Day 7 (23 July 2016 ) - Yosemite Trees and trails

Introduction You have to remember only a small part of theYosemite National Park is accessible via roads, the rest is still in the grip of nature. Our second day in the park was slightly limited by the fact that Mariposa Grove of Sequoia Trees was closed. So the day was built around trees and trails. Sequoia Trees Given the restoration of the Mariposa Grove of trees until 2017 we tried to visit the other Sequoia trees in the region, there are...

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Day 6 (22 July 2016) - Yosemite National Park (Yosemite Falls, Vernal Falls and Glacier Point)

Introduction Our first full day in Yosemite was primarily about all the various waterfalls. Yosemite National Park has some of the highest falls in the world. We headed initially headed to the information centre to get details of the location of the key falls. Yosemite Car Parking Car parking is a headache, we were not far from the park entrance so we were relatively early into the park but traffic increases after 10am as those who are venturing...

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Day 5 (21 July 2016) - Death Valley, Stovepipe Wells Village to Yosemite National Park

Introduction We ended our Death Valley trip at Stovepipe Wells Village with a night swim. This was an amazingly cooling experience swimming under the stars. Stovepipe is limited in size and right in the middle of Death Valley. The plan for day five was to end up in Yosemite National Park. Before the drive we covered the sand dunes near the Stovepipe Well Village. Mesquite Sand Dunes The Mesquite Sand Dunes are about one mile from Stovepipe Wells...

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Day 4 (20 July 2016) - Las Vegas to Death Valley

Introduction Leaving Las Vegas was hard after three days of unwinding at the venetian and the baking at the pool. The trip to the Grand Canyon has us both familiarised with the car and so the read road journey began in earnest. The drive out to death valley is a well laid out drive. Our route is shown below: Dante's View Our first stop was Dante's View the drive to Dante's View was close to four hours but punctuated by very interesting...

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Day 3 (19 July 2016) - Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon West Rim

Introduction The third day was when the real touring started. We set off early morning to Hoover Dam which was a one hour drive away followed by an onward journey to the nearest point of the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. Hoover Dam. Roughly an hour's easy drive from Las Vegas the Hoover Dam is a mega construction. It is difficult to believe the dam was constructed so long ago. The dam is the main source for water and power for the western US. The...

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