11th day - 375 miles

Today I started early in the morning (8:30 am to be exact) after a good breakfast at the lodge. I headed down the road into Kings Canyon named after the river that carved out this natural spectacle. 38 miles long with a drop in elevation of 4500 feet and plenty of curves. The canyon is deeper in some locations than even the Grand Canyon. This “ride” was probably the most enjoyable I have ever taken. Blue sky, no traffic (I only encountered 2 cars on the entire trip down and up the canyon), perfect road conditions, long sweeping curves and all of that in one of the most beautiful National Parks I had ever seen. Could it get any better? Well, Yosemite N. P. was on the schedule for the afternoon. Riding down from the High Sierra into the Central Valley with its citrus plantations was a blast. This was a drop of 6500 feet in elevation into Fresno. From there another Scenic Byway back into the mountains to Yosemite. Everything along the way seemed to be in full bloom. The wild flower meadows with the snow covered Sierra peaks as a backdrop were almost too distracting. Riding into Yosemite Valley left me speechless. In order not to repeat yesterday's posting, my wife thought my descriptions were a bit too “flowery” (is that even a word?); I'd like to suggest the following. I give you a bunch of adjectives and you all can fill them in as you see fit.

Stupendously beautiful, spectacular, absolutely gorgeous, magnificent, glorious, superlative, grandiose, ostentatious, fantastic, breathtaking, incredible, wonderful, amazing, unbelievable, stunning, unmatched, supreme, greatest, unparalleled… feel free to come up with your own.

Papa?

Road out of Sequoia.

View into Kings Canyon

Weird!?

Pretty!

Happy!

Stellar!

The canyon walls are full of life.

The smallest cracks in the rock provide enough.

Colorful cliffs form the canyon walls

Grizzly Falls in Kings Canyon.

Really weird!! Pete, maybe you can help?

The roaring Kings River.

Can you imagine waking up every morning with a view like this? Just ask the owners of that house to the right of the picture.

Getting back into the Sierras.

Flashy!

Typical road side scene.

Getting into Yosemite.

Bridal Falls.

Sacrifices have to be made in order to get the best view of the falls.

Rainbow in the forest below Bridal Falls.

The captain!

These brown bears cause quite a traffic jam! Not that they cared much...

Yosemite Falls.

Pine Flowers.

More of the canyon walls in Yosemite.

"I love it here!"

Riding into the sunset towards San Francisco.

A native bird?

10th day - 266 miles

Today I fell in love with America all over again! From the gentle grass covered foothills up into the steep and rocky mountains of the southern Sierra I witnessed some of the most beautiful sceneries this country has to offer. Twice I had to turn around because I missed my turn. It's hard to pay attention to the GPS when you're surrounded by this kind of beauty. From the stunning big vistas to the colorful little flowers on the roadside, you get easily distracted. The ever winding Generals Highway in the Sequoia National Park takes you up 7000 feet into a forest that can only be described as mystical. Groves of giant 2000 year old trees make you feel suddenly quite insignificant. Everything suddenly seems to be irrelevant when you find yourself standing amongst those ancient giants. A truly humbling experience that I will carry with me forever.

The foothills of the Sierra

Let the fun begin

Winding little roads that lead into the heart of the High Sierra

Road beautification program

Peaceful valley meadows

Lupine flowers lining the roads

Wow! I want one of these for my garden

The wild Kern River gushes out of the mountains

I wish you could have heard the refreshing sound

In the Sequoia National Forest

 

A group of four giants grown together over the past thousand years - will they become one?

Forest meadow

Sea of green

Even when they die they still impress

Last snow in the High Sierra

More Lupines - this time in purple

Leaving Sequoia National Forest behind

It's 87 degrees! How can there be that much snow up there?

That's the detour - not bad!

If you always chose the smaller road you wind up in the most beautiful areas of the beaten path

Motorcycle Nirvana!!

Going up the Generals Highway from 1000 foot elevation to 7200 foot

In the Sequoia National Park

This is the General Sherman tree. It's the biggest tree in the world! When the tree was discovered, the US cavalry build a camp here to protect him and gave him its name. 

There is no way to get Sherman into one picture, no matter how big your wide angle is.

Berry was speechless - and a little intimidated

Small forest lake close to the lodge I'm spending the night at.