Tuna
Sunday 18 February 2024
California Winter Weather Warning!!! According to news, internet and everyone, there is a massive front that is going to hit California today and last until Wednesday. Gale force winds, rain, thunderstorms, flooding and snow. Roads are closed, snow chains needed. This was going to affect our plans for today as we were planning on heading up into the hills (Sierra Nevada Mountains) to check out Sequoia National Park. Bugger!!!
However! Looking out the window this morning, the sky was blue without a cloud in sight. No evidence that there was a front heading our way. So, we figured the news, internet and everyone were lying and headed off to Sequoia NP. We eventually (40mins) hung a left and headed directly at the hills and could see that the tops were snow covered.
About 1 mile from the entrance to Sequoia NP, we stopped and joined the queue to get in. It seemed like everyone was doing the same thing as we were. Thinking about it, Sunday of a long weekend with gorgeous weather, why wouldn’t you. It took us about half an hour, and eventually we got to the front of the line and were allowed in.
There were lots of spot to stop to take some amazing photos of the amazing scenery.
There were two significant changes of trees, the first to the pine tree like trees and then to the massive redwoods. The change of the trees isn’t gradual, it just suddenly changes.
We could only go so far as it had snowed about 6,000ft and we weren’t carrying any chains. The spot we had to stop at was where everyone else had to stop and it was packed and there were no parking spots left. We probably should have just driven straight up without stopping to look at the amazing views, but hindsight and all that. But it was gorgeous, snow covering the ground and amongst the tower and massive redwood trees. We got stuck in the car park, not moving with the only way out through the carpark. As I was driving, I suggest to The Albatross that he goes for a walk, sees what there is and take some happy snaps as there is no point of us both sitting and staring at cars in a car park.
About 20 mins later he rejoined me just as I was getting out of the carpark. I badly parked behind some other cars so I could get out, slip (but not fall over) on some ice/snow and have a look around. We would have like to stay a little longer but there was nowhere to park, the only option was to do another lap of the carpark.
So, we decided to head down the mountain. At the end of the carpark there were a couple of blokes thumbing a ride. We had spare seats so offered them a lift down the hill. They were a couple of nice French lads who caught a lift up the hill as they weren’t allowed to drive their RV up. About 200m down the road there were another couple of blokes hitching ride. As we have this stupidly large car that can seat 8 people, we picked them up too. Turns out they were the friends of the first two blokes we picked up. They were all very thankful for the ride down the hill.
As we left, there was a constant stream of cars heading up the mountain, and once we left the park, the queue to get in was longer than we had, they are going to be disappointed.
Still haven’t seen any rain or thunderstorms that were predicted for today.