USA - Wild West Roadtrip
Door: Marielle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Marielle
19 November 2018 | Verenigde Staten, Los Angeles
Back to the civilized world after spending quite some time in raw nature the past week. I really need to get used to all the people here in LA and am taking some days off from being a tourist :-)
The roadtrip was an experience. Not only being on my own for most of the time, but also the limited daylight, hectic traffic around the cities (taking over is done as well on the left as on the right side here in the USA and motorcycles do not even wait, they just go in between!), lack of supermarkets with fresh vegetables, missing cooker, lack of WiFi and the cold nights were somewhat unpleasant. All the rest of the roadtrip was fantastic and beautiful.
The adventure starts in Portland where I pick up my Dodge Minivan at the airport. With my backpack and big (US standard size?) sleeping bag under my arm in the tram I fit right in between all the homeless people. Like in many big cities in the USA quite a number of people are living on the streets... When there is no WiFi at the rental company to download my route to the coast on Google maps, the guy of the car rental company rescues me by making a hardcopy print out of the route. In the afternoon I arrive in Canon Beach with its big rocks in the waves.
For the first few days I am following highway 101, easy driving with (most of the times) only 2 lanes and one way to go, South. I take a small detour to Cape Look Out State Park for my first night in the car. I am parked only 50 meters from the beach and can hear the ocean all night. I wake up early from the cold... A hike to Cape Look Out of 4.8 miles warms me up and the sights of the ocean far below are beautiful.
I make multiple stops driving along the coast, so many nice views. Though I need to make miles as well to make it all the way to Los Angeles in the end. My second night I stay at a quiet campground in the Oregon Dunes with very few other guests. I park close to the camping host for some indirect company. One night costs only $10,- and there are showers which is often not the case in State Parks. Most are of the grid without running water.
When it is raining the next day I decide to make as many miles as possible and when I stop in Trinidad the sun is shining again :-) I stay at a very nice and expensive campground with WiFi reaching my car and even a laundrymat which I need ugently. I do some sightseeing in Trinidad (a small town) during my morning run.
On my way South I pass the Humbold Redwoods State Park and decide to go to the visitors centre for a map of the coast. In the visitors centre I meet Annemarie from The Netherlands who has been a volunteer here for 2 years. We have a nice conversation and Annemarie borrows me her National State Park pass of $80,- with the trust that I will return it to her by mail. Extraordinary! In the end I enter 4 out of 5 National State Parks for free with her pass, only at Yoshua Tree the lady asks for my ID and finds the autographs are not matching... I have to pay but can prevent the card of Annemarie being confiscated. It is now on its way back to Annemarie, thank you so much for your generosity and trust!
Via a road with many tight turns I reach Shelter Cove at the Lost Coast (thanks Annemarie for directing me here!) where you can see the sealions laying on rocks in front of the coast. After quite a search I find the campground back up in the mountains. There is no one else but I do not see another option to stay for the night and it is geting dark. I experience quite an exciting night being all alone in the forest... at least that is what I hope for all the time...
At first daylight I head out back to Highway 101. To continue on the coastline I change to Highway 1 and again another beautiful coastline. I want to stay at Saltpoint State Park which is full (!) when I arrive. After some thought though the friendly ranger does allow me to stay for one night. This will be my last night at the coast.
The next day I enter San Francisco on a 5-lane-wide Highway via the Golden Gate Bridge. My adrenaline levels are high but I manage to find the hostel in Fort Mason (with free parking :-)) in one go. A beautiful hostel with a view on the Golden Gate Bridge. It is nice to be among people again and I meet two nice girls from The Netherlands and Belgium in my dorm. It is also very nice to be cooking a fresh meal again :-)
I explore San Francisco downtown the next day and visit Lombard Street, China town (delicious dumplings :-)), Coit Tower and Pier 39 with many tourists and seals (I see a clear similarity between the two!). Afterwards I visit the art gallery where Monica Loncola has an exhibition. I met Monica when parking my car the day before. It is very nice to see her art and we say farewell in the Dutch way with 3 kisses on the cheeks and the promiss we will meet again somewhere in the world. Since it is Sunday I watch the latest episode of "Boer Zoekt Vrouw" at night.
On my last day in San Francisco I cross the Golden Gate Bridge by bike and also cycle through the Golden Gate Park. A beautiful city with lots of charm but I do think I prefer a flat country for cycling ;-)
Via the Oakland Bay Bridge I leave San Francisco and take one last look back at San Francisco. It is nice to be back in the car and have all my stuff around. Back to nature! After 3,5 hours I arrive in Yosemite and find Hodgon Meadows Campground which is quite full as it seems. In the afternoon I drive the Tioga road and cross to the East side of the park. I try to be back before dark and have an improvised cold tapas dinner with a nice red Californian wine. To prevent bears from breaking into your car all food, toiletries and garbage need to be locked in a metal container outside the car. Makes me a bit anxious to leave the car at night...
At the break of day I awake from the cold and set off to explore Yosemite Valley with its impressive El Capitan and Half Dome. The best view of Yosemite Valley is from Glacier Point, everything looks extremely small down in the valley. At Wawona Campground I meet Dion and Tom from the Netherlands and we have a campfire to heat our selfs a little bit before going to sleep. I find ice on my windows the next morning...
The next National Park is Kings Canyon. Unfortunately the road to the canyon is already closed for the winter. It is still possible to visit General Grant Tree where there are some huge sequoia trees. Via Hume lake I return to the main road and stop at Lodgepole Campground in Sequoia National Park. I make a hike to River Tokopah Fall and take a shower at the public showers in the visitors centre which makes me very happy. In the evening I treat myself on some hot food at a nearby luxurious lodge. I feel a bit misplaced but am very happy with the WiFi, the warm food (the USA dish: hamburger with fries) and charging my tablet. At 21:30 I am awakened from my deep sleep by a knock on the window of my car. A guy claims I am in his spot... We have a difference of opinion of how the label should be filled and to not further cool down I decide to move to the car park... a friendly American...
Sequoia National Park has the biggest tree (in volume) in the world and this tree is called the General Sherman Tree. It is very impressive and estimated to be 2200 years old. After I have climbed the Moro Rock it is time to leave Sequoia. On my way to Death Valley I see where all Californian oranges are grown, many fields with windmills (feels like home) and even pass some small fields with oil pumps. Before I know it I am already in Death Valley and when my petrol is running low I start to feel a bit of stress. Luckily I make it to a petrol station in time. Unfortunately I have waited to long with getting fresh groceries and am informed that the closest supermarket is 70 miles away. So I decide to manage with canned foods to assemble a healthy (or at least close to healthy) menu for the next three days in the store at the campground in Panamint Springs. And for the first time it is not cold at night!
The landscape of Death Valley is completely different to the previous parks: desolate, empty and colourful. It reminds me of Bolivia with the salt flats and the colours in the mountains due to different minerals. And also of Mongolia for the endless stretches of land and desert dunes. I visit Rainbow Canyon, the Mesquine Flat Sand Dunes and the Ubehebe Crater. In Furnace Creek (the centre of Death Valley) I end up in the Texas Springs Campground and find a spot next to Alan and Claudia from California. They are pensioned and enjoy trekking around with their caravan in the USA. They even wrote some books on it. Alan invites me to their propane driven campfire and I get a delicious beer :-) We have lively conversation and if you see their picture you'll know that Alan will be busy during the Christmas season ;-)
In the morning I get some nice hot coffee from my dear neighbours and head off to Dantes View (view of the valley) and Zabriskies point (yellow coloured flowing rocks). Alan has given me a pass to the swimming pool at a hotel in Furnace Creek and I spend an afternoon at the pool. There are also showers :-)
When exiting Death Valley the next day I pass Badwater with the salt flats. Endless and eye-blinding. When I reach Baker I finally find some functional WiFi and am happy to let my mother know that all is fine and I am not near the wildfires in California.
Before entering Mojave National Park I try to find some fresh vegetables but again none are sold anywhere so it is back to some canned foods... It is late in the afternoon when I arrive at the visitors centre in Kelso and the grumpy ranger directs me to the Kelso Dunes to stay for the night since the campgrounds are a far drive away. Luckily there is another campervan parked nearby.
In the early morning I start hiking up the big dune. It is a good work out and on top of the dune the silence and view of the Mojave National Park are amazing. To find some groceries and WiFi I leave the park and drive to Needles, a reasonable sized town. But again no luck for groceries... A salad at the Mac Donalds is the only green I can find... I stay the night at the other side of Mojave National Park at a beautiful desert campground called "Hole-in-the-Wall", there was no wall and no hole so the reason for naming the campground like this is for me still a puzzle.
The last National Park I visit is Joshua Tree. After a shower stop in Joshua Tree village I enter the park and find a place on the Ryan Campground. The Joshua trees are real trees though look a bit like a cactus and as to be expected there are many in the park. At Keys View it is possible to see all the way up to Palm Springs. There are a few small hikes which are quite crowded, though they are nice and you can really imagin how cowboys would have fed their cattle in the little oasis of the Hidden Valley. My neighbours on the Ryan Campground are extremely nice. Ben and Emma from Alice Springs (Australia) are travelling around the USA in their own rebuild car and share their warm and delicious paleo meals with me for two nights! Life saving with the cold at night. Thanks for sharing your food and company, I really enjoyed it!
And than it is time to head back to civilization. The drive becomes more intense when I approach Los Angeles and I am happy to hand over the car in one piece to the rental company. I give my sleeping bag and airbed to the lady of the rental company (who is extremely thankful) and am back on public transportation heading into Los Angeles. The first thing I do is buying fresh fruits and vegetables at the supermarket :-)
I am now preparing for crossing the border from San Diego to Mexico. I read there are many people from Honduras and Guatamala waiting in Tijuana to enter the USA. Tijuana is where I will be crossing in the other direction, however I expect no issues and to write my next blog from somewhere in Baha, Mexico.
Take care and stay in touch! Hasta luego!
The roadtrip was an experience. Not only being on my own for most of the time, but also the limited daylight, hectic traffic around the cities (taking over is done as well on the left as on the right side here in the USA and motorcycles do not even wait, they just go in between!), lack of supermarkets with fresh vegetables, missing cooker, lack of WiFi and the cold nights were somewhat unpleasant. All the rest of the roadtrip was fantastic and beautiful.
The adventure starts in Portland where I pick up my Dodge Minivan at the airport. With my backpack and big (US standard size?) sleeping bag under my arm in the tram I fit right in between all the homeless people. Like in many big cities in the USA quite a number of people are living on the streets... When there is no WiFi at the rental company to download my route to the coast on Google maps, the guy of the car rental company rescues me by making a hardcopy print out of the route. In the afternoon I arrive in Canon Beach with its big rocks in the waves.
For the first few days I am following highway 101, easy driving with (most of the times) only 2 lanes and one way to go, South. I take a small detour to Cape Look Out State Park for my first night in the car. I am parked only 50 meters from the beach and can hear the ocean all night. I wake up early from the cold... A hike to Cape Look Out of 4.8 miles warms me up and the sights of the ocean far below are beautiful.
I make multiple stops driving along the coast, so many nice views. Though I need to make miles as well to make it all the way to Los Angeles in the end. My second night I stay at a quiet campground in the Oregon Dunes with very few other guests. I park close to the camping host for some indirect company. One night costs only $10,- and there are showers which is often not the case in State Parks. Most are of the grid without running water.
When it is raining the next day I decide to make as many miles as possible and when I stop in Trinidad the sun is shining again :-) I stay at a very nice and expensive campground with WiFi reaching my car and even a laundrymat which I need ugently. I do some sightseeing in Trinidad (a small town) during my morning run.
On my way South I pass the Humbold Redwoods State Park and decide to go to the visitors centre for a map of the coast. In the visitors centre I meet Annemarie from The Netherlands who has been a volunteer here for 2 years. We have a nice conversation and Annemarie borrows me her National State Park pass of $80,- with the trust that I will return it to her by mail. Extraordinary! In the end I enter 4 out of 5 National State Parks for free with her pass, only at Yoshua Tree the lady asks for my ID and finds the autographs are not matching... I have to pay but can prevent the card of Annemarie being confiscated. It is now on its way back to Annemarie, thank you so much for your generosity and trust!
Via a road with many tight turns I reach Shelter Cove at the Lost Coast (thanks Annemarie for directing me here!) where you can see the sealions laying on rocks in front of the coast. After quite a search I find the campground back up in the mountains. There is no one else but I do not see another option to stay for the night and it is geting dark. I experience quite an exciting night being all alone in the forest... at least that is what I hope for all the time...
At first daylight I head out back to Highway 101. To continue on the coastline I change to Highway 1 and again another beautiful coastline. I want to stay at Saltpoint State Park which is full (!) when I arrive. After some thought though the friendly ranger does allow me to stay for one night. This will be my last night at the coast.
The next day I enter San Francisco on a 5-lane-wide Highway via the Golden Gate Bridge. My adrenaline levels are high but I manage to find the hostel in Fort Mason (with free parking :-)) in one go. A beautiful hostel with a view on the Golden Gate Bridge. It is nice to be among people again and I meet two nice girls from The Netherlands and Belgium in my dorm. It is also very nice to be cooking a fresh meal again :-)
I explore San Francisco downtown the next day and visit Lombard Street, China town (delicious dumplings :-)), Coit Tower and Pier 39 with many tourists and seals (I see a clear similarity between the two!). Afterwards I visit the art gallery where Monica Loncola has an exhibition. I met Monica when parking my car the day before. It is very nice to see her art and we say farewell in the Dutch way with 3 kisses on the cheeks and the promiss we will meet again somewhere in the world. Since it is Sunday I watch the latest episode of "Boer Zoekt Vrouw" at night.
On my last day in San Francisco I cross the Golden Gate Bridge by bike and also cycle through the Golden Gate Park. A beautiful city with lots of charm but I do think I prefer a flat country for cycling ;-)
Via the Oakland Bay Bridge I leave San Francisco and take one last look back at San Francisco. It is nice to be back in the car and have all my stuff around. Back to nature! After 3,5 hours I arrive in Yosemite and find Hodgon Meadows Campground which is quite full as it seems. In the afternoon I drive the Tioga road and cross to the East side of the park. I try to be back before dark and have an improvised cold tapas dinner with a nice red Californian wine. To prevent bears from breaking into your car all food, toiletries and garbage need to be locked in a metal container outside the car. Makes me a bit anxious to leave the car at night...
At the break of day I awake from the cold and set off to explore Yosemite Valley with its impressive El Capitan and Half Dome. The best view of Yosemite Valley is from Glacier Point, everything looks extremely small down in the valley. At Wawona Campground I meet Dion and Tom from the Netherlands and we have a campfire to heat our selfs a little bit before going to sleep. I find ice on my windows the next morning...
The next National Park is Kings Canyon. Unfortunately the road to the canyon is already closed for the winter. It is still possible to visit General Grant Tree where there are some huge sequoia trees. Via Hume lake I return to the main road and stop at Lodgepole Campground in Sequoia National Park. I make a hike to River Tokopah Fall and take a shower at the public showers in the visitors centre which makes me very happy. In the evening I treat myself on some hot food at a nearby luxurious lodge. I feel a bit misplaced but am very happy with the WiFi, the warm food (the USA dish: hamburger with fries) and charging my tablet. At 21:30 I am awakened from my deep sleep by a knock on the window of my car. A guy claims I am in his spot... We have a difference of opinion of how the label should be filled and to not further cool down I decide to move to the car park... a friendly American...
Sequoia National Park has the biggest tree (in volume) in the world and this tree is called the General Sherman Tree. It is very impressive and estimated to be 2200 years old. After I have climbed the Moro Rock it is time to leave Sequoia. On my way to Death Valley I see where all Californian oranges are grown, many fields with windmills (feels like home) and even pass some small fields with oil pumps. Before I know it I am already in Death Valley and when my petrol is running low I start to feel a bit of stress. Luckily I make it to a petrol station in time. Unfortunately I have waited to long with getting fresh groceries and am informed that the closest supermarket is 70 miles away. So I decide to manage with canned foods to assemble a healthy (or at least close to healthy) menu for the next three days in the store at the campground in Panamint Springs. And for the first time it is not cold at night!
The landscape of Death Valley is completely different to the previous parks: desolate, empty and colourful. It reminds me of Bolivia with the salt flats and the colours in the mountains due to different minerals. And also of Mongolia for the endless stretches of land and desert dunes. I visit Rainbow Canyon, the Mesquine Flat Sand Dunes and the Ubehebe Crater. In Furnace Creek (the centre of Death Valley) I end up in the Texas Springs Campground and find a spot next to Alan and Claudia from California. They are pensioned and enjoy trekking around with their caravan in the USA. They even wrote some books on it. Alan invites me to their propane driven campfire and I get a delicious beer :-) We have lively conversation and if you see their picture you'll know that Alan will be busy during the Christmas season ;-)
In the morning I get some nice hot coffee from my dear neighbours and head off to Dantes View (view of the valley) and Zabriskies point (yellow coloured flowing rocks). Alan has given me a pass to the swimming pool at a hotel in Furnace Creek and I spend an afternoon at the pool. There are also showers :-)
When exiting Death Valley the next day I pass Badwater with the salt flats. Endless and eye-blinding. When I reach Baker I finally find some functional WiFi and am happy to let my mother know that all is fine and I am not near the wildfires in California.
Before entering Mojave National Park I try to find some fresh vegetables but again none are sold anywhere so it is back to some canned foods... It is late in the afternoon when I arrive at the visitors centre in Kelso and the grumpy ranger directs me to the Kelso Dunes to stay for the night since the campgrounds are a far drive away. Luckily there is another campervan parked nearby.
In the early morning I start hiking up the big dune. It is a good work out and on top of the dune the silence and view of the Mojave National Park are amazing. To find some groceries and WiFi I leave the park and drive to Needles, a reasonable sized town. But again no luck for groceries... A salad at the Mac Donalds is the only green I can find... I stay the night at the other side of Mojave National Park at a beautiful desert campground called "Hole-in-the-Wall", there was no wall and no hole so the reason for naming the campground like this is for me still a puzzle.
The last National Park I visit is Joshua Tree. After a shower stop in Joshua Tree village I enter the park and find a place on the Ryan Campground. The Joshua trees are real trees though look a bit like a cactus and as to be expected there are many in the park. At Keys View it is possible to see all the way up to Palm Springs. There are a few small hikes which are quite crowded, though they are nice and you can really imagin how cowboys would have fed their cattle in the little oasis of the Hidden Valley. My neighbours on the Ryan Campground are extremely nice. Ben and Emma from Alice Springs (Australia) are travelling around the USA in their own rebuild car and share their warm and delicious paleo meals with me for two nights! Life saving with the cold at night. Thanks for sharing your food and company, I really enjoyed it!
And than it is time to head back to civilization. The drive becomes more intense when I approach Los Angeles and I am happy to hand over the car in one piece to the rental company. I give my sleeping bag and airbed to the lady of the rental company (who is extremely thankful) and am back on public transportation heading into Los Angeles. The first thing I do is buying fresh fruits and vegetables at the supermarket :-)
I am now preparing for crossing the border from San Diego to Mexico. I read there are many people from Honduras and Guatamala waiting in Tijuana to enter the USA. Tijuana is where I will be crossing in the other direction, however I expect no issues and to write my next blog from somewhere in Baha, Mexico.
Take care and stay in touch! Hasta luego!
