On our 2nd day off trail Freya was still visibly limping (even when I wasn't watching! ), so I knew she needed a few days of relative rest. We were in Lee Vining, CA, which boasts a convenient array of shops and restaurants to cater to its stream of visitors to both Yosemite and Mono Lake. Interestingly, it's successful legal challenge to the City of Los Angeles over local water rights is the basic premise of the famous film Chinatown; it's an impressive tale. Still, embracing the delights of the entire town and its David v Goliath legal history only took one morning. We were itching to move.
Part of the challenge was how to keep this a worthwhile rite of passage and within budget. Hiking and camping are free, after all, and very little in this world is.
So armed with a wifi connection and nothing but time on our hands, the seeds of a new plan began to come together. We could rent a car and head to the coast. If we started in Santa Cruz and drove south to San Diego we could stop at PLENTY of state and national parks, most of which had camping options, with plenty of day hikes amidst such venerable sites as Big Sur and the redwood forest. Plus, we could surf along the way, which is more upper body than legs, and still physically demanding. Challenging rite of passage? Check. Flexible options to account for injury? Check. Still camping and within our trip budget? Check.
So we hitched a ride down to Bishop, CA where we could rent a car. The local Enterprise Car rental people were awesome, and hearing our tale of woe, gave us an amazing rate for the car.
(Side note, one life lesson I'm sure Freya has learned on this trip: how often one can negotiate - she has seen successful deals agreed on car rental, room rates, and even the exchange rate of sterling to dollars at the airport(!) - surprised myself with that one!)
Once mobilised, we headed back to Yosemite to continue our exploration of the famous valley. We visited the falls, half dome and El Capitan, all of which are just as mesmerising as the photos you've seen. I'd visited Yosemite once before, some 20+ years ago, and it was far grander than I recalled. Truly, this place should be a natural Mecca for everyone. And even though it's crowded and busy, the majesty of the place withstands this intrusion with graceful aplomb, figuratively and literally rising above it all.
We then headed for Santa Cruz, which requires a drive directly through California's agricultural basin. The foothills of the Sierra unfold into a rolling sea of hills, which are sublime and graceful. One could genuinely envy the cattle their daily view. These briefly flatten into traditional farmland before rising again into another series of rising hills and breathtaking mountain ranges.
In all my travels, only France and Italy rival California for sheer variety of ecological diversity. All three have amazing mountains, beaches, forests, cities and charming small towns, with both industry and farmland. But within this league of landscapes, California's is the easy winner. There's just so much unspoilt variety.
The main reason for this, and why CA in general, and LA and SF in specific, is so expensive, is because Californians have taken such a progressive stance with preserving its beauty. In a way that ancient nations could scarcely imagine, CA has prohibited development on the jewels of its landscape. So just a few miles from both LA and SF are parks which inspire the heart, but also require millions of people to cram themselves into less space, inflating the cost of everything.
This little reality had escaped our calculations in Lee Vining. In the eastern Sierra, camping spots are easy to find. As we sat in a cafe in Hollister, the impending impact of CA's progressive stance and our spontaneity hit us. We spent 3 hours calling around various campsites, trying to book a place to sleep, and almost all were booked out for at least a week in advance. Those we found were $50+ per night... for camping!
Motels were easier to find, but were about $100/night, and with 20 days left on our trip, neither figure was in our budget.
The best solution we could think of was upgrading our car to a van we could sleep in. It'd keep us spontaneous, and although showers would be a hassle, and even though it was still more than our budget, about $80/day, it was the best option we could think of at the time.
We went to Enterprise and were flatly shocked. Hearing our tale of woe, the chap upgraded us to a perfect van for only $10/day. I was gobsmacked. This basically saved our trip, meaning we still had a budget for fun stuff. As I pondered the games of "I spy..." Freya and I now no longer needed to play, I vowed that for the rest of my days, I shall only rent cars from Enterprise.
Once we had the van, we then got super lucky and found a foam mattress in a 2nd hand store, that just needed a bit of 'engineering' with my handy-dandy knife to fit snugly as our bedding.
As we drove merrily to Santa Cruz, we were excited to see the coast, and the next stage of our adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment