Author: Mrs A
Location: Kings Canyon National Park, California, USA
When we were exploring Kings Canyon in central Australia just over a month ago we had no idea there was another one over the pond in the US awaiting our visit. California’s Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are somewhat entwined, you drive from one to the other almost without realising.
In contrast to Australia’s Kings Canyon’s weathered ancient sand dunes, California’s towers over us, its highest peak at 4,020 metres almost double Mount Kosciusko, Australia’s tallest summit.
Our first glimpses left us again spellbound, as we left behind the tall sequoia trees and climbed into mountainous country. Kings Canyon has been described as a ‘close competitor to Yosemite’ – and being our destination for the next couple of days, we are almost beside ourselves with anticipation of what might be ahead!
We drove through twisty turning mountain roads as far as we could go, opting to attempt a hike at the end.
We followed the Kings River for a couple of kilometres before we were stopped by a couple of National Parks officials about to detonate some fallen rocks. In interest of our health and making it safely beyond today, we retraced our steps to the car and drove on.
Our next destination was Roaring River Falls, where we chose to enjoy lunch – a sandwich and fruit prepared by our hotel. The falls were pretty impressive, and you could imagine how spectacular they would be in spring, after the snow melt.
Not much further along the road was Grizzly Falls, plunging deep down into the valley.
Despite the name, there are no Grizzly bears in these parts, only black bears. We have seen many warning signs about them but they are one furry critter we are yet to spot. Our eyes are regularly peeled and camera at the ready.
From here, we began climbing out of the valley and up back towards Sequoia, via many spectacular lookouts.
Back in Sequoia National Park, it was hard to miss out yet more giant trees, helping us feel miniature in their presence.
It is so hard to capture just how huge these trees are and the feeling you get walking here…you’ll just have to come and see for yourself!
We continued back to our hotel for the night, back to a hot shower, delicious cooked meal and some relaxation. Tomorrow – off to adventures new.
Then we walked down into a grove of sequoia trees. I caught myself holding my breath. The aura and precense these giant trees have is palpable. To see them soaring up to 80 metres above our heads, and to think some of them are over 3,000 years old and still growing, I think they are a reminder from Mother Nature of our place in the world.
I drove us on up into the heart of the park, to the area the famous US naturalist John Muir named when he first came across it in 1875 the “Giant Forest”. Not one to joke around, he had it spot on, as this area has the largest collection of the massive trees in the whole park, including the tree that is the single largest living entity on this earth, the General Sherman tree.
We were just mesmerised. Every time I looked down at my feet then looked up again my eyes took a moment to adjust to the perspective, with stands of these incredible trees just dominating everything. Look at this photo for instance – “Honey I shrunk Mr A”!
We then spotted a creature that looked like a rather portly marmot. Much larger than the ones we saw in France. Clearly he had been on the all you can eat High Sierra buffet!
It was all too quickly time to head off to our lodging for the night, the Montecito Sequoia Lodge, high up in the park at 2,286 metres (7,500 feet). It described itself as “rustic” – and it is – delightfully so.
Americans do this type of expereince really, really well. I vote we send a plane load of Aussie outback operators over here for some valuable learnings.
Tea progressed into champagne, and the four of us then went out for a delicious local curry – Mark and Chris careful not to overdo the cheese and nibbles before we went!
Mark drove excellently despite the stressful conditions, and before long we were emptying the last of our freezer bits and pieces and heading to our friends’ apartment in Matraville, not far from Botany Bay for a delicious roast lamb dinner and a well deserved glass of red wine.
Monday and Tuesday were earmarked for the all essential medical check ups, with good news for Mr A’s eye pressures, less good news for my airway (but a new procedure to try in October), and some steroid injections into my foot to allow some comfortable hiking in the USA.
Mr A took the opportunity to catch up with a bunch of old work colleagues for lunch while I had a hair cut. Lovely.
We finished off our day joining Jenny and David for dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Fabulous food and company as always.
While we are away, Miss Tassie will be staying here at her luxury pad in Matraville for the next month. She’s settled in nicely, already solar mapping out the apartment. Apparently the new chairs on the balcony suit her, while she is also finding the colour scheme elsewhere works with her glossy blue coat. She’s in good hands here.
The sand was just so fine and white, almost felt like flour in your hand. We had a great lunch at a little surf cafe, and then settled in back at the Zone.
We had a brief whirlwind of time to transfer our cases and food back into the caravan, dig out the smart clothes and get changed, before the four of us drove into Brisbane for the evening.
After this, we parted ways, Phil and Libby ending up at a pub helping celebrate a nephew’s birthday, while Mr A and I joined three lovely ladies for dinner in a French restaurant beside the water.
We have probably driven past this area a dozen times without any awareness of what’s here, but it’s a lovely rural settlement sat on the banks of the Clarence River close to the estuary. There are over 100 islands in the wide river here, the nearest to us being Goodwood Island.
The sun was starting to set so we only went a couple of kilometres, crossing over the bridge to Goodwood Island and checking out the wet sugar cane fields before returning for the evening.
More rain and thunder entertained us, a novelty after the dry and drought of the inland areas. Sadly, it seems the rain is sticking to the coast, not helping out the farmers this time.
And what a beautiful walk it is. We are days away from the offical start of spring here (1st September) but the wildflowers were out in abundance.
Several varieties of boronia, teatree, bottlebrush, peas, heath, eucalypts and more brightened our pathway, accompanied by the rhythmic hum of insects feeding on the nectar. It really was good for the soul and reminded us how much we love bush walking at this time of year.
The pathway was well marked and predominantly white sand or grass, very easy walking with a couple of water crossings along the way. The landscape was quite open with good views to the east, across to the Great Sandy National Park.
Even the trunks of the gum trees were beautiful!
We stopped walking after around 5km when we saw the path dropping steeply downhill, remembering we had to turn around at some point and return via the same route.
We definitely recommend getting out and enjoying the Australian bush at this time of year.
So good to be back by the ocean again, with those lovely smells of the sea air, the calm waters of the Coral Sea exuding a tranquility that we just soaked up, over a cold beer.
I did smile though on seeing this cafe perched in a car park, next to the road, when the other side of the building was…..
…this view! I don’t think 1770 has quite made it into 2018 – and that’s part of its appeal.
This was a little less sleepy, with a few shops and restaurants, one of which we had been told was going to be offering an Indian focused menu tonight. A booking was made – this little business is clearly making an effort to do something a bit different. A range of speciality teas lined the walls that almost rivalled our selection in the Zone!
Then it was back to Cafe Discovery for their take on Indian food. A beef vindaloo and chicken tikka masala went down a treat.
We decided to brave the weather and headed out for a walk, so glad we did. The first short walk we did through a paper bark forest was magical with the sun making the dripping vegetation just sparkle.
Then it was a 6km coastal walk, although the weather then closed in and it really started to throw it down, complete with thunder and lightning.
Back to the park and a quiet Sunday night (when isn’t it nowadays!) and plans made for our departure tomorrow.
Queensland is very dry currently, not having had rain in this area for a couple of months. This is very evident in the sheer numbers of birds flocking to this little water source, particularly grey fantails and flocks of silvereyes, so gorgeous.
Six kilometres later we were back at camp for a relax. This is one of the nicest places we have parked our mobile apartment in a long while, surrounded by tall gum trees, dappled sunlight and high sandstone walls providing a picturesque backdrop. As we sat outside with a cup of tea a couple we had seen on our walk strolled past, the American man inviting Mark to join him on a cycle up to the dam later on in the afternoon. Mark accepted his invitation, and jumped on his bike for a ride.I meanwhile finished baking an orange and almond cake, and left that to cool while I went off on another 6km walk.
From there, I walked up to Dragon Cave, so named for the black ‘mural’ of a dragon up on the wall in there…with a little imagination. Generally I just enjoyed the clean fresh air, the sound of the birds and just being outdoors in the warm light of the late afternoon.
I reached camp just as the sun was setting, and Mr A was already sipping a glass of French red wine with his cycling partner and some other neighbours. It turns out the cyclist, Ben, works with mutual friends in Sydney. What a small world!
Cania Gorge had a gold rush in the 1870s, and the remnants were visible on a short walk. There was little gold here, with 183.5 tons of rock yielding only around 4.3kg of gold – a lot of work for little reward under gruelling conditions. Today felt pretty warm at about 25 degrees centigrade in the middle of winter. We had a wander around, then headed off to do another, longer walk.
We hiked up to a lookout giving us a fabulous view across this little National Park, before returning to camp.
But we just couldn’t imagine what you would do for the weeks that some people are clearly spending here! There are four caravan parks in town, and no shops that seem to cater for them. What do all these nomads do here? Some on our camp look very settled in. Each to their own I guess.
Then a very chilled out day, concluding with a Goan fish curry courtesy of Mrs A’s fair hands. Well I have now graduated to kitchen assistant preparing the garlic, turmeric, ginger and blending up with pestle and mortar. Its a start!
The circuit takes you firstly high up onto the walls of the Pound for spectacular views, before dropping down and winding its way across to a dry river bed, where you rock hop back to the beginning via some permanent water holes – like gold dust in this arid landscape.
The colours are so vivid in this incredible air, not polluted by traffic or smoke.
As the walls begin to close in on you for the last couple of kilometres you begin to appreciate the beauty of the rocks, not just the ochres, reds and salmons, but also yellows, mauves, purples and much much more. As the sunlight hits the walls above you it reflects into the shadows, creating more colour still – an absolute feast for the eyes. Even Mark’s limited visual palette was amazed.
We finished by walking past the waterholes – we recall that last time we were here we had seen some endangered yellow footed rock wallabies drinking here, but this time it was a little too busy for these shy creatures.
The final green waterhole is apparently suitable for swimming – though any thoughts of diving into its icy depths were far from our minds as we walked past. It is home to ducks, white faced herons and darters, so definitely supports some aquatic life.
We concluded our 9km hike with a burger from the cafe on site – well deserved we thought!
True to our experiences to date, yet more lovely Zoners.
Hopefully we will be back on line by Friday to update you how it went!