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| They called this Redwood the Grizzly Giant and some of the limbs at the top were over 7 feet around! |
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| Bridal Veil Falls |
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| Big trees drop big cones! |
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| This flock of turkeys walked right through our campsite! |
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| As you can tell by Kaylee's expression school work is not the kids favorite thing to do. |
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| The fall colors in full swing! |
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| Look closely and you will see smoke coming from the brakes! |
Leaving Monterey, we headed east in hopes of sunshine. Once we crossed over the the mountains into the valley we were rewarded with a beautiful sunny drive! We are rolling up highway 5, smooth sailing and I see a sign that says " Yosemite next exit." I tell Karen and we decided to reroute from our
original directions. Sometimes the directions we get from our Gps are not the best! Sooooo as we get closer to Yosemite I see a sign warning of large trucks with long trailers not advised, but we were a good hour into this route so we carried on. Well I found out why it was illadvised to take this route when I came to a sign that said "Steep grade ahead, please turn off air conditioners". For the next 6 miles we went up with more curves and switchbacks and a speed limit in places of 15 miles per hour! Needless to say it was all we could do to get up the mountain without destroying the transmission. We had to pull over once to let everything cool down, but we eventually made it. When we pulled into the campground, I let the camp host know how bad of a pull it was and she says "You pulled that 5th wheel up highway 49? Oh well, live and learn! We spent the next few days exploring Yosemite National Park under some absolutely perfect weather! One of our favorite spots was Mariposa Groves! It is home to some of the biggest Redwood trees on the west coast. We spent the day hiking through the Redwoods and enjoying the nice weather. From Yosemite we planned on going to the Reno/Carson city area which meant we had to go over the Sierra Nevada mountain range! I was a little shell shocked from our earlier journey up highway 49, so I asked every local person I could find about how the trip was and would it be out of the question in our 5th wheel. After a lot of research we headed up the Tioga Pass to cross over the mountain range! The truck performed great and the drive was magnificent! There was even a a nice place to stop on top of the mountains for lunch! We stopped for lunch and let the kids burn off some energy and play in the snow! The top of the pass was just under 10,000 feet highm so it was tundra like with little vegetation and small trees not to mention cold and windy! After lunch, we headed down the other side which was a little dicey with some 8% grades which are pretty steep considering we have 16,000 lbs pushing the truck down the hill!..... I stopped several times to let the traffic go around or snap a few pics. At one of my stops I smelled the brakes and upon further inspection I found the trailer brakes smoking. Needless to say we let the brakes cool down and finished our descent, then made our way into Carson City!
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| Tioga Pass! |
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| Look at this ridge of clouds being held back by the mountain range! |
Leaving Monterey, we headed east in hopes of sunshine. Once we crossed over the the mountains into the valley we were rewarded with a beautiful sunny drive! We are rolling up highway 5, smooth sailing and I see a sign that says " Yosemite next exit." I tell Karen and we decided to reroute from our 
original directions. Sometimes the directions we get from our Gps are not the best! Sooooo as we get closer to Yosemite I see a sign warning of large trucks with long trailers not advised, but we were a good hour into this route so we carried on. Well I found out why it was illadvised to take this route when I came to a sign that said "Steep grade ahead, please turn off air conditioners". For the next 6 miles we went up with more curves and switchbacks and a speed limit in places of 15 miles per hour! Needless to say it was all we could do to get up the mountain without destroying the transmission. We had to pull over once to let everything cool down, but we eventually made it. When we pulled into the campground, I let the camp host know how bad of a pull it was and she says "You pulled that 5th wheel up highway 49? Oh well, live and learn! We spent the next few days exploring Yosemite National Park under some absolutely perfect weather! One of our favorite spots was Mariposa Groves! It is home to some of the biggest Redwood trees on the west coast. We spent the day hiking through the Redwoods and enjoying the nice weather. From Yosemite we planned on going to the Reno/Carson city area which meant we had to go over the Sierra Nevada mountain range! I was a little shell shocked from our earlier journey up highway 49, so I asked every local person I could find about how the trip was and would it be out of the question in our 5th wheel. After a lot of research we headed up the Tioga Pass to cross over the mountain range! The truck performed great and the drive was magnificent! There was even a a nice place to stop on top of the mountains for lunch! We stopped for lunch and let the kids burn off some energy and play in the snow! The top of the pass was just under 10,000 feet highm so it was tundra like with little vegetation and small trees not to mention cold and windy! After lunch, we headed down the other side which was a little dicey with some 8% grades which are pretty steep considering we have 16,000 lbs pushing the truck down the hill!..... I stopped several times to let the traffic go around or snap a few pics. At one of my stops I smelled the brakes and upon further inspection I found the trailer brakes smoking. Needless to say we let the brakes cool down and finished our descent, then made our way into Carson City!
Great pics of Yosemite. I haven't been to a lot of national parks, but I've been there. Glacier Point is just ridiculous. Most gorgeous view I've ever seen. It'll make an atheist believe in God!
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