The Sierra Nevada Mountains of California (not Nevada)

We sleep soundly in our empty campground, in our new tent, on our new queen-size, double-high air mattress.  Sounds comfy, and it definitely was - but we discovered our new mattress was just about the same size as our new tent.  Well, at least it did fit!  Might have to do something about that later on - like buy a larger tent!

It's Friday morning, and no matter where we go in this world, Friday morning means time to pay some bills.  (Now if I just knew that Friday morning always meant payday, too, that would be wonderful!)  I set up our wifi hotspot and laptop on the picnic table and start to tap-tap-tap away.  Granpa always fixes me a cup of tea and a sausage-egg-biscuit while I slave away at bill paying.

Next thing we know there's a park ranger standing next to us.  She's a sweetheart, and stays to visit for what seemed like an eternity.  Turns out the restrooms next to us were locked because the plumbing was broken, and she assured us that more campers would be coming in by nightfall.  (Good news, bad news.)  She also told us the shortest route to Sequoia National Park, which would take us in the opposite direction from where our Lil' Miss GPS wanted us to go.  But it's always a fun idea to take a local's suggestion.

So I finish up the bills, and we hop in the car.  Going north we encounter the new town of Kernville which certainly doesn't look like the old town, but the ranger said we shouldn't miss the museum because it has something really special hidden in there.

Around the bend and up we go - and I don't just mean north, I mean up to about 7,500 feet in elevation.  This is known as the Western Divide Highway.  It's two narrow lanes and goes around and around and up and down and switches back on itself incessantly.

 I love it!  There are waterfalls beside the road:

and bald mountains similar to Half Dome in Yosemite National Park

as we transition from small, flowering scrub to the giant towering Sequoia...

These trees were not only enormously tall, (up to 275 feet - that's a 27-story-building-kinda tall !!) but they are also of huge diameter - up to 36 1/2 feet around!  (Finally I look small next to something!)

These guys may have been 36 feet around, but pretty often they were hollow inside.

If you look really, really, really close you can see Granpa standing IN the base of the tree.

Below is the same tree - and I'm standing INSIDE its hollowed out base.  Farmer's wives used to keep their chickens and geese in here at night.  It is absolutely massive!

But we haven't even gotten to the Giants yet!

John Wayne, Old Kernville and Lake Isabella

Our Lil' Miss GPS takes us directly to the campgrounds.  Hmmm.  This is weird.  There is not a single solitary soul in the campground.  No host.  No other campers. No National Forest Ranger (and this is before the government shut-down of all National Parks.)  John heads for the restroom only to find it locked up tight.  Sigh.

I get on the laptop, find the National Parks reservation number, call 'em up, confirm we're in the right place, confirm that there are still no openings in Sequoia National Park itself, and realize we've got the entire place to ourselves.  Good news, bad news.  Good news is, "to ourselves" means no crying children, barking dogs, or noisy party-ers; Bad news is, it's kinda weird feeling.

In the meantime, John, for a lack of anything else to do, had walked down to the next restroom and found it was open, flushing, and showers working.  We set up camp. 

Still plenty of time to check out the sights close by.  We go back toward the lake, take a couple of pictures:

Ah, it's pretty ... pretty low ... pretty barren ... pretty devoid of people!  Seems that pretty soon, if it doesn't do some serious snowing or raining upstream, the water is going to be so low that the original townsite of Kernville will re-emerge!  Yup, yet another town swallowed up by the damming of a river to provide water to L.A.  Tis a shame, too, because Kernville was a true old west town, established in 1858, first named Rogersville but soon to be known as Whiskey Flat when the saloon opened.  In 1864 it took the name Kernville in memory of  Edward Kern, the topographer and artist of the John C. Freemont expedition that came through and camped here in 1845.

When the Isabella Dam construction got underway, the whole town, brick, stone, and board, was moved upriver to higher ground, including the famous Mountain Inn (now renamed the River View Lodge.)  It had been built mainly to house movie stars and crew before the 1948 relocation.  Use of the town for movie sets all but disappeared after the move because it was just never the same.  But it was THE top remote film location for Hollywood.  Remember the John Wayne movies, "Stagecoach" and "In Old California"?  They were shot here.  

http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=2528

 It is said that Hollywood, from right in this area, can make you believe that you are anywhere they need you to be - except for on a congested highway or in a metropolitan area:  arid desert, verdant mountain, stream, river, lake, canyons, meadows, giant forests, dusty hiking trails, winding mountain roads... even Lake Isabella can make you believe you're on the coast of the Pacific Ocean if the wind comes up just right!  And all of that just a couple of hours from their main studios in Hollywood. 


We hop back in the car and mosey down the road a piece, past the dam, and to the other side of the road.  See the contrast between the two pieces of scenery?  No wonder Hollywood likes this place!

Much prettier!  If I was still an agile, jock-kinda-teenager, I swear I'd jump in and go for a swim!  But, alas, I'm a too-fat-to-climb-out kinda old woman now, so all I can do is look.  And so I did, and it was wonderful!

We're Off to California!

We're off to California, but just for a weekend.  Our goal is Sequoia National Park.  I call ahead for camping reservations and discover that there are zero sites available inside the National Park, but that's okay, because there are plenty of places just outside the Park in Sequoia National Forest.  I find a place near the town of Kernville.  (Who's ever heard of Kernville?  Not me.  Not Granpa.  No matter.  If there's something to discover worth knowing, we'll find it!)

It's a grand start to the day with our retaining-wall lizard wishing us a safe trip.  (Does he look like he's wishing us a safe trip?  I'm not so sure...)

Unfortunately, to get to California we have to "cross the river," and you know what I think about that! (http://thetravelerstwo.blogspot.com/2013/09/dont-cross-river.html)  We submit to following Lil' Miss GPS instructions, but determine not to stop for anything until we clear the casinos.  Turns out, someone is paying her to direct us through casino row because the next thing we know we're back across the river on the same road in Arizona that she directed us off of.  Next time we're around casinos I'm gonna trust the old fashioned road atlas!

The next thing we come up on, once we are actually in California, is this historical landmarker for Freeman Junction.


It says:  In 1834, explorer Joseph R. Walker passed this junction of Indian trails after discovering nearby Walker Pass.  Death Valley 49er parties here diverged west and south after their escape from Death Valley en route to the California gold fields.  Later this became a junction point where the bandit Tiburcio Vasquez preyed on stages and freighters traveling between the Kern River mines and Los Angeles, and the mines of Bodie and the Panamints.


Oh, good.  We escape the casinos just to run a gauntlet of bandits!

I can just see them come tearin' around those boulders with guns a blazin' to stop freight wagons loaded with gold ore and stagecoaches loaded with passengers loaded with money and jewelry...

A bit further down the highway, Joshua Trees (also known as Yucca Brevifolia) begin to populate the landscape:

The only place on earth that the Joshua Tree grows naturally is in the Mohave Desert, and they are the largest of the yucca plants.  They grow to between 15 and 40 feet in height and can be as much as three feet around.  It might take them 60 years to do that, but they live up to 150 years!  There's a symbiotic relationship between the Joshua Tree and a particular kind of moth - the Pronuba Moth.  Neither will live without the other.  This yucca moth has a special organ that collects and distributes the pollen of the Joshua tree, and she lays her eggs in the Joshua flower so that when her larvae hatch they can feed on its seeds.  No moth, no pollination; no Joshua tree, no baby moths.  Who knew?  (Which came first? the chicken or the egg?)

Eventually we make it to Lake Kern ( Isabella ) which was created by a dam.  The water is way, way down because of a two-year drought - only 2 inches of rain in 2 years!

Our campsite is just up the road.

The FAA and East End of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon

The east end of the Grand Canyon gives the best views of the Colorado River from the rim.

It was at this location in 1956 that two passenger planes, attempting to dodge around storms created by giant cumulus clouds, collided in mid-air at 21,000 feet.  

All 128 passengers and crew perished in mid-air.  The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) was created as a result of that tragedy.  This spot in the Canyon is now hallowed ground and has National Historic Landmark status to protect what remains of those aircraft and the passenger's belongings.  Some of their bodies were able to be identified and returned to their families, some of the TWA passengers are buried in a mass grave in Flagstaff, and 29 unidentified passengers from the United Airlines flight found their final resting place in Grand Canyon's Pioneer Cemetery

Who knew?

Puebloan Culture

Archeologists use three things to define a specific culture:  architecture, agriculture, and ceramics.  (I guess for our culture you would need to change "Ceramics" to "Plastics," huh?)

The Native American culture that developed in the Grand Canyon area is known as the Puebloans.  Their architecture was structures of stone that were accessed from a hole in the roof.

 

Why a hole in the roof rather than a doorway on the side?  Safety.  Safety from wild animals and human enemies.  I thought it was a pretty good idea!

The Tusayan Ruins on the rim of the Grand Canyon are what is left of a village of about 30 people who lived here for about 30 years in the late 1100's.   The Spanish named the area, and when archeologists excavated here in the 1930's they affixed that name forevermore to the ruins.

This Museum on the site of the Ruins gives you a real-time idea of the Puebloan architecture - except for the doors and windows on the sides.  I like rocks, so I think it's beautiful.  I'm sure it makes my momma think of scorpions.  Scorpions on the outside maybe, but the inside is cool and dark so I don't think the scorpions would be comin' in.

This is all that's left of the original pueblos.  It's been raining all morning so they are filled with water.  (I wonder what they did with those holes in their roofs when it rained??)  It really is beautiful here.  I can easily see why they wanted to live here!

Their religious activities took place in a Kiva.  Traditionally, kivas were built underground and accessed by an opening in the "roof" because they believed mankind first emerged on Earth from a Sipapu, a hole in the ground.  There would have been a stone cover over it when no rites were being performed.  Here on the rim, digging a hole in this rocky soil was impossible, so they built up the kiva. 

As for agriculture, the Puebloan's relied on what most Native Americans relied on:  cultivated corn, squash, and beans.

In ceramics, they had distinctive black on white, black on red or orange, or corrugated pottery.  Corrugated pottery is usually made by coiling the clay or strips of clay and the making indentations on the surface.  It was very common in the later stages of the Anasazi culture from which these Puebloans and today's Pueblo Native Americans are descended. 

Spaniards Arrive at the Grand Canyon

Coronado started from Mexico City in February 1540.  He had more the 300 soldiers with him, plus four priests, hundreds of (Central) America Indian allies, slaves and 1500 stock animals.  Thus began a two year exploration for the seven cities of gold known as Cibola.

Six months into their search, the Hopi Indians asked if they'd like to see a "great river."  After twenty days, Garcia Lopez de Cardenas and his men (Coronado wasn't with them) walked out of the stubby, twisted, pine forest to stand on the southern edge of the eastern end of what we now call the Grand Canyon.

Cardenas was totally amazed, but entirely frustrated after staying for three days trying to figure out how to get down to the bottom of Canyon and thus the Colorado River, and never succeeding.  We know this because twenty years later, in 1560, Pedro de Castaneda wrote down his memories of the Coronado excursion into North America.

Coronado never did find the Seven Cities of Gold, but he did find Kansas!

The American Government Shuts Down

Just doing our own little research...

Glen Canyon Dam Visitors Center

Maybe the Visitor's Center is closed, but the government can't shut God down:

Lake Powell at the Glen Canyon Dam

Down this 40 mile long dirt road is the remains of an old west town, Paria, and pioneer's cemetery that was used in Hollywood movies like "The Outlaw Josey Wales."  The photographs we took on the way down this road are fabulous.  We finally get there, traveling through unbelievably beautiful scenery, and find this:

But, and I think this is pretty funny, the Navajo Indian Reservation is open for business!

This is the Upper Antelope Canyon.  See the tops of the tourist's heads at the bottom of the photo.  I'll do another blog post on the Canyon and use Granpa's photos.  This was just with my cell phone, but even with it's poor non-flash, point-n-shoot quality, you can see this Canyon is amazing!  And this is what we came to see, so it doesn't matter one whit that the American government is shut down.  All  the European and Asian tourists know is that Obama closed America and ruined their once-in-a-lifetime vacations - but Michelle Obama's website is still up and running, and Obama's ordered his golf course to remain open.

Nights in Arizona

Golly gee, it's beautiful weather here for August!!  Our home has a little group of seating around a cozy firepit - in the front yard!  Granpa and I like to come out here to watch the sunsets.
 

They are always different from each other and always spectacular!

After dark we look at the stars.  We're fifteen miles outside of Kingman, and there are very few lights out here.  Therefore we can see gazillions of stars!  They are fantastic!

One of our sons told us about an app:  SkyView Free.  Look!  It even outlines the constellations when I point the iPhone to the heavens, AND it lets me take pictures!!!

A scorpion is certainly apropos for Arizona seeing as how we found one in our bed the first night we were here - and another in the shower a few nights later.  They even sell them in suckers for crazy folks like me:

All over the sky, where ever I point the phone, there are beautiful constellations.  I can't quite figure out how the ancients "connected the dots" to draw the figures, but there they are!

The app even shows the Hubble Telescope and the ISS (International Space Station.)  Now that's cool!

Notes from Museums

1915 - when the National Old Trails Highway became the first coast-to-coast road, travelers began to experience running alongside the monstrous train engines.  Portions of this road, which later served as the 1926 alignment of the newly designated U.S. Route 66, through Northern Arizona gave some Americans their first taste of "riding shotgun" with the trains (a pastime which is still alive and well along Historic Route 66.)

Mohave County Miner:  "W.C. Babcock and wife motored as far as Seligman...and found the going mighty bad, having been stuck in the mud several times east of Nelson...They ditched the car at Seligman and took the train..."

1917 - Oatmen News:  "no more work (might) be done on any of the State Highways until after the war (WWI)...the entire state highway staff of engineers and road makers are to be turned over to the army to build roads from...France to Berlin..."

1923 - from Hobbs Grade and Surface Guide we find that "there is no dangerous or really bad road on the Santa Fe Trail...but there are stretches of slow, rough and tiresome road...Remember New Mexico and Arizona have been states for only twelve years ...but likely....spend more on their roads...than the state you came from."

1939 -  Route 66 was paved from Chicago to Los Angeles.  The completion of the paving on the eve of World War II was very significant to the war effort.  Improved highways were needed for rapid mobilization during the war.  At the outset of World War II the military chose the West for many of its training bases because of the good weather and geographic isolation.  Several of these, including Kingman Army Airfield Gunnery School were located on or near Route 66.  The military appropriation of the railroads during the war proved a boom to the trucking industry.  While car production fell from 3.7 million in 1941 to 610 rationed cars in 1943, production of trucks capable of hauling 300,000 pounds and more increased.  Fifty percent of all military equipment was hauled by truck during the war years.  It was not uncommon to see mile-long convoys transporting troops and equipment on U.S. Highway 66.

(Can you IMAGINE only 610 cars were built for private purchase during 1943!?!)

Check out this advertising:

YOUR 1943 CAR IS THEIR TANK OR GUN

     The wheels of the great automotive industry are attuned to war productions and the assembly lines which formerly turned out new automobiles for your business and pleasure are turning out equipment for your protection.

     You can't buy new cars so protect your old automobile by bringing it into our expert mechanics for inspection and repairs.

    Old Trails Garage

Overhead in the 1950's:

"No one can afford to be sick anymore.  $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood."
"The drive-in restaurant is convenient, but I doubt they will ever catch on."
"If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit.  A quarter a pack is ridiculous."
"Have you seen the new cars coming out next year?  It won't be long when $5000 will only buy a used one."
"I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it is going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20."
"We won't be going out much anymore.  Our baby sitter is now asking 50 cents an hour.  Kids think money grows on trees."

Wikame - The Holy Mountain Legends

Tudjupa created from pieces of cane the various Native-American tribes.  The Havasupai were the first offspring, followed by the Apaches, Hualapais, Hopis, Paiutes, and Navajos.

After the Havasupai and Apache were initially created, Tochopa, another god of the Havasupai universe, asked both of them to live together in Havasu Canyon.  Then there was a "Hatfields and McCoys" kinda thing and the Apache were driven out of the Canyon.  Rumor has it, though, that that rift was patched up a long time ago.  A Franciscan friar, Padre Francisco Tomas Garces, was the first European to document the legends of the Havasupai when he met them in June, 1776.  He managed to traced their ancestors back to 800 A.D.

The Hualapai made their home closest to Wikame.

You probably know of the Hopi tribe from World War II and the code-talkers.

Wikame, located in Mohave County in the pine-covered Hualapai mountain range, is the biggest and most ancient in the County, with an elevation of 8,417 feet.  That's why the elk hang out there!

Going To The Next Level

The views from here are spectacular.

But there is still a LOT more climbing to do!  I told Granpa that if it took me six hours to get to the top I was not leaving until I made it.  But I have to tell you, they have made it as easy as possible:

And as entertaining as possible.  This is Devil's Head rock:

There are dainty little flowers on the way:

But once you reach the top of Skyline Trail it is spectacular!

Now remember, the last 17 minutes of "The Last of the Mohicans" was shot here at Chimney Rock State Park.  If you've seen the movie, what scenes might have been shot here?

No, it didn't take me six hours to get here.  All in all, I think I did pretty good - but now it's time to go back down...

I told you that they had made the "path" as easy as possible, but that is still a lot of steps!  Just think, we had just finished coming UP those steps about 20 minutes ago!  and there are more, lots and lots and lots more.  But it's been a really good day, and we are very glad we came.  We know that there is great beauty all around us and a refreshing river waiting at the bottom.

Kingman Army-Airfield Base

In 1942, when the Kingman community agreed to dig another water well to provide water to the base, the United States Military decided that they would establish a Army base, the Army Air Force Flexible Gunnery School, in Kingman, Arizona.  In May, 1943 it officially became the Kingman Army Air Field (KAAF).  The climate was perfect, and the new Route 66 provided easy access along with the Santa Fe Railroad.

At the height of the war, in late 1943, the U.S. had 345 main bases, 116 sub-bases and 322 auxiliary fields.  KAAF was a main base with one sub-base and five auxiliary fields.  But in the beginning there was nothing here in Kingman, so the airmen located in the Harvey House hotel downtown.   Eventually, there were 400 buildings and almost 6,000 aircraft, making KAAF the 6th largest U.S. Army Air Corp facility.

By mid-January, 1943 the base had established Bugs Bunny (with the permission of Leon Schlesinger, "Bugs'" producer) as the official mascot in honor of all the rabbits around the Kingman area.  At about the same time the first flexible gunnery training classes were started with about 25 men per class.  At the height of the war, KAAF was turning out 200-300 trained men every six weeks.

The Gunnery School was activated on August 4, 1942.  Trainees included one of the first B-17 outfits, the 1120th, a detachment of Chinese gunners, the 334th Aviation Squadron of African-Americans, and detachments of the WASP (Women's Aircorp Service Pilots).  White, black, Chinese, men, women ... no racism out here in the west!  The WASP's were used to ferry new planes from America to the European theaters. 

KAAF trained about 36,000 gunners.  They weren't trained to just shoot guns and drop bombs, they were trained to be able to disassemble those guns in the dark in case the guns jammed during an engagement in those nighttime raids over Germany.

 

One of those gunnery teams was known as the "Lucky Partners:" 

 

After the war, this was cut from the fuselage before the plane was sent for scrap. 

 

The war ended September 2nd, 1945 and so did the KAAF mission.  The field was ordered shut down as of February, 1946.  It's designation was changed to "Storage Depot 41."

 

Most of Kingman's planes (over 5,500) were bought after the war for $2,780,000 by Martin Wunderlich of Jefferson City, Missouri.  The fuel left in the planes at the time of their decommissioning was almost worth that price all by itself.  But, Wunderlich melted the planes down, and from 1946 - 1948, he shipped 70 million pounds of scrap aluminum from Kingman.  (Contrary to some rumors, no planes were buried in the desert.)