As mentioned in my last post, we did drive to Glacier Point after lunch on Tuesday. From the vista is a grand view of the Yosemite Valley and Half Dome. I can't get over how beautiful this place is. There is no way to appreciate this National Park in a weekend. If you come, you will only be wasting your time unless you plan to stay at least a week. We will have seen almost everything we wanted to in two weeks, however, we are old so we take a day off after each big outing. If you want to be on the go everyday, all day long, it can be done in one week.
On Thursday we took a relatively long trip to Tuolumne Meadows in the northern portion of the park. It was only around 55 miles but took almost 2 hours, not because of traffic (that was rather light), but because of the winding road, steep grades, and stopping for photos. Tuolumne Meadows is at an altitude of about 8,500 feet while Yosemite Valley is around 4,000 feet. The park facilities (camp grounds, visitor center, store, etc.) all closed for the winter today, September 23, so we made the trip just in time.
Continuing on to Tioga Pass, a few miles beyond the park's eastern gate, we reached an altitude of about 10,000 feet above sea level. The scenery on the drive was fantastic as usual and I had to pass up some photo ops because of the time. The trip took us a total of 7 hours including our stops.
We broke our rule of resting every other day and took the same route on Friday as we did on Thursday, with the exception that we went all the way to Bodie, one of the country's best preserved ghost towns. It was a product of the 49'er gold strike. Prospectors found gold on land that became Bodie in 1859. By the 1870's Bodie supported three breweries and almost a hundred saloons and dance halls along a one mile long main street. There were only two church's in Bodie. I suppose that tells you that it was a rather wild place. There was even a red light district. In 1879 the population of Bodie was about 10,000. Two fires, one in the late 1800's and the other in 1934 reduced the number of buildings to about 150 by the time the mine played out and the town was abandoned. There are now about 100 buildings still standing.
Bodie is a California State Park and is maintained in a state of "arrested decay". In other words, there has been no reconstruction of buildings or safety modifications made. You see the town pretty much the way it was when the last person left. Many of the towns peoples' possessions that they could not take with them are still right where they left them.
From Bodie we drove south on CA-395 to the South Tufa Beach on Mono Lake. Mono Lake was an inland sea many eons ago. It is feed by springs and snow melt but has no outlet, other than an aqueduct that provides water to Los Angeles. The lake is very salty so the aqueduct collects the water before it actually reaches the lake. Due to the salt and alkalinity of the water, large limestone formations developed around under water springs. After the aqueduct was built the water level of the lake was drastically reduced, exposing these "Tufa" formations, which do look a little "other-worldly".
This afternoon we are driving over to see the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which provides San Francisco with water. It is said to have been as dramatic as Yosemite Valley before the dam was built. Hetch Hetchy is not very far from the campground. On the way back we are stopping at Evergreen Lodge for dinner. If you recall, we ate lunch there the day after we arrived in Yosemite. A great place.
Tomorrow we are heading down to the southern end of the park and the Mariposa Grove, a large grove of Giant Sequoias.
I have a lot of photos from the above excursions to post, however the internet is extremely slow today so I will have to post them later. Time to get ready for our drive to Hetch Hetchy.
Showing posts with label ghost town. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ghost town. Show all posts
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
To Flagstaff via Two Guns and Twin Arrows
We left Santa Fe this morning a few minutes after 10 AM en route to an RV park near Flagstaff, AZ. We took I-25 back to Albuquerque and then I-40 to Flagstaff. After 214 miles we stopped at the Arizona Welcome Center to make lunch and get an Arizona road map. It was a little before 2 PM.
After lunch we noticed dark clouds building to the south. The temperature dropped from 97 degrees to 73 degrees as the storm got closer to us. We pulled into a rest area and I took a few photos. I expected to run into some heavy rain before reaching Flagstaff. As it turned out we only received a light sprinkling of rain for a couple of minutes. Then the temperature started climbing back up.
About half an hour before reaching Flagstaff I saw a sign that I recalled from a trip we made over this same route about 6 years ago. I had to stop and take a photo because I knew that about 10 miles further would be another sign that I wanted a picture of. When you see the pictures you will understand why I had to stop and take these photos.
I was sure there had to be a good story that tied these two towns together! In a western version of a "Tale of Two Cities," perhaps Two Guns was a cowboy town and Twin Arrows was an Indian village. This would be something else to Google tonight once we were settled in at the RV park.
We arrived at the RV park just before 5 PM, or so we thought. It turned out to be just before 4 PM because we had crossed from the Mountain to the Pacific time zone. It doesn't really matter when you are retired. The day's travel was 373 miles in 6 hours and 40 minutes. A respectable average speed of 56 mph considering a fuel stop, lunch stop, rest stop, and 2 photo stops. I-40 was smooth and straight and I had the cruise set on 65 mph. What was really surprising was that our fuel economy was up to 7.5 mpg, even though we gained almost 1,000 feet in altitude since leaving Santa Fe.
The temperature at the RV park was 78 degrees when we pulled in. But even when the temperature had been in the 90's earlier in the day it wasn't that uncomfortable because the humidity was only about 24% as opposed to 60% or higher back in East Texas.
After supper I began Googling Two Guns and Twin Arrows, looking for a great story tying them together. Unfortunately, about the only thing they have in common was that both are essentially "ghost towns." The building of I-40 caused the decline and eventual abandonment of many small towns on Route 66 and these were just 2 of the many tourist traps that failed to survive.
Historically, Two Guns was the site of a battle between the Navajos and Apaches back in the 1800's. In more modern times it was a small privately owned town that boasted a gas station, overnight accommodations, restaurant, campground, and even a zoo for the travelers on Route 66.
Twin Arrows was even smaller than Two Guns. About the only thing at Twin Arrows was a trading post but it lasted longer than Two Guns. There is a faded sign that claims Twin Arrows to be the "Best Little Stop on I-40." The store/motel/cafe complex of Twin Arrows managed to hang on into the 1990's only because it had its own I-40 exit.
Tomorrow we continue west on I-40 to Kingman, AZ. From Kingman we will take US 93 North to Las Vegas. Hopefully, I will be able to get some photos of Hoover Dam.
After lunch we noticed dark clouds building to the south. The temperature dropped from 97 degrees to 73 degrees as the storm got closer to us. We pulled into a rest area and I took a few photos. I expected to run into some heavy rain before reaching Flagstaff. As it turned out we only received a light sprinkling of rain for a couple of minutes. Then the temperature started climbing back up.
About half an hour before reaching Flagstaff I saw a sign that I recalled from a trip we made over this same route about 6 years ago. I had to stop and take a photo because I knew that about 10 miles further would be another sign that I wanted a picture of. When you see the pictures you will understand why I had to stop and take these photos.
I was sure there had to be a good story that tied these two towns together! In a western version of a "Tale of Two Cities," perhaps Two Guns was a cowboy town and Twin Arrows was an Indian village. This would be something else to Google tonight once we were settled in at the RV park.
We arrived at the RV park just before 5 PM, or so we thought. It turned out to be just before 4 PM because we had crossed from the Mountain to the Pacific time zone. It doesn't really matter when you are retired. The day's travel was 373 miles in 6 hours and 40 minutes. A respectable average speed of 56 mph considering a fuel stop, lunch stop, rest stop, and 2 photo stops. I-40 was smooth and straight and I had the cruise set on 65 mph. What was really surprising was that our fuel economy was up to 7.5 mpg, even though we gained almost 1,000 feet in altitude since leaving Santa Fe.
The temperature at the RV park was 78 degrees when we pulled in. But even when the temperature had been in the 90's earlier in the day it wasn't that uncomfortable because the humidity was only about 24% as opposed to 60% or higher back in East Texas.
After supper I began Googling Two Guns and Twin Arrows, looking for a great story tying them together. Unfortunately, about the only thing they have in common was that both are essentially "ghost towns." The building of I-40 caused the decline and eventual abandonment of many small towns on Route 66 and these were just 2 of the many tourist traps that failed to survive.
Historically, Two Guns was the site of a battle between the Navajos and Apaches back in the 1800's. In more modern times it was a small privately owned town that boasted a gas station, overnight accommodations, restaurant, campground, and even a zoo for the travelers on Route 66.
Twin Arrows was even smaller than Two Guns. About the only thing at Twin Arrows was a trading post but it lasted longer than Two Guns. There is a faded sign that claims Twin Arrows to be the "Best Little Stop on I-40." The store/motel/cafe complex of Twin Arrows managed to hang on into the 1990's only because it had its own I-40 exit.
Tomorrow we continue west on I-40 to Kingman, AZ. From Kingman we will take US 93 North to Las Vegas. Hopefully, I will be able to get some photos of Hoover Dam.
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