Day 51, Saturday, 02/16/08

Well, we had 72 degree weather yesterday, and it was 30 this morning! This is a land of change. However, today was just as warm and not a cloud in site. We drove up and around a series of roads going towards Mt. Whitney where a lot of older western movies were filmed. It's still an active area for shooting movie scenes, advertisements, etc. In fact, we were stopped yesterday on our way back from Death Valley by the California Highway Patrol to wait for a motor cycle ad that was being filmed on the road. I thought I was being stopped for speeding!

We drove as far as we could today before the road was closed due to winter snow. Encountered an area of slippery slope (deep snow) where we thought we were going to be "stuck". There was a 4-wheel drive truck ahead of us that slid off the road, but the CRV got us through. We got to an area where we could turn around and go back down on a paved road, but stopped to let the dogs out. They loved the snow. The road up Mt. Whitney goes about 5 miles further in season but is currently closed. It does not get anywhere near the top, but does go to a high elevation campground, waterfall, and trail head not accessible until May when the snow melts.

We drove back to a county park near the RV park that was on a lake and let the dogs swim. So early today they had a desert walk, then a romp in the snow, then a swim in a lake. It's a dog's life! They are going to sleep well tonight!

Don't forget to take a look at the trip videos by clicking on each one listed on the left side of the blog site.

All the following pictures were taken in a two hour span





Mt. Whitney - tallest peak in the lower 48. It is actually in Sequoia National Park. It can be reached from this area, but only on foot and it takes about 8 days. There are no roads that go through the park east/west so to get to Sequoia we will need to drive 275 miles down and around through Bakersfield.