Sequoia? I Hardly Know Ya!

I kicked of the summer camping season last weekend with a trip to Sequoia National Forest / Park / Monument. It wasn't a real adventurous trip, a majority of my time was spent sleeping / driving / eating with some short hikes and sweating (even though I was up around 8,000 feet most of the time, temps still managed to climb into the 80s) mixed in.

Being in a National Park, it had all the accompanying nuisances: the RV crowd, bad drivers, overzealous rangers, etc. I ended up doing a few touristy things that didn't turn out to be so bad. First, visited the visitor's center and picked up a 3D View-Master with reels for Sequoia an Yosemite, a nice addition to my desk toys. I actually had to go to the visitor's center to pick up tickets for the guided tour of Crystal Cave. Though I am not much for guided tours, the appeal here was that the cave stays around 50F, so I could escape the heat during the middle of the day. The tour turned out to be really cool, in fact, and really it was a good thing I went. I volunteered to bring up the rear of our group and was more or less responsible for the safety of roughly 40 people. I shudder to think what would have happened to all of them had I not been there. Not to mention the fact that they would have missed my clever The Price Is Right jokes wen the guide asked us all to guess the age of the cave. "One dollar, Bob." Surprisingly those all got a good chuckle out of everyone. I think it even endeared me to the family camped next to me as they came over to hang out a little later that night (I didn't even realize they were on the tour).

bringing up the rear

I took a little stroll up a cut-step trail to Moro Rock. It's a short hike (so the thing was packed) but fairly steep (so I still worked up a sweat - big surprise, I know) and still accessible to just about anyone that can walk (read: crowded). But the view was really incredible. I even drove through Tunnel Log.

Monday morning I spent at Hume Lake beating the heat before the soul crushing drive back to LA. Getting out, but having to deal with the crowds, really has me hankerin' to do some backpacking and get a little more wild. Who's with me? Pics here.

WWII Memorial of CA-99; kind of appropriate as
I read Slaughterhouse-Five this weekend

of course I got to hang out with the big trees

finally getting the hang of these night shots; end up
staying up late though taking 30 min photos!

back to reality; the 405

Wasn't That the Girl's Name On Boy Meets World?

Like I said, I've been getting caught up around here from being away for a week, but the clouds were just to super duper neat-o for me to stay inside Saturday. I think what really convinced me was having lunch with Jeff. Like a sucker, he had to work, so I figured the least I could do was rub it in his face. Literally. The least I could do. To be fair, he probably deserves it for throwing cats.

Anyway, took a drive up to Topanga (see?) Canyon State Park for a hike to Parker Mesa Overlook. It was a really nice hike. Six miles round trip with a lot of up and down so I could get a nice lather worked up in and out.

The overlook is melt-your-face beautiful with a panoramic view from downtown to the bay to the hills of Malibu. Actually, the view all the way up is pretty incredible.

trail ends here

looking the other direction

I even got to see some wildlife. Three deer on the way in, and four on the way out. And a scorpion to add an element of danger (not really). The only bad part was the two young ladies that showed up at the overlook a few minutes after me gossiping about which boy is the hottest. Puh-lease. Annoying.

I also got my first chance to use my new intervalometer for this time lapse video. I think I got pretty lucky. I didn't think the clouds were moving anywhere near fast enough. This is about 900 shots at one second intervals.

Topanga Canyon Time Lapse from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

The rest of the gallery (including some pretty cool panos) is here.