Started on the third, I have thousands of pics but here is a few. They are in reverse order.
Currently on the Utah/Nevada border and taking a break. Heading into Utah, Colorado and possibly somewhere else before heading home to Pennsylvania. Here is highlights of where I have been.
Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devils Tower, Yellowstone, Glacier Park, Rt. 20 through the Arcadia National Forest, The Space Needle, Olympic Park, most Northwestern Point in the US, Pacific Coast Highway (101) from Seattle to Northern CA, Avenue of the Giants, Rt1 in CA from it's northern start to San Francisco, Golden Gate and Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, Sequoia Park and the General Sherman Tree, King's Canyon, Sherman Pass (9200'), Hoover dam, Red Rock Canyon Nevada, Mt Charleston, Valley of Fire....
It's not my first rodeo doing this hence the absence of significant places like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon but this has certainly been the most extensive one. The western part of the US is just breathtaking at times.
One thing to note about the General Sherman which is the largest tree on the planet by volume. It's hard to put the size of this tree into perspective but the branches you see can be up to 7 feet wide. For most people myself included just the branch would be an enormous tree.
Attachments
North of the Valley of Fire
Valley of Fire
Valley of Fire
Mt. Charleston
Red Rock Canyon
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
North of Death Valley
Northwest of Death Valley
Mt. Whitney on the eastern side, highest mountain in the contiguous US.
Engage light speed.
West of Death Valley coming out of the Sierra Nevadas from Sherman Pass.
East of Sherman pass.
Mt. Whitney from the west taken from 9200'
Lower part of Sherman Pass
Leading up to Sherman Pass
Kings Canyon
Kings Canyon
Kings Canyon
The General Sherman tree in Sequoia National Park, largest tree on the planet by volume.
Trail of the Trees in Sequoia, from the left zoom in on the second fully viewable tree. That is a person, these are small compared to the General Sherman
More Sequoias
Taken from atop Moro Rock in Sequoia. Being a smoker and at 7000 feet I was quite happy with myself being able to climb the 350 steps to get this picture. There is about 12 pictures altogether for panoramic I will stitch together.
Alcatraz Prison
Just some bridge.... :)
Near the end o California 1 near San Francisco which follows the coast from Northern California. Note it continues down the coast south of San Francisco.
Somewhere along the northern section of California 1. It was like this quite often.
Near the start of California 1, there was sign for S corners next 22 miles and they were not lying. It was like this the entire 22 miles, in fact these corners weren't that bad. Multiple hairpins, elevation changes, etc.. If you had a go cart you could have a blast through here, it wouldn't even need to be fast.
Avenue of the Giants, these are Redwoods
Along RT 101 or the Pacific Coast Highway, Oregon I believe.
Along RT 101 or the Pacific Coast Highway, Oregon I believe.
Along RT 101 or the Pacific Coast Highway, Oregon I believe.
This one deserved video, the mist is ripping off the ocean and moving extremely fast. Also along RT 101 or the Pacific Coast Highway
Most Northwestern point in the contiguous US. There is a point a little farther west just below this and one further north above it.
Highway 101, Washington State.
Second highest peak on the Olympic Peninsula, the weather would not cooperate for Mt. Olympus just to the left of it.
Glacier on the peak.
See through floor and mechanism that rotates the floor on the Space Needle
Space Needle in Seattle.
Arcadia National forest in northern Washington state, this was Jurassic part Wow!. That is what it felt like. The blue haze is from a forest fire that might be hundreds of miles away. It lasted for two days.
Arcadia National forest in northern Washington state
A crystal clear lake in Glacier National park.
Glacier National park
Glacier National park
A crystal clear lake in Glacier National park.
Glacier National park
Ice on my tent in the morning before going to Glacier, I'm well prepared for weather even down to below 0 F.
My car with ice.
Approaching Glacier
A bison in Yellowstone grazing on the side of the road.
A bison traffic jam, you just have to wait until they move.
A bison, Old Faithful geyser to the right. Yellowstone sits atop a super volcano, obviously inactive. A significant event here would eliminate the human population and most other living things on the planet.
Climber on Devils Tower.
Devils Tower
Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore can fit on his cheek. This is a work in progress for the past 75 years and will continue possibly for the next 75 years. They currently have a 18 man crew working on it daily. It's absolutely enormous.
If you zoom in to the right of the head is a yellow looking object sticking up. That's the boom for an excavator, a little bit to right of the excavator is speck, that's a human. :P
Needles highway at Mt. Rushmore.
Needles highway at Mt. Rushmore.
Mt. Rushmore
“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I have found several thousand things that won’t work.”
I used to do the Golden Gate Bridge at least twice a week in the early 2000’s and it always looks in better condition in pics than it actually is, you could say it’s photogenic.
"The good news is hell is just the product of a morbid human imagination.
The bad news is, whatever humans can imagine, they can usually create." - Harmony Cobel
That was difficult picture to get. It was raining when I got there and with the wind I couldn't shield the lens enough. I'd either get drops on the lens or a picture of my hand. I had given up and was taking some pictures of the civil war era fort nearby when it let up for short time.
For you campers, the blue bag in the tent is a vintage 30 year old Made in the USA North Face sleeping bag warranted forever without exceptions. It was purchased when they were still a small company and only sold in specialized camping stores. It's the manatee model and as the name implies it's big and meant for base camp. It was originally rated for about 5 degrees but these days is probably good for about 20 without long underwear etc.
“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I have found several thousand things that won’t work.”
I’ve got a pair of North Face hiking boots that I’ve unsuccessfully tried to destroy over the years, they’re looking a bit battered now but there’s at least another five years in ‘em
"The good news is hell is just the product of a morbid human imagination.
The bad news is, whatever humans can imagine, they can usually create." - Harmony Cobel
To clarify the warranty on that bag is "Here is my receipt from 30 years ago, I used it 1000 times, I want my money back" Seriously, that was there warranty. A friend on mine back had been a little too close to the fire, stretched in the morning and blew his feet out of the bottom of his bag. He sent it back for warranty repair and they fixed it for the cost of shipping.
Other than the high quality build the reason it has lasted so long is it's one of the first ones they were using a synthetic fill. I have even washed it numerous times and it still has some pretty good loft. The down are superior but they can't be abused.
“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I have found several thousand things that won’t work.”
Wow, thanks for those pictures.
The US has some serious impressive landscape.
The only National Park I've been to is Joshua Tree National Park, once by car, once by bicycle. The plain beauty of nature, especially those with severe drought stress never ceased to amaze me.
I hope to have the opportunity (and the cash of course) to be able to visit the US again (specifically the west side) before I leave the realm of the living and travel north to south visiting all the National Parks along the way (I don't actually want to start at the Gates of the Arctic: too cold for me).
it's been quite expensive because I'm by myself. Simply couldn't find anyone that could just leave for 4 or 5 weeks. I have to pay for all the gas and lodging. My car doesn't get extraordinarily good gas mileage but with 200HP under the hood I'm getting about 24MPG on average, with the terrain I'm covering is not too bad and it's like driving a lazy boy down the street. It' deceptive looking, it's quite a big car and just a little smaller than what would be considered a full sized sedan. It's a 2006 Buick Lacrosse with the 3800 engine, 140K on the odometer when I started. When I bought this car a few years ago I did an extensive amount of work on it including a full suspension rebuild so I have 100% confidence in it.
You can do it relatively cheap, my cousin and I used to do these trips in our early 20's. We were in his small Honda Civic. We'd camp for 2 or 3 nights and then just get cheap motel room for one night because we'd be getting a little ripe. Camping is cheap and even free in some places. Cook your own food and you are down to about $100 per day for two people.
If you don't want to camp you can get some pretty nice rooms relatively cheap at this time of the year. $85 for this one, most people would just pass this place right by.
Of course if you want to splurge you could get one like this for $250 a night complete with deck overlooking the ocean and Olympic sized hot tub.
Right now I'm in a $38 a night room, it's bare bones room at a casino. I'm not gambler but I'll play some slots at some point, perfect place for three day rest with the price.
“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I have found several thousand things that won’t work.”