DAY 7 (July 19) - Yosemite National Park. One can argue nothing else needs to be said. This is one of the top parks for scenery, if not number one. Iconic Half-Dome towers over Yosemite Valley, looking mistily eerie at 6 AM (far right photo, from Glacier Point). Another view from Glacier Point is to Yosemite Falls (both upper and lower, making it the tallest waterfalls in North America, at 2,425 feet, total). Smoke from the Pika Fire obscured the valley (see below). Golden-mantled ground squirrels were all over the place, just like Sequoia NP.

Sentinel Dome is a great climbing option if you are not lucky enough in the Half-Dome lottery (300 people a day). There are remnants of old conifers. A great 360-degree view, though the fire was obscuring some. A marmot was paying no attention to the fire, which was on the other side of the valley.

Bridalveil Falls (left) and Upper Yosemite Falls (right) were spewing water at a fast rate. Finally, El Capitan, as viewed from the Bridalveil Falls parking area. Any thoughts of climbing that? Watch the movie Free Solo to see how it is done, without any ropes or gear.

DAY 6 (July 18) - Kings Canyon NP shares a boundary with Sequoia NP. Therefore, if you were to assume Kings Canyon has some of those gigantic redwood trees, you would be right. General Grant tree is what folks come to see in this park. It is the third largest tree in the world, by volume. Between the General Grant area and Buena Vista Point (just before Sequoia NP, on highway 198), I drove through a large section devastated by the KNP fire two years ago.

Though General Grant might be around 2,100 years old (started as a sapling before the time of Jesus), there are plenty of youngsters in the groves (the one in the far-right photo may be between 100 and 200 years old). The pair in the bottom photo maybe 1,000 years old.

A famous Haida Indian saying is, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” Let us hope the current generations can preserve that which we are borrowing so our children can have the same experience.

DAY 5 (July 17) - Sequoia National Park is home to the largest trees in the world, from a volume calculation. The General Sherman Tree is the biggest of the big, at 52,500 cubic feet. But it only holds this record today because the Lindsey Creek tree was felled by a storm in 1905. It was 90,000 cubic feet.

Yes, there are three photos (from different views), because this is the tree which everyone comes to see. The many Golden-mantled ground squirrels in the area did not seem to mind so many humans. I had started the day at Moro Rock. It was a fun climb on granite to a 360-degree viewing platform of the Sequoia valley. Next stop was the Tunnel Log, which has been around since 1937. Yes, I drove my car through the opening.

If you think you can count all the Sequoias in the park, you might be mistaken. They are all over the place in the main groves. After hiking the Congress Trail in the Giant Forest area, I went to the Tokopah Falls trail by the Lodgepole VC. This was 3.5 miles of fun. The trail ends at the major attraction, running much faster than normal for July, due to the 300% snowpack in the Sierras this past winter. That is snow on the right side of the photo. The tall falls leads to smaller falls along the river.

DAY 4 (July 16) - Pinnacles National Park preserves an area which experienced multiple volcano eruptions some 23 million years ago. Talus caves were formed, one being the Balconies Cave, which I entered. A few bends, duck-walks, climbs, and squeezes later, I exited. At times the NPS will close the path, which is the reason for the jail bars. A light source is needed, so I must thank the family from Southern California for letting me follow their beams.

The return trip was via the Balconies Cliff Trail. The High Peaks Trail is the other main hike in the park, but I had done that seven years ago. It goes to the top of the rocks and spires in the far right photo. The trails in the park were constructed by the CCC in the 1930s.

Cesar E. Chavez National Monument was established in 2012. This site encompasses Chavez’s home, the gravesite of him and his wife, and the headquarters for the UFW; United Farm Workers union. The VC and museum are housed in the HQ building. Chavez’s office has not been moved, looking as it did the day he left. The famous 1965 Grape Strike in California is symbolized in a large banner in the VC (Chavez is on the right, under “STRIKE"!”). Chavez is arguably the most important Latino labor organizer, ever. His social activism is legendary. His tireless work, including multiple famous hunger strikes, resulted in better pay and working conditions for millions of U.S. farm workers. With others, he founded the country’s first agricultural union. A year after his unexpectedly early death in 1993, Chavez was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in our country. I had the great privilege of meeting one of his sons, Paul, at the monument today. Paul is one of eight siblings and remembers well his father’s herculean efforts of the late 1960s and the 1970s.

The burial plot is near the VC. Chavez’s wife, Helen, died in 2016. Behind this grassy area is a wall with five streams of water. These represent the ultimate sacrifice made by five workers, who were killed deliberately, while walking picket lines. The five martyrs died for La Causa. May the memory of their work and that of Cesar Chavez and all other labor organizers and followers never be diminished nor forgotten.

DAY 3 (July 15) - Port Chicago Naval Magazine NMem was all abuzz today. This was the annual memorial commemoration, the 79th. On July 17, 1944, the greatest home front tragedy of WW2 occurred, at 10:18 PM. The blast from the munitions ship S.S. E A Bryan measured 3.4 on the Richter scale, and was felt as far away as 450 miles. 320 men, mostly African Americans, lost their lives, with nearly 400 more wounded. The blast was so devastating that only 48 men’s remains were positively identified. All that remains of the pier is in the one photo. Debris reached 12,000 feet, with the fireball being 3 miles in diameter. A second ship, the S.S. Quinault Victory, was birthed next to the Bryan. It was obliterated. A piece from one of the ships lays on the ground next to the water. Four plaques list the names of the 320 fallen men. Rail lines were used to bring the munitions to the base. Revetments dot the landscape. I was told the base has been very active this year loading ships for Ukraine. Six people in attendance have direct ties to three sailors who died that night, one being a son. He was given a U.S. flag which was flown over the memorial this morning.

Fort Point NHS is located right under the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Yes, the fog was still rolling in, even at 3 PM. The Fort Point Lighthouse was placed on the top of the fort, to help guide ships into the Bay. It was turned off in 1934 after the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge. The fort has three levels, plus the barbette tier on the roof. Twenty-one guns sat on top and could swivel, protecting approaches from land or sea.

The Spanish arrived at the Bay in 1769. From that time period there remains six cannon which the Spanish used to fortify the area. One of those cannons is owned by the NPS and is on display in the first level of the fort. The date on the cannon is 1684 (towards the bottom of the photo, upside down).

The San Francisco Maritime NHP preserves the legacy of the waterfront activities which made San Francisco a great city. Most visitors come to see the great collection of sea faring ships at the Hyde Street Pier. A Monterey Fishing boat was in the work shed for some restoration. The boat was built in 1923, just a block away from where it now resides. The Eppleton Hall is a 1914 paddle tug, built in England.

The 1890 steam ferryboat Eureka was one of 42 boats that ferried passengers across the Bay, upwards of 50,000,000 people a year. But when the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge were completed in the 1930s, ferryboats became dinosaurs… isn’t that the way with new technology? The Eureka made the last commercial run with passengers in the Bay in 1941. But visitors to this park can still walk on board to get a sense of those days gone by.

On a side note, Hyde Street is where the ferry boats docked for service to Sausalito. Cars on highway US 101 going north used the ferries. Therefore, the pier was part of this famous Redwood Highway. Again, once the Golden Gate Bridge was in operation, US 101 was diverted to that technological marvel.

DAY 2 (July 14) - Eugene O’Neill is the only American Playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His home Tao for the years 1937-1944, he never wrote another play after he left. A long story ensued as to the fate of the home, but finally in 1976, Congress authorized 14 acres as a National Historic Site. O’Nelll’s famous bed was held “hostage” by the Gumps furniture company which obtained it after the O’Neills moved out. Katherine Hepburn stepped in, in 1992, and made Gumps feel guilty enough that they donated the bed to the park. The bed is in Eugene’s room, near his black mirror (which he dressed in front of every day). The first floor has a Celestial Sapphire Blue ceiling, while the walls are Spanish white, and a brown-tiled floor (to represent Earth). One room has a blue mirror. The foyer, a large green mirror. This was the way of Taoism. O’Neill’s office has his personal desk from which he penned his most famous works.

Rosie the Riveter WW2 Home Front NHP is located in the heart of the Richmond waterfront. This is where Kaiser Shipyards dominated the skyline during WW2. 100,000 men and women worked in Richmond to support the war effort. The VC was part of the large Ford Motor factory which transitioned into making jeeps. A display in the VC has Rosie Reed’s (just coincidental) hardhat… she was a riveter, with her name painted on the metal. A metal memorial stands where Kaiser Shipyard #2 used to be. Elements in the sculpture are to represent a stern, a stack, and a hull.

Near the VC, along the shoreline, large posters of the Wall of Honor are hung on a chain fence. A short drive to the west, to Kaiser Shipyard #3, one can tour the S.S. Red Oak Victory, a Victory ship from the war. It is the last surviving ship of the 747 (519 Liberty Ships, 142 Victory Ships, 15 LSTs, 35 Troop Transports, 12 Frigates, and 24 pint-sized Liberty Ships) which were built in the Kaiser yards during the war.

John Muir NHS preserves the home of the Father of America’s National Parks. His correspondence and letters convinced government leaders to save lands which today we call Sequoia, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon. The house and 2,600-acre ranch belonged to Louie’s, his wife, father Dr. John Strentzel. being left to him and Louie as inheritance. Muir’s study, known as his Scribble Den, has his desk and table. He did not like to write, but knew he had to in order for powerful people to take notice of his passion.

Does anyone know what Quince is? The same family as apples and pears, and there are trees on the park property (photo in front of the ranch’s windmill). In fact, many varieties of fruits can be harvested by visitors when in season. Peaches are due in a couple of weeks.

Lindsey is a fellow member of the NPTC (National Park Travelers Club). She was working in the VC when I arrived. The sculpture of John Muir dominates the VC. No better place to have a photo taken.

DAY 1 (July 13) - Muir Woods NMon is a safe haven for giant Coastal Redwoods in the San Francisco area. The average age of the redwood community is 600 to 800 years old, with the oldest specimen at 1,200 years. Redwoods are insect repellent, and for the most part fire resistant, though not completely. This park was created in 1908, to protect the grove of trees in a valley just north of the Bay, from lumber companies. A display along one of the trails has a slice of a redwood tree, placed there in 1930. The tree lived 1,021 years, being born in 909 A.D., before Mesa Verde, before Columbus, and before the 1776 Revolution. Important years in human history are shown in white circles. But even old things can spur new life, as shown with the slender new extensions on one tree. Redwoods are the tallest living things in the world, rising up to 380 feet.

The land of Point Reyes National Seashore has been home to humans, and fog, for thousands of years. Granted, the fog has been around forever. Today, over 1,500 species of animals and plants reside in the park. Tule Elk are found nowhere else on the plant. I did not see any today, nor the Gray Whale which a ranger said had surfaced a few minutes before I arrived at the Point Reyes Lighthouse.

I stopped at the famous Marconi Wireless station, which is on the road to the lighthouse. Being able to send Morse Code via wireless equipment, across the Pacific Ocean, was considered the iPhone of the early 1900s. The original building stands, at the end of a long canopy of Monterey Cypress trees, planted over 100 years ago as seedlings. KPH still transmits (Saturdays only), making it the last Morse Code station in the world.

Along the trail to the lighthouse is the skull of a Gray Whale, along with two bones from a Humpback Whale.

The main attraction of the Golden Gate NRA is the Golden Gate Bridge. As mentioned above, there was fog today. The two photos show what can happen in a matter of minutes. But the park is larger than just the bridge. Fort Baker is a 1905 Army post, built to house units to protect the Bay. This is also the route to get under the north end of the Bridge (it was really foggy when I was there). All of the gun batteries built into the sides of the Marin Headlands and on the ocean shore are part of the this park. If you have seen the movie Terminator Genisys, you have seen some of the bunkers located in this area.