. Honestly, I wasn’t too worried though. I was armed with my firecrackers and air horn. Remember… I’ll scare them to death.
Anyway, nothing interesting happened all day. Just driving. Right up until the end of the day. I had been seeing cattle signs for about 100 miles when finally I came upon some free ranging cattle. When I say free ranging, I mean that you are doing 75-80 mph down the road that no one is on, and then there are some cattle standing in the middle of the road. I saw one dead one on the side of the road. You really wouldn’t want to hit one of these monsters. I had to beep at one to get it out of the road. Then I said hello to it and moved on.
The next bit of awesomeness came at sunset. The sun set behind the mountains I was driving towards. The desert is a pretty barren and ugly place, but the sunsets are beautiful.
By far, the best part of the day came after sunset. I was driving at it was starting to get dark quickly. I was driving and saw some animals on the side of the road. Remember what I said about hitting the cattle? So I started to slow down when I noticed that the animals on the side of the road couldn’t be cattle. When I slowed more, I realized that there was a group of wild horses on the side of the road. Ive seen horses before, but it was awesome to see a family of wild horses on the side of the road grazing. I hung out and snapped a few photos and a video of the horses. The pictures came out pretty terribly, and I’m not able to watch the video on this computer.
Finally, I arrived just outside of the East entrance to Yosemite some time around 10 o’clock I believe. It was extremely frustrating finding a camp site. I couldn’t just camp on the side of the road either. This is bear country, I needed a place with a bear locker. Eventually, I found a place. I set up camp real quick, lit a fire, and kicked back to check out the stars.
So I was up before dawn again. I got everything ready the night before, so all I really had to do was breakdown camp, shower, then roll out…
At this point I am becoming much more efficient at packing and upacking everything. It is interesting when you are traveling like this alone. Every single task must be completed by you, so even minor things end up taking at least twice the amount of time.
Anyway, today was especially quick about packing everything up. Not too sure why though. All I did was drive and that desert is not that interesting. Well I shouldn’t say that. There is some amazing canyons that I drove through, but I was coming from 3 days of amazing canyons. So canyons weren’t getting me that excited.
After I got into Nevada, there really was nothing. Some mountains, but it is all barren. No cars, no people, no nothing.
All I kept thinking all day is that someone could just kill me out there, and no one would know. Seriously, I told my family I was driving to Yosemite, but that’s about it. I was on the roads and I still didn’t know where I was. Honestly, I wasn’t too worried though. I was armed with my firecrackers and air horn. Remember… I’ll scare them to death.
Anyway, nothing interesting happened all day. Just driving. Right up until the end of the day. I had been seeing cattle signs for about 100 miles when finally I came upon some free ranging cattle. When I say free ranging, I mean that you are doing 75-80 mph down the road that no one is on, and then there are some cattle standing in the middle of the road. I saw one dead one on the side of the road. You really wouldn’t want to hit one of these monsters. I had to beep at one to get it out of the road. Then I said hello to it and moved on.
The next bit of awesomeness came at sunset. The sun set behind the mountains I was driving towards. The desert is a pretty barren and ugly place, but the sunsets are beautiful.
By far, the best part of the day came after sunset. I was driving at it was starting to get dark quickly. I was driving and saw some animals on the side of the road. Remember what I said about hitting the cattle? So I started to slow down when I noticed that the animals on the side of the road couldn’t be cattle. When I slowed more, I realized that there was a group of wild horses on the side of the road. Ive seen horses before, but it was awesome to see a family of wild horses on the side of the road grazing. I hung out and snapped a few photos and a video of the horses. The pictures came out pretty terribly, and I’m not able to watch the video on this computer.
Finally, I arrived just outside of the East entrance to Yosemite some time around 10 o’clock I believe. It was extremely frustrating finding a camp site. I couldn’t just camp on the side of the road either. This is bear country, I needed a place with a bear locker. Eventually, I found a place. I set up camp real quick, lit a fire, and kicked back to check out the stars.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Day 11
Today I was up early to get a head start on things. In the morning, I went into the office to let them know I’d be staying another night. I knew I would be exhausted from hiking all day. The original plan was to leave at night and drive straight to California. I figured it would be smarter to get a good nights rest before marathoning it to Cali.
I met a family last night that has been traveling around the country for a while. They said they are bouncing around from place to place looking for a new place to make a home, with no real itinerary or timeline. They are awesome. I was over there trading stories about places we’ve visited again tonight.
Today I did Arches National Park. I hiked as much as possible. It’s impossible to explain this place. The rocks shoot straight out for the ground hundreds of feet in the air. They are absolutely massive.
My first hike was balance rock. It’s really not a hike; you just walk around this behemoth. I read that the big rock on top weighs 3,500 tons. These pictures will do it no justice.
Next, I hiked North and South Windows. There are two massive arches side by side. There is a 1 miles loop around them that I hiked. I definitely recommend doing this. On the front side there are a pretty good amount of people. I probably saw 8 people on my mile hike around the back.
Somewhere on the backside I found a nice place to put my chair down, and soak in the scenery. The view was priceless. I enjoyed just sitting and taking in the view.
Next it was onto Landscape Arch. I believe it is about a 1-mile hike to Landscape itself. This arch is 300 feet across. I got there late in the day, so the sun was right behind the arch. Really wasn’t good for taking pictures. Luckily, when I walked up to the very tip of the viewing area, the sun was sitting right behind the arch itself. I think it made for some pretty spectacular photos.
After that I kept hiking up to Partition Arch. This was the most rewarding hike of the day. You had to walk up this sick slick rock that was pretty steep. Partition had a really cool view into the valley with the Snow capped mountain in the back.
So Moab is an awesome place. I really didn’t know much about it before I got here, but this is like the mountain biking capitol of the world. I definitely want to come back and do some mountain biking. I would also recommend seeing the park by bike. There are some serious elevation changes, but it would be an amazing ride.
Moab is also big for Jeeps, quads, and dirt bikes. There are tons of trails and I heard the canyons are just as beautiful. This is definitely a place that I’ll come back to. If you are looking to something extreme, this is the place for you.
Everything is packed up and ready to go at this point. I’ve decided that I’m gonna go to Yosemite next. Its gonna be quite a drive, but I’m gonna try and marathon it. Hopefully, I can get on with some updates faster.
Until then…
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