Yosemite!

Half Dome at sunset from our campground

By: Lars
After the amazing visit to Sequoia National Park, my family and I were headed straight to Yosemite National Park. We were at Yosemite for a total of four nights. When we got there, we were trying to get a campsite in the Yosemite valley - the most popular place in the National Park - but every campsite was full (not really that surprising because Yosemite is one of the most popular National Parks in the world). Instead we stayed at a lodge in a town called Wawona (this is in the National Park but not in the valley). Fortunately, my mom and dad were able to make campground reservations for three nights in the valley the next day! The next day, we were all excited to go to the valley. When we got there, we were confronted with an amazing view of famous mountains like El Capitan and Half Dome. We also saw a wonderful waterfall called Bridal Veil Falls. We just couldn't wait to drive down into the valley and see these wonderful mountains and waterfalls up close! We were in an area called Half Dome Village. It was called that because we were camped somewhat close to Half Dome. That day we rented bikes... and when I say bikes I mean 1980 Banana bikes with no brakes on the handle bars and instead you have to pedal backwards to brake! It was fun though because we biked to what we think is the tallest waterfall in the whole National Park called Yosemite Falls. It was amazing and beautiful! That evening, my dad taught my sister and I how to set up a hammock (we got hammocks for Christmas)! The next day, we went on a 6 mile hike through 2 beautiful gushing waterfalls. The first waterfall was called Vernal Falls. The second one was further up the hike and it was called the Nevada Falls. We were planning to do a loop but the loop was closed due to rockfall and snow. So instead, we backtracked and got back in time to hang out in the hammocks. That evening, my sister and I decided to sleep in our hammocks outside for the fist time! I believe it should be a mandatory experience for everyone to enjoy! The next and last day was an exciting day... it obviously started with a hike but afterwards, my dad, my sister, and I went bouldering on some big granite boulders. If you don't know what bouldering is, it is a form of rock climbing on natural and unnatural terrain that is not high off the ground. We did this for a couple of hours and then went home tired from the active day.

Lars looking out at El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridal Veil Falls

Hammock sleeping at the campground!

Yosemite National Park 

by Ilsa

Chaparral Tree - so much in bloom in April

Yosemite National Park was way warmer than I expected it to be. The hiking was pretty phenomenal and I am quite sure that almost every hike that we did in Yosemite had an amazing waterfall to see. The first day that we arrived was complicated. My dad thought that the campsite that we were staying in was first come first serve, but apparently it wasn't. We went to the reservations office to see if we could work something out, and we got an even better campsite in the valley! It wasn't available til the next day so my mom and I got to stay in Big Trees Lodge that was built roughly 160 years ago! My brother and my dad both parked the Scamp and slept in there for the night because there was only one queen-sized bed in the room.

On the way to Yosemite Valley, we went on a small hike in Wawona and we saw a beautiful tree called the Chaparral Tree, and after that we started seeing them everywhere. Later that evening, we rented bikes and rode around the National Park. Also, Lars and I were taught how to set up a hammock by our dad! We were going to sleep in them the first night, but then we decided to do it on the second night.  On the day that we slept in the hammocks, we went on a six mile hike to Nevada Falls! The hike was so beautiful...we got really drenched in water when we got close to the first Falls. The second Falls was at the end of our hike and was wonderful. I said "this is like a luxury spa for hikers" at the end. There were tons of boulders for Lars and I to climb on and the water was in magnificent condition for us to run in and cool our feet. The next day (after sleeping in our awesome hammocks), we went on a little walk up to inspiration point and got a good look at Yosemite. Also that day, we walked around Half Dome Village and found a good spot to go bouldering. The spot had tons of boulders that were perfect for climbing...it was a blast!

For the last and final day in Yosemite, We decided we would pack up early and head for San Fransisco. We didn't do any hiking that day which seemed pretty crazy for a Robinson, but we were able to manage.

Hopefully you have been enjoying reading our blog! - Ilsa R.  

 

Nevada Falls
The waterfalls in Yosemite were unreal - not only is it April, but a huge snow year too 

Bridal Veil Falls

Red Rock Canyon and Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park

By: Lars R.

Even though it was sad to leave Moab it was also very refreshing to be somewhere new.  Next, we got to Nevada and had to cross Las Vegas! It was crazy there! It was a cool experience though because I got to briefly visit a Casino for the first time! As we left the rambunctious Las Vegas, we got to our campground only 2.7 miles away.  We were absolutely blown away by how much humbler the campground was from Moab and Las Vegas. During the afternoon we went on a hike called Calico Hills 2 in Red Rock Canyon.  On that hike we scrambled around on red and orange rocks and walked along the sandy and rocky wash. That night at the campground was so humble and beautiful with the full moon and me and my family singing along to Ilsa playing Wagon Wheel on her guitar.

The next couple of days were spent getting to a National Park called Sequoia National Park. Sequoias is a very unique park because of its trees high up in a specific elevation in the Sierra Mountains. The 4 largest trees out of 5 are in Sequoia National Park. The biggest tree in the world is named the General Sherman. Here are some other facts I learned at the National Park:

Ø  The weight of 10 Grey Whales is about the same weight of just the trunk of a Sequoia.

Ø  A Sequoia can take up 3 lanes on a road.

Ø  Fires can actually help Sequoias because they burn off fungus and insects on the tree.

Ø  Fires also open up the pine cones releasing the seeds to grow more colossal Sequoias.

General Sherman Tree - largest tree in the world

Red Rock Canyon

By: Ilsa R.

The campsite we had in Red Rock Canyon was one of my favorites.  It had a really nice campfire with benches, and a canopy that blocked the sun during our stay.  The campground is closed during the months of June, July and August due to how hot it gets in Las Vegas during the summer.  We went on some exciting hikes with beautiful flowers that were so unique. 

The road to get to Sequoia National Park was pretty windy and we decided to go through some beautiful cow pastures.  Perhaps that was a mistake, as the truck and the Scamp both got covered in cow manure!  I saw the most green that I had ever seen in my entire life that day!  Sequoia National Park was cold because we were high up in the mountains. That’s the only place that Sequoias can grow successfully.  I learned the difference between a Sequoia and a Redwood tree.  A Redwood tree can be taller and skinnier than a Sequoia, but the Sequoia is known to have a thicker trunk.

Ray and Julie opt for the backroads - rolling cow pastures in California

Road Trip misadventures - backroads lead to car manure deluge followed
by Ilsa reacting to the windy roads with a deluge of her own in the backseat

The Fiery Furnace

Fiery Furnace hike - Arches National Park

Lars, Julie and Ilsa on the Fiery Furnace hike

By: Lars

Out of all the hikes and new experiences, we were most excited about a hike in Arches National Park called the Fiery Furnace. This hike involves a permit because it is like a maze and you could get lost. The day before the hike, my family and I watched a short video that explained the rules of preserving the wildlife and the obstacles to come during our expedition. After the video, a park ranger came in to review the rules and tell us a couple of other things like, there are over twenty tiny brown arrows pointing in the vague direction of the route. Also, it is good to keep quiet to see more wildlife and so others can have a solitary experience. The guy said it took him five hours to complete the route and he only found 9 arrows out of the whole hike (I think that last part was an exaggeration though)! The next day, we got prepared for our journey through the labyrinth. When we started our hike, we were finding arrows here and there! It was way easier to find our way than the park ranger said (they were still pretty hidden though).  However, the scramble was challenging in the sense there were narrow ledges and tight squeezes. At the very end of our 2 mile hike, my family and I spotted 27 arrows in total (way more than the park ranger)!

Lars climbing and jumping and making his mom nervous 

Note the small arrow on the lower part of the rock

Ray and Ilsa in the Fiery Furnace

Photography 

by Ilsa

On the trip so far, there have been incredibly beautiful flowers all around.  With regard to that, I decided to work on my photography skills. My mom and I are going to do a fun project together where we print off flower photos and make note cards! So far, things have gone great! Here are some photos that I took that you might want to see...

Moab!

By: Lars

Hiking in the Needles District in Canyonlands - one of Ray's favorite hikes

Our campsite is amazing in Moab. It has a pool, and the bathrooms have showers. After we got a feel for the campsite and explored it, we went on a 9.4 mile hike the next day... it was pretty tiring! It was totally worth it though because the views were breathtaking and the rocks had plenty of shapes and sizes. The last bit of the long hike was on a road in basically the middle of nowhere. And that is not even the coolest and craziest part... the terrain on the road was completely crazy with drops up to 2-3 feet and a lot of the road was spotted with jagged rocks. This road is only used by jeeps which seemed insane due to the fact the the road seemed almost impassable with a vehicle.

The next day was even crazier! Me and my family went onto the slick rock biking trail in Moab. The whole ten mile ride was on pure rock with the tortuous dotted line that weaved through shear downhills and steep climbs... I can't believe how well the traction is on the rock. I could climb up such steep hills with ease. So far, the trip to Moab has been a great visit!!

Lunch spot on the hike

 Out For Exercise! By Ilsa

The next couple of days around Moab were spent out on the trails of slickrock and dirt paths. Me and Lars had to power out a hike called the Needles District at the very end when we really started to get tired. We are used to skiing about nine miles but our hike was way harder because we were hiking and not skiing and it was more than nine miles. I found some Pictographs on one of the canyon walls. If you are not familiar with Pictographs, they are beautiful and ancient markings on a canyon wall that where stained into it from American Indians. The hike was so enjoyable and wonderful with all of the amazing views, I would definitely come back again to do the same hike!

Biking on slickrock is completely different than biking on a normal trail. It is such a remote place and It is quite the experience to try it out! It was way harder than I thought, though. Lars and my dad both went for a longer bike ride than me and my mom did because it was way too crazy for us to ride for so long. Instead, we went down to the town and we went for a ride through a park and we went to get ice cream. The whole day was a complete blast. And just to top it off, Lars and I went swimming at the end of the day.  Lars and I had been waiting to go biking on slickrock for a while and the day had finally come!

Hiking in the Needles District - fun trail with lots of slick rock stairs, canyons, etc.

PETROGLYPHS - etchings in rock hundreds of years old

vs. PICTOGRAPHS - pigmented drawings, also hundreds of years old - Ilsa found these ones on our hike!

Biking on the Slickrock Trail

Ray and Lars took off for a longer ride.... the gals thought it was pretty crazy terrain

Utah!

Lake Powell - where Ray learned to waterski in high school!

Utah! by Lars

After the Grand time in the Grand Canyon, we went to the windy Lake Powell near the Utah border.
One of the hikes there that we did was a hike in the longest slot canyon in the world (this was in Utah)! The slot canyon is called Buckskin Gulch and it is 13 miles long! We saw logs stuck in the walls almost a hundred feet up because of the prior flash floods.




Our next destination was a place called Bryce Canyon National Park. It was a lot colder there due to the fact that our elevation was almost 9000 feet. There was even some snow there which added to the odd temperature in Utah. At Bryce Canyon, there were tall rock towers called hoodoos. They were formed from wind, water, and erosion. It was super beautiful but crumbly.

Our next destination was Moab but first we stopped along the way to see the petrified forest... where trees turned into rock over geological years. The way trees turn into rock is the trees get caught in a mud slide. The mud slide blocks all the bacteria and oxygen into the mud and into the trees so that means the trees cannot rot. Over the years the minerals in the mud make a chemical reaction to the tree and low and behold, you have a petrified tree that is made of rock. As we drove on we had one more stop in a place called the Goblin Valley. In this place tons of sandstone has eroded away creating stubby rock pillars (sort of like the visit to Bryce Canyon). We did a lot of climbing and hide and seek!

After that last stop, we finally reached Moab, where we finally reached real civilization. The next day we went on a hike at Arches National Park. We did a 3 mile hike to a really big arch. Most of the hike was on a rough rock called slick rock. When we got to the arch, there were probably over 200 people there!

Buckskin Gulch - Kiska loved the swimming

Buckskin Gulch - longest slot canyon in the world

New Experiences! by Ilsa

The Grand Canyon was fun, but I do have to say, we have seen much more superb things on our trip that all have very unique qualities that are different from the rest. Our first stop after the Grand Canyon was Lake Powell where my dad, in his young ages, learned how to waterski.

Our next arrival was at Bryce Canyon National Park where there was actually snow which surprised me deeply. Behind our campsite, I found a long hill that led up to the top of the canyon! It overlooked the entire Park which was a beautiful sight in the morning when I went up there to see the peach - orange sunrise!

Our next destination was Moab but, if you know our family, we have to take a hike every day. We decided to go to such a fascinating place called the Petrified Forest.  There, I discovered how a petrified tree is formed and what it looks like in its rock formation after millions of years! The photo of me if you scroll down below is me pointing at a petrified tree. It formed after 150 million years, and had the most magnificent quartz crystals inside! That hike apparently was not long enough for the Robinsons, so we went to Goblin Valley state park that was amazing! Me and Lars found the way up to a super high spot in the valley. It definitely took some figuring out to find the way up to the top. 

We had arrived! finally, Moab had been the place that everybody wanted to see after all we had heard about the town. It was small and petite and had the most amazing shopping areas! We also loved our campsite that had a pool and a really nice spot for Kiska to play around! 

Thanks for keeping in touch with all the things that I am doing on my trip. Do not feel afraid to give us comments on our blog that could help us improve it!!!👍 

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Petrified Forest

Goblin Valley

Ray in Goblin Valley

Arches National Park

On the Road!

 Spending time with my grandparents was great. We tried to go swimming in their pool but the water was way too cold for me - my sister was able to, though. Kiska (our chocolate lab) had lots of fun in the sun... she just loves the water as well! I also went to my uncle Brady and aunt Danielle's house and we went swimming there as well (the pool was a lot warmer)! Leaving was very hard... I wish I could stay but then what is the point of a road trip if you're not driving on the road? The Grand Canyon was-once again-beautiful with the amazing views and the leisurely hikes down into the canyon. Sadly Kiska can't come on the hikes in the Grand Canyon but she is having lots of fun at the campground!

By:Lars

It was hard to leave our grandparents house because we were having so much fun! We went to a railroad park and got to ride on a mini train and that was a really cool experience! I went swimming in my grandparents' cold pool on a super hot 90º day with my new mermaid tail that I got for my birthday! Life feels so great on a trip when you are just laying in the warm sun... I wish every day could be like this. My Grandma and Grandpa have so many bowls of candy and chocolate around their house.  My favorite candies would probably be Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, Jelly Beans, Root Beer Barrels, Peanut Butter M&M's, and Malted Balls! We also visited our Aunt and Uncle and their three adorable puppies that were super tiny.

To be honest, I am mostly excited to get on the road and start driving with my chocolate lab who loves to snuggle up on you. She is super sweet when she is tired so I cannot wait to be with her. The picture up above is a photo that my Grandma took of me, Lars, and Kiska in the the back seat as we were driving out of her driveway... we put sun glasses on her that looked hilarious!!!

By:Ilsa  

Our first night camping in the Scamp, at the Grand Canyon... elk at the campsite.