For our next adventure, we decided to take the trailer and do a road trip up through California to Oregon and back down, hitting as many national parks as possible.
We started out from Arizona with Hazel in the backseat and BB in tow. Our first stop was somewhere in the Mojave desert, where we spent the night. The next day we finished the drive to Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks. These parks are adjacent to each other, so it was easy to do both on the same day. We spent some time hiking and exploring the incredible sequoia trees, including General Sherman and General Grant trees.
Next, we headed north to Yosemite National Park. William and I decided to hike up to the top of Nevada Falls on the John Muir Trail. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was incredible.
The next day, we drove north through the park and to the eastern areas, including Tuolumne meadows, then crossed the Tioga pass.
We stayed the night next to a river in northeastern California. Hazel was thrilled with the easy access to water. We then drove up to Reno, where we visited a few friends. We took a day trip to Olympic Valley, California, where we've been skiing at Palisades Tahoe (formerly known as Squaw Valley). We took Hazel and hiked up one of the ski mountains to a lake. It was fun seeing the chairlifts that we've taken in the winter!
After a brief sojourn into Nevada, we headed back into California (and the ridiculous gas prices) and went to Lassen Volcanic National Park.
We hiked Bumpass Hell, which allows you to access one of the park's geothermal areas. You can smell the sulfur and feel the heat coming from the bubbling pools. From there, we stopped at McCloud falls in northern California, which was a nice hike with access to three different waterfalls. Hazel was predictably thrilled.
We continued north and crossed the border into Oregon to Crater Lake. Pictures just don't do it justice. The water is a deep blue and the lake seems to really change as you go around the rim. It was incredible.
After Crater Lake, we headed south back into California and to the coast. We let Hazel run on the beach, and she happily played in the waves.
Here is the route we took- next post will be our southward journey!
And as always, the accompanying GoPro video:
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