US Natural Wonders

From Vegas to Napa Valley in three packed days! (Carly): 1 January 2007

Hi guys!

From Vegas we drove out to the Grand Canyon. It was a bit of a shock as we went from the warm desert to the snowy mountains in one day. The amount of snow was unbelievable. I've never seen it so thick! It made the experience very strange as my idea of the Grand Canyon was of a hot red dusty place not a freezing winter wonderland! In the visitor centre we learnt that the appearance of the Canyon changes dramatically through the year due to the position of the sun and shadows.

The whole place was a mass of colour with interesting shapes and gorgeous views! It was impossible to get bored of the Canyon and we could have stayed there for hours, if the sun hadn't set and we weren't all so cold!

The next day we had another mammoth drive ahead of us to get to Death Valley. We were once again driving down straight roads through the desert. I was very disappointed that the only 'proper' cactus I saw was planted outside someone's house you know the sort I mean, sort of fork shaped. Dad was jealous of all the guys we saw who had taken quad bikes, go carts and other boy toys in their RVs or trucks to race in the middle of nowhere. We saw loads of RVs towing 4x4's or trucks too which was a bit odd as at home we've used to seeing cars towing caravans!

Death Valley was vast plains surrounded by towering mountains. We saw some salt flats, where Mum enjoyed walking on the crunchy snow, and the beautiful Artists Drive where chemicals in the rocks make the mountains very pretty. We then had a very long drive in the pitch black on a winding mountain track to get to Lone Pine. We were all very tired but stayed awake to make sure Dad was watching the tiny road as well as looking out for 'Elkies' (Elks to most people!).

On New Years Eve we drove all the way from Lone Pine to Santa Rosa. On the way Dad had a few surprises for us. The first one involved Mum driving up an icy track into the mountains. It was very tricky and I don't think she was too impressed, particularly not when we got to the top, Dad admitted we were only going to see old trees and we found that the gate to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest was shut so we couldn't see the 4,000 year old trees anyway! We did have some amazing views of the surrounding area though and saw a glacier.

The next surprise was on Hot Creek Hatchery Road, it was pretty amazing to see the water bubbling up in the stream. The creek was very dangerous though, lots of people had been scalded in the past and so people are no longer allowed to swim in it. The whole place stank of sulphur (ie rotten eggs!) so we were not at all convinced that we would have wanted to swim anyway!

Mono Lake

By far the most amazing part of the day was stopping at Mono Lake. It has beautiful tufa rising out of the water created by calcium springs in the lake. They look very strange and that is partly because the natural beauty of Mono Lake was only revealed through severe environmental damage. In the 1940's LA was short of water and an aqua duct was built diverting many of the springs feeding Mono Lake to the city's water supply. It was an engineering masterpiece as the water travelled the very long distance to LA using gravity alone. Gradually the water level in the lake began to reduce. This had a disastrous effect on the local ecosystem.

As well as exposing the beautiful tufa the lower water level meant that the salinity and alkaline levels of the water increased which caused a lot of harm to the lakes inhabitants. Mono Lake has two islands (both created by volcanic eruptions and odd as one is white and the other is black) which have long been the nesting ground of gulls and other sea birds. The sinking water levels meant that these islands were no longer a safe haven as coyotes were able to reach them. There was tons of litigation throughout the '80's and the LA water authorities were ordered to rectify the situation but surprisingly it was not until 1994 that any measures were taken to implement this decision. The progress has been painfully slow and over 12 years later the water level is nowhere near its original level. In fact we walked along board walks far into the area which was originally underwater. The refilling of the lake has to be slow though to ensure that more damage is not done. Many animals live around the lake and even in the exposed tufa themselves. We tip-toed around trying to spot some of the otters, hares, weasels or mice. Unfortunately there were too many Americans stomping around and shouting for us to see anything exciting! Mum did hear some coyotes yelping though!

Back in the car we drove past Lake Tahoe, seeing part of it in the fading sunlight. The surrounding ski resort was huge and very busy. We then had a long dark drive to Santa Rosa and were worried that all of the restaurants might be shut for New Years by the time we got there! Luckily they were still open and we had a lovely meal before spending another night playing poker! IT was a very long game, Mum and Dad both gave up and went to sleep before the end. In the end I was winning by a very long way but Scott did not want to admit defeat, Adam and I had to insist that it was bedtime!

Love Carly xxx