Sequoia/King's Canyon and Death Valley National Parks

After getting snowed on in Yosemite, I made my way south through Fresno and then east to King's Canyon/Sequoia National Park.  It was sunny and warm in Fresno, but was snowing up at elevation by the time I got into King's Canyon/Sequoia National Park.  Along the way I found another bear, he was just eating some grass off the side of the road.

I was super lucky in Sequoia in that at lower than 7500 ft it was no longer snowing (yay no closed roads!) and the dogwoods were blooming.  The massive sequoia's framed by the flowering dogwoods were really something to see.

I spent one night in the lower foothills at Sequoia and then drove to Death Valley.  My silly GPS had "explore" on the mind, as once I left Bakersfield I drove through some very remote valleys and back highways to get to Death Valley.  I set up my tent, using rocks at the corners to anchor it, and then set off for the Mesquite Dunes 10 minutes away.

The wind wasn't blowing when I left, but according to my campsite mates - four from Germany, two from France, and one from Poland - my tent went rolling across the highway when the wind picked up.  They graciously recovered my tent and then threw some rocks inside it to anchor it (successfully) in place.

They had arrived after me and didn't explore that night, so while we chatted that evening, they asked about places to explore.  I told them I was going back to Mesquite Dunes to watch the sunrise, and three of them asked if they could go with me...of course!

I got up early the next morning (so did three of them) and went and walked the dunes.  The photo above is from sunset, as sunrise fizzled due to some low clouds in the east.  While it wasn't the prettiest sunrise in the world, it was still very calm and pretty.

Cheers,

Marc