Yosemite was just one of the parks on my itinerary for this trip. Right next door are Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks, which feature great scenery and giant redwoods.
Two of the largest trees in the world are in these parks, by volume and by height. General Grant (left) is in Kings Canyon and General Sherman (right) is in Sequoia.
Yosemite is one of the crown jewels of the US National Park system.
If you approach Yosemite from the south you enter through a tunnel, the second longest tunnel in the national park system. And then there’s a parking lot where you can get your first view of the Yosemite Valley and Bridal Veil Falls.
I’ve never camped in a National Park. So this road trip offered the opportunity to do that. The third evening into the trip I arrived at Mesa Verde National Park, in the southwest corner of Colorado.
Mesa Verde has a lot of archaeology going on, which is great.
I got an invitation to a California wedding, and I love road trips. So June on the calendar became reserved for a western journey.
First Stop was an early morning visit to Pikes Peak State Park in Iowa, overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. I grew up in the shadow of this park, with many visits over the years. Now it was time to seek the top of the other eminence memorializing 19th century explorer Zebulon Pike.
RADIOSCRIBE 