Of Black Bears and White Snow- Part 2

http://tinitravels.blogspot.com/2010/06/of-black-bears-and-white-snow-part-1.html

Had I been travelling alone to Sequoia, one day would have tired me out sufficiently and I am sure I would have nursed my sore limbs in the hotel for a day and driven back to San Diego the next. Thankfully...I did not do that. And hence I reaffirm my conclusion that exploring a new place (unless its some museum or a worn down German castle) is always more fun with company.

Anyways, after a breakfast of leftover Pizza from last night (Go on...think all you want about the reason for my chubbiness!!!....but in my defense I have not had a pizza in a loooooong time and I ate this time only out of hunger!), we were on our way back to Sequoia, this time much faster since we did not take pit stops at every 2 miles to admire the natural beauty down below and capture it in our cameras....but but but...Had my dadi been here she would have said "nazar lagaa di na" cuz right in front of was a long serpentine traffic jam....and we were told the waiting time was 20 minutes!!!

So we got out and started posing yet again as if one day was not enough to click pictures! You would think that...but no! Take a wild guess at how many pictures I clicked over the 2 days I was in the national park.....200...300...I took 600 pictures!!!! Of every stone, rock, hill, mountain to every twig of grass, the yellow flowers to the giant sequoia....and from the two legged homo sapiens to the insect munching bears!!

Having seen the high point (quite literally) of Sequoia i.e. the General Sherman trees, the day before with the bonus of witnessing 5 bears in action, we were at the liberty to roam around and trek around as we pleased with no real agenda. So we stopped at the completely unnecessary Hospital Rock. Now don't wonder in your mind as to why the name, nor will I tell....cuz I don't know and nobody seemed to find it odd, that a Rock was named the Hospital Rock without any related history nor being in the neighbourhood of any present medical institution. There were holes dug into the rocks which were displayed as the Grinding Spots as used by the native Americans....can you believe that....we saw holes filled with muddy water and larvae as a tourist spot. And we moved on!!!

Since this was the first time in the trip we had opened the map and the guide, we decided we would check off the listed places...one of them being the Giant Forest Museum where we got to get ourselves clicked (you will find me in the picture somewhere if you look with a microscope) with the the Sentinel (yes they had names for all their trees older than 1000 yrs....less than that they were all toddlers for whom the naming ceremony had not yet taken place :) )

Well Sequoia was a Walking place and they had thrown in a "market place" or two where people could buy stuff and eat stuff. I had already eaten enough cheese for a month and I guess so had my friends, so we packed in the goodies in the rucksack and set on foot in the hopes that when we were hungry we would be able to find a place where no hungry predators would be prowling for our food or for us. And it was also out of concern for the rental car lest the poor thing would get ransacked by the teddy bears (who I am sure would later be disappointed finding Haldiram Bhel puri in the car) and end up making us poor! While I saw the movie yesterday about the not so gentle bears, I was thinking all the time that such ransacking would be sight in the campsites at night only. But day 2 trip had welcomed us with a 7 seater car badly smashed up and torn apart in search of food (or did the rangers keep it as a memento???)

See there I go drifting about food again!!!

I resume writing after a bout of earthquake that rattled (well not really...happens every month here!) San Diego. I guess its a means of social interaction :) when people rush out of their rooms with something to talk about!

So after all the food talk we rode towards the next point in the map...Moro rock. Unlike what I interpreted, it is not the name of some famous person like General Sherman. Its a general name given to granite domes found in these areas (and by these areas I mean Sierra Nevada area). Distance wise it was just a 0.25 miles hike but involved 400 (felt like 4000!!) steps on top of barren rock! By the time we were done with it we were lighter by all the consumed cheese and heavier with many many pictures of the brilliant view from a height of almost 7000 feet. Climbing up is always easier. It it is the coming down part that scares the heebie jeebies out of me...and that too 400 steps. Thank god for the traffic jam (not of vehicles!!!! tourists!!)  which in my mind was breaking my hypothetical tumble from 7000 feet into intermittent stops and I was finally able to land back to 6000 feet height just in time to catch the bus to the Tunnel Log.

The Tunnel Log is exactly what the name suggests. It is a huge Sequoia tree which fell sometime in 1864 and a tunnel was created through it (not sure if it was for ease of movement or for tourist attraction). A popular posing destination for years and years guessing from the fact that when my friends saw my picture at that spot, they recollected having seen it in their childhood (which was not in the recent past!). Well having clicked our customary pictures we scanned the surrounding for any bears and not finding any, we finished up a packet of chips waiting for the next shuttle to arrive to take us to Crescent meadow. Yes that was all there was at the Tunnel log!!! What did u expect? 

Next stop--- Crescent Meadow, known in these circles as the "gem of Sierra". All the water that we noticed on the roads all this time had to have a source. And the snow at Crescent meadow was that source. It was as if we had stepped into a Bollywood song shooting scene....all white with spots of green (not fungus!!!! trees!). This trek was officially 1.5 miles, but whats 1.5 miles when you get lost in the wilderness (quite literally). By the time we were done with this we realized we had covered Crescent Meadow as well as Tharp's Log treks. 

Anyways, it was not the distance that we traversed that was the high point of the trek. Somewhere in the middle of the trek we saw a cute little stream of water on which a group of trekkers was building a log bridge to cross over to the other side, since none of us could locate one anywhere around and we assumed that the other group too was lost like us. It is at later times when you regret the spirit of adventurism!! Read on....

Well we thought we would cross the stream using the log bridge created by our European friends (ya ya...we did not even think of building another one...whats the point...but this was adventurous enough...wasn't it?). As it turned out the cute little stream was not so little....It was a mini river covered with plantation, further covered with a foot of fresh snow (which we very nicely thought to be snow on top of solid ground....like we had been treading till now!!).  The light footed (ok ok the lightest one of was successful in crossing the bridge....and have no doubts....it was not me!!!). The trail had formed in a way to keep the lady in the middle and so it was my turn (incidentally the 2nd lightest (in a group of 3 he he!!!)) to cross. The picture what you see here was just before I stepped and kept stepping into what seemed like a never ending puddle. Had I not been pulled out...once, then twice and then third time....I would have been a frozen block of ice, cuz trust me the water was COLD!!!!! After this I was super cautious in crossing even the log (I never trusted my feet in any case!!). In all this, we almost forgot that we were lost...but on the other side of the stream we saw a bench and heaved a sigh of relief, the human population was expected in that part of the forest!!

As luck would have it, we walked 50 steps and came across the magical bridge which had eluded us till now. Had it appeared earlier, I would not have had to re-visit my whole life in 15 seconds!!! We decided to celebrate....so camped there on the wooden bridge with the cute little stream flowing below and snow all around...the bhel waala and his assistant and prepared the most exotic Haldiram bhelpuri I have ever tasted. How did we eat it? Old papers lying in the rucksack were the plates and the old long forgotten people's business cards were the spoons (takes you back to the old Satyanarayan pooja days of eating panjiri out of a newspaper plate doesn't it? :) ) And we had the most natural ice bucket to cool our apple juice!!!

That was a lot of work! So the happy campers decided to call it a day and chill out at the Beetle Rock for sometime before heading back to Visalia. I had the fortune of being in the company of like-minded nautanki people. So we actually got ourselves clicked chilling out!!! Then my friends snoozed for sometime while I clicked some more (even smaller) yellow flowers.

With Indian Ocean in the background, we headed back to Visalia with a stopover but buy strawberries freshly picked from the backyard garden. It was time to hit the sack early cuz I had the 350 miles drive the next morning with the LA traffic yet again, so I better be up and ready early in the morning!

Day 3-- Ready to head back, I decided to fuel up. Remember when I had said Visalia was a small town? I was reminded of it again when I was looking for the gas station. But when I found one, I was pleasantly surprised to find a jolly Sardar uncleji running the place. And he was happier still (sometimes I can talk punjabi...he he!!!!). So after a ghar ki bani coffee I was all prepped up for the long journey!

Remember one thing which I learnt the hard way....never try to stretch your legs to release strain while driving the car, because if you strain a muscle, everything goes dark in front of your eyes for a time substantial to derail you from your lane!!!! So to avoid this do take a break when you are driving, no matter how fresh you think you are feeling. That's just what I did (after giving a heart attack to some poor fellow driving in the lane next to mine...quick thinking!!!). But I did make it back in good time and even changed my rental car and took a Mustang, therefore putting a fuel guzzler feather to the cap of this three day trip!!!

So here's to many more long weekends!!!!

Of Black Bears and White Snow- Part 1

Yet another of those rare 4 day weekends (not as rare as the forced 10 day vacation during Christmas!) has arrived. I am all packed up to brave a 350 miles drive to Sequoia (now that's all vowels in one word...I just noticed!). As it turns out it pretty much costs that much in dollars for a night's stay in the national park, so I have booked myself in Visalia (Y-SAA-LIA....not visa-lia or Vinashlila....bad joke!!!!)

Well so I got up at 8 AM on a holiday and was religiously out of San Diego by 9. All was going well and as per schedule till I hit the LA bypass. I had always thought, bypasses were supposed to help reduce the time on a journey by helping you avoid the traffic jams of the city. But I can bet a lot of money on the fact that I would have taken the same amount of time if not less, had I struggled through the LA city traffic. It was a good 2 hours before I could drive at more than 30 miles/hour!!

But I was in no hurry! I had enough time at hand to experience the benefits of driving alone...

Well for one if you are fond of singing but were not really born with the vocal chords of Lata Mangeshkar or Celine Dion....you really don't find too many outlets for your singing prowess....a long drive is just what you need. You can sing as much as you want and as loudly as you want....and then pat your back for the brilliant performance :) That's not psycho...its real fun!

My song for the drive..."Pyaar ki chutni".... One of those songs you download as a bundle of the whole movie and love the cheekiness of it when it plays...again and again :)

You know I learnt how to drive a car in the hills of Udhampur. the one thing I always cursed my instructor about was why he would ask me to drive uphill and then ask me to stop the car....ON THE SLOPE!!...and then ask me to restart....curse him!!!! I could never do it right....had it not been for the extra set of clutch and brake with him, I would not have been typing this out. That training has put a mortal fear of tackling slopes while driving. So when I saw signs on the road warning drivers of the gradient and the possibility of overheating of the radiator....I had half a mind to turn back...but but but...such was not the case with the US highways (you just have to admire the infrastructure!!!)...On hills they have 4 lane roads for one way traffic!!! I drove at 60 miles/hr speed on hills!!

No I am not over the fear....cuz I know Indian hills and I know Indian roads...but I survived this one!

So after listening and singing all the cheeky Hindi numbers and enjoying the drive I finally arrived in Visalia.

Visalia is a small small small town. It was like the Munna bhai scene of the hostel room...'Bhai yeh to shuru hote hi khatam ho gaya' but the hotel was big....it could have been a matchbox with a bed for all I cared, given how cramped I felt after the 7 hour long drive. So I enjoyed a long nap while my friends drove from San Jose lucky for them....2 people sharing a 4 hour drive!!!

We were a group of extremes...with me being the median :) (never thought that would be the case). One of us was an Omnivore...and one was a choosy vegetarian ( he he... no cheese, no pasta, no pizza....can u imagine!!!) and then me....vegetarian...will eat so long as it is veggie!!....so I did what I do best...stuff up on ice cream and cheese in ALL Meals!!!!

I resume writing this after a very tiring day at office...no action....just plain old sitting in front of the laptop day..

So where were we? Yes...we entered the national park thankfully without me in the driver's seat!!! (else the trip would have been the most short lived :) ), to find that the natural beauty had made Japanese out of all people (oho...I mean everyone was clicking pictures left right and centre!!!!!). We were not to be left behind.

On the way there were many mini waterfalls. We stopped by at one to get a top down view of the water rather than the bottom up view. This was when I realized that climbing down.....or in my case sliding down from rocks was not as easy as I had thought it would be. Much to the amusement (and maybe reaffirmation of my male friends about the adventurous nature of their female fellow trekker!!!) I tumbled down and managed to keep myself dry, promising to myself all the time that I have not done rock climbing in a long time and this is just the rust getting rubbed off!!!!

A short drive ahead we got to see the largest tree in the world, in the Giant forest....the General Sherman!! It it neither the tallest nor the widest but the biggest in volume and super old.....estimated age around 2200 years!!!!! One thing in US which was older than most things in India :D. This tree was named after General William Tecumseh Sherman (can't pronounce the middle name if my life depended on it!!!) who fought in the Civil War.

There was snow spread all around and bright sun beaming from top making it a lovely walk (and slips here and there) when it was neither too cold nor too hot. We even met with a beaver like creature who was as enthusiastic a poser as I consider myself...and we unknowingly must have trampled on a lot of vegetation by trespassing in prohibited areas to meet the beaver like creature!!

With this we drive to the "Marketplace" to watch a 10 min movie where people are told that while Sequoia is home to Black bears, you might not get to see one till they come and destroy your car at night for food. So you better make yourself contented with watching them on the screen. So we watched our share of bear (poetic!!!!) and grabbed some more cheese to eat in the sun!! All this while I was wondering that this was one place we did not see as many Indians as one normally sees in tourist destinations (kinda makes Americans feel like tourists at times!). But I thought that too soon...since all the Indians were seen flocking around the eating joint of the national park and not around the trekking trails!!!

The happy trekkers then set on to the next available trail and I cannot remember the name of that trail right now....not trying too hard!! But it was a 2 miles one way trail where in the beginning we walked generally bickering about excessive travelling in our jobs and the boredom that sets in.

But soon we shut up trying not to waste any extra energy in talking since the climb was becoming steadily steeper. We were quietly walking engrossed in looking at the ground lest we should fall (that's what I was doing!!), when at a distance not more than 30 feet Deepak spotted an equally engrossed Black bear busy tearing apart the trunk of a tree looking for insects (I remembered the 10 min documentary!!!!). Thank God I was not talking at that time else with the loudspeakers that are fitted in my throat, the bear would surely have attacked us in alarm! We slid past the bear and hid in all angles trying to get the best shot.....and many shots we clicked, since the bear was least bothered about us and there was no one else around. So we won't have to bluff that we saw a bear! Yippee!!!!

Did I type 'A' Bear?? Again...spoke too soon....a little ahead we saw TWO!!!!  a mother and a cub!!!....thank god for the marsh between us and them and the hunger that kept them busy....else this one could have been a dangerous encounter...

A short walk of another hour took us to the top of the peak. The view was...breathtaking!!!! A complete hill of Granite!!!! A couple of pictures later...we just about made in back in time to be able to catch the last bus to take us to the parking lot. By now I could not feel my legs and would have given anything to just be back at the hotel and in my bed!!! but paapi pet ka sawaal hai!!! A quick 2 hour drive (with Jagjit Singh playing the background score...Deepak driving and Pradeep snoring!)and a dinner later I was ready to call it a day...

There is more to come!!!!