It was a scenic drive as we approached Stanley. It is a very small town, but we stopped for a bathroom break at the Mountain Village Resort, an overly grandiose name. Leaving Stanley we turned south on to route 21. This is also the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. The South Fork of the Payette River paralled our drive and it was roaring with mountain run off. We passed through two National Forests and a Wilderness area along this route. It was almsot devoid of human development.
At Lowman we had a big decision, keep going south to Boise where we could get a free car charge at an Electrify America station, or take the shorter route on route 17, the Wildlfe Canyon Scenic Byway, but risk running out of electricity as there were no charging stations until Donnelly, a few miles from McCall. We opted for the latter and were well rewarded with a spectular, scenic drive, but also made it to McCall with about 50 miles remaining in the battery. On this route we continued along the Payette River on one side and towering peaks on the other. At Banks route 17 eneded and we turned north on route 55, part of the Payette River Scenic Byway.
After checking into the Worldmark resort we drove into town and charged on the Chargepoint charger. It charged at 125 KwH, but charged for both time and electricty. A $30 whooper bill. We shopped for dinner at Albertsons and barbequed dinner on the deck.
The Worldmark Resort is OK. We were on the second floor of a two bedroom unit (only two bedrooms at this facility) that was spacious, but non descript. It had a nice balcony on which we barbequed several nights. There was an electrical plug outside our door, but my charging cord didn't reach that far and the facility wouldn't give me an extension cord. There is a swimming pool at the resort, but not much else in the way of amenities. The main attractions of MaCall seem to be wintersports, Mt. Brundige is nearby with nice skiing, and Payette Lake in the summer. Not much going on when we were there and the place seemed to be deserted of tourists or vacationers.
May 6, 2025 Tuesday Day 4
Walked into and around the town. There was a long boardwalk which traversed wetlands. I went down to the lakefront where there was a beach and a marina, but no activity. The indoor ice skating rink was open but had only two skaters.
We cooked and ate dinner at the hotel.
May 7, 2025 Wednesday Day 5
We walked the Bear River Trail while charging at the Level 2 charging station at the Shore Lodge. No charge for the electricity, but $4 per hour of charging. We passed a lot of lake front homes. most of which seemed to be unoccupied and are probably second or vacation homes. Still some big piles of snow on the ground in places. Lots of tall pine trees and pine cones on the ground. It reminded me of Lake Tahoe, albeit colder and smaller, but with good pine cone smells. On the way back to the resort we stopped at the nearby Registry resort. It didn't seem to be very spectacular and very few guests seemed to be there.
May 8, 2025 Thursday Day 6
The day was dominated by a long drive to Hells Canyon, mainly on the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway. (lots of scenic byways on this part of the trip.) To get there was drove west on route 55, then turned onto 95 south and in Cambridge we headed up 17 north. We drove the entire 63 miles length of this Byway which runs along the east and west sides of the Snake River up to Hells Canyon Dam into the Snake River canyon, the deepest river gorge in North America. We passed a spot of the river where the Oregon Trail crossed the river. The Brownlee Ferry operated from 1862 until 1920. We also stopped at the Seven Devils Mine. Rich copper and silver lodes were discovered here in 1887, but for decades the mining was unprofitable and unproductive since despite using pack animals, a wagon road and steamboat, the ore couldn't be efficiently moved to the smelters. It wasn't until 1960 with the use of large ore trucks that the problem was solved.
The end of the road marks the end of vehicle access to the east side of the canyon.
The Visitor Center was closed, again due to staaffing shortages, but we hiked down to the river and ate a picnic lunch.
This was also a spectular ride during which we crossed over into Oregon and back into Idaho twice each way. The clocks in the car and on the phones adjusted accordingly. We passed several very small towns along the river drive. They mostly seeemd to be towns for employees of the Idaho Power company.
On the way back we stopped in Cambridge for a Level 2 charge at the Country Market, mainly to go to the bathroom and stretch our legs. A Blink charger, it charged by time, not KwH. Back in McCall we also charged at the exhorbitent ChargePoint station.
We barbecued dinner at the resort
May 9, 2025 Friday Day 7 Leaving McCall Going to Oregon
Checked out at 10 and began the drive to Pendleton OR.
On the way out of town just after leaving the resort we were stopped by a young policeman for driving 29 mph in a 20 mph zone. It is a residential area and the cop said there were many complaints about speeding from the residents. After checking my license and registration he let us go without a ticket. Tried to stay under the speed limit after that but as we passed through very small towns, and also factory locations, on route 55 also known as the Payette River Scenic Byway I had to be vigilant to the very reduced speed limits.
After we got on I-84 we got off at the exit for Huntington, OR. We had to drive about 5 miles to get to the charging station, but it was a scenic drive. The town is very small on the Snake River with a population of less than 500. It used to be a railroad hub, but now it has two marijuana dispensaries which have over $25 million in annual sales, mainly to Idahoans. We charged at the T and T Country Store which was doing a brisk business. The Main Street had light post banners of all the 2025 high school graduates. Further north along I-84 we ate lunch in a park along the river and charged the car in Islands at a Walmart. A very good charge there. I spoke at length with a Volkswagen IV.4 owner and we gleefully compared our free charging experiences at EA stations wondering how much our car companies had paid for those free charging sessions. We arrived in Pendleton about 3:00 and checked into the Trademark hotel. Sort of a second rate motel.
Pendelton is a town of about 17,000 residents, including 1,600 at the local state penitentiary. It sits in northeastern Oregon and is surrounded by a lot of sheep farms. This spurned the Pendleton Woolen Mills. The town seemed to be a bit run down, but it has a well preserved historic district.
We walked around the historic district and then we ate dinner at the Rainbow Cafe. In line with the town this was a western themed decor. We split a very large and very juicy southern fried half chicken and bowls of chowder. My spouse ordered a margarita which came in a beer glass. All very reasonably priced. After dinner we walked along the Riverwalk a levee along the Umatilla River.
Upon returning to the hotel I backed the car up to our room and charged the car on a room 110 outlet for about 3 hours. Couldn't do that while we were away since the charging cord did not fit under the door.
May 10, 2025 Saturday Day 8 Leaving Pendleton
The breakfast was pretty mediocre, but filling. We walked around the street fair/farmers market after breakfast.
The drive north on this stretch of I-84 is very scenic as it climbs We charged at an EV station in Hermiston and then followed I-84 along the Columbia River, a very scenic drive we had done several times to Hood River where we charged the car at a Walmart. We then turned south on route 35 stopping at several fruit stands purchasing some of the very fresh, but expensive fruit. We curled around Mt. Hood, still covered in snow, and proceeded west onto route 26 to Welches where were staying at Whispering Woods. This is a very green community with lots of second homers and vacation rentals, but this seemed to be a slow season. Our lodging came with a garage which had an electrical outlet so I was freed for a period of the need to seek out electric car chargers.
May 11, 2025 Sunday Day 9 Mothers Day
In the early afternoon we drove a short distance to the Salmon River Trail. Even with the short distance I took a few wrong turns along the way. This is a picturesque trail that runs along the Salmon River. I think we walked on a portion of this trail in 2019. It was very green and the trees were lushly covered in moss. We crossed a creek on rocks and took a few side trails down to the rushing river.
We walked back along the golf course. We made a 6:00 dinner reservation at the Cascades Room at the Mt. Hood Lodge. Driving the 12 miles along route 26 and then the 6 miles up to the Lodge was almost all up hill and used almost 50 miles off the estimated battery milage. The mountain was still covered in snow.
The dinner was very good, but pricy. Great service and locally sourced organic food. The common areas of the Lodge are inspiring. Unfortunately I left my phone in the bathroom which I didn't discover until we returned to the resort. That necessitated a successful battery draining return trip to the Lodge. However I was able to recoup some of the electricity by plugging in overnigh at the garage.
May 12, 2025 Monday Day 10 Rainy Day
We ate breakfast in the resort. I went for a walk around the neighborhood. The landscaping was lush and there were many colorful flowers.
I ended up on the river trail again, but this time I was a bit lost until I came upon the golf course.
Instead this place is eye candy. It is rightfully listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon. It has alternating layers of colored rock throughout the mounds and mountains which were created by alternating periods of wet and dry climate conditions as well as the pumice and volcanic ash which settled in the area 35 million years ago from volcanic eruptions in the Cascade Mountains, 100 miles to the west. The minerals that were deposited included aluminium, silicon, iron, magnesium, manganese, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, titanium, potassium, oxygen and hydrogen. I felt as if I was on another planet, but in fact I was taking a walk through this areas' history. I took way too many pictures as I was captivated by the colors and watched in awe as they changed as the sunlight changed into the late afternoon.
The colors tell a story of climate change in the area. The yellow and tan soils indicate a drier climate where standing water would not have been present. The red bands reflect a warmer, wetter climate.
John Day never set foot in any of the three units of the Monument. He was a trapper who came to Oregon in 1812 in the service of the Pacific Fur Compnay. While camped at the mouth of the river that now bears his name where it joins the Columbia River, he and his partner were robbed of all their belongings, including their clothes. After walking 70 miles without any clothes or tools, luckily, they were rescued by other trappers. John Day remianed in the Oregon Territory trapping and hunting and reportedly went mad. He died 8 years later at age 50. The site of his robbery became the site of a trading post and it was referred to as John Day along with the river. Thomas Condon (An Irish born minister who landed in The Dalles and became interested in the fossels in Oregon.) named the area John Day Fossel Beds because of the river's role in creating the landmark. Although John Day faded into histroy, he also has two towns, another river and a dam on the Columbia River named after him. Pretty impressive for a carzy, naked man.
After driving in on a gravel road we stopped at a pull out. The view was dazzling.
We then drove up the road and walked on the Painted Hills Overlook trail. 1 mile round trip.
Finally we drove a brief distance to the end and walked on the Painted Cove trail. This was all boardwalk on a circular trail about .6 mile.
We ate dinner at Club Pioneer in Princeville. This is a long standing steak establishment. The atmosphere was very good, the food was delicious but too much and the prices were reasonable. The latge meal was too much for my gastro intestinal system. (I'll leave the rest to your imagination.)
We retraced our drive on route 26 to route 97 which took us to Bend. Before going to the hotel we charged the car in a Walmart in Bend as the sun was setting.
We arrived at the resort, the Seventh Mountain Resort, at about 9:00. A married couple was working the concierge desk and they induced us to attend a sales meeting the next morning. We had a nice two bedroom unit, but no laundry facilities in the unit.
May 14, 2025 Wednesday Day 12
After breakfast in the room wasted time in sales meeting. Are the gifted points worth it? No sale.
Bend is located in central Oragon on the Deschutes River. It was first visited by Europeans in 1824. It was settled by Europeans in the 1870s and initially was called Farewell Bend since it was the site of a canyonless double bend in the river. The Post office shortened the name to Bend. The city grew on the timber industry and for many years there were lots of saw mills on the river. In mid 20th century due to lack of timber (During our trips we have repeatedly experienced areas where there was so much timber the loggers throught it would never run out, but then it did.) all the mills eventually closed and the town suffered economic decline. However it has rebounded this century as a recreation, vacation and retirement town. A satellite University of Oregon campus was recently established in Bend.
We drove to the outskirts of town and parked along the river. There was a nice walk/bikeway along the rive and where sawmills once dominated the riverfront, there are now shops, restaurants and upscale housing.
We the passed through Drake Park which extends for 1/2 mile along the river. It is 113 acres of expansive lawns and community gathering places. It is named after the developer Alex Drake who developed the adjacent residential area which is now an attractive Historic District.
The six mile walk took us into downtown which was busy with lots of shops and traffic. We stopped for a beer and ice cream, not in the same place. After returning to the car we drove to the east side to visit OnTap. An open air tap house which offers lots of beers on tap, music, and surrounded by many rotating food trucks. It is owned by a son of a friend of my spouse. Her freind has been developing dementia and we were looking for a way to get in touch with her. We had some beer and left a note for the son to pass along to his mother.
We then drove back to the west side for dinner at Sunriver Brewing Co. It was a lively place serving pizzas, burgers and lots of beers and music. There was an outdoor patio, but we ate indoors out of the sun.
May 15, 2025 Thursday Day 13
An intermittent rainy day. I took a walk along a nature trail It was a pleasent 3.5 mile walk through pine scented woods and past a lake.
I plugged in the car at the resort provided Level 2 charging station. In the afternoon I read a lot and relaxed. We ate dinner at the restaurant at the resort. It was pretty empty and quiet. Nice to beable to converse without strain at a restaurant.
May 16, 2025 Friday Day 14 Travel to Windsor
We packed and checked out by 10. The journey quickly took us onto Route 97 south to Klamath Falls to charge the car. I made several wrong turns before finding the ChargePoint station . It was probably a typo, or I read it wrong but I thought that the fee would be .03 per KwH, totally unrealistic. It turned out to be .30 per KwH. Probably cheap in Oregon. We ate lunch in the Mermaid Cafe while the car was charging. A nice little place which the woman owner said she said had only been open for two years. It was shortly before noon, but the place was empty as were the sidewalks in Klamath. (we didn't see the Falls.) I regreted having to pass by Lassen Nation Monument and Park, but we have been there before and there hopefully will be more trips to this area. Soon thereafter we got on I-5 driving out of Oregon and into northern California. We passed Mt. Shasta, Weed and Redding and stopped at a Safeway in Anderson to charge the car. I had an interesting discussion there with Cadillac EV owner who had recently acquired the car. He liked it and said that was the first time he had used a public charger since he mainly drove locally and charged at home. This was his first road trip with the EV.
We turned off I-5 at Williams and took route 20 west into the Cascade Mountains. This was an adventerous road that wound its way through forests and past Clear Lake through Lake County. The two lane road had lots of twists and turns. When we finally emerged on the western side of the mountains we took a short drive south on the 101 to Santa Rosa to charge the car. We then drove up to Windsor and after doing some food shopping, we checked into the resort. We had a spacious two bedroom on the second floor. We cooked and ate dinner in our room.
May 17, 2025 Saturday Day 15
We went to a sales meeting in the morning and we purchased what will be our last purchase of Worldmark points. That along with Wyndham should largely be able to get us where we want to go, albeit at great investment.
After lunch we took a short drive to Riverfront Regional Park. It is a terrific park next to the Russian River with many shaded picnic areas, (we walked by a celebration being held for a deceased local musician) multiple walking paths through woods with lots of tall trees, some seemed to be redwoods, and Lake Benoist. It was a very pleasant 2 mile walk around the lake.
We then drove into Windsor and walked around the downtown area which is called Poor Man's Flat. It is centered around the train station and the Town Green and makes for a very walkable downtown. This gives the town a a smallish, picturesque feel even though it has a population of about 25,000.
The area was first settled in 1851 and its first postmaster, a former Pony Express rider, named it Windsor because it reminded him of Windsor Castle in his home country of England. It got a boast when the railroad came through in 1872, but suffered a twin disasters from a fire in 1905 and the San Francisco earthquake the following year. A former WWII air force base in the area has become the Charle Schultz county Airport. During WWII a German Prisoner of War camp was established west of downtown. It primarily contained submarine crews and members of the Africa Corp. We drove by it, but there was little to see. The surrounding area has became a large agricultural area and now it seems as if every other store in the Flat is wine related.
We had dinner and wine at the Mengler Family Wines shop. Pretty good food and fair prices. They had complimentary bowls of good chocolate candy which I abused.
May 18, 2025 Sunday Day 16
After breakfast I took a walk on a walking path that adjoined a residential development. The streets there were named, 18th hole drive, 17th hole drive, etc. but I didn't see the golf course.
We drove up to Healdsburg for the wine pick-up party/dinner from Williamson Wines. We visited the winery last year and joined the club. We arrived in town early so we first charged up the car at the Safeway, then parked there and walked around town. As in Windsor, there are many wine shops. The city lies along the Russian River and was founded in 1857 by an Ohio businessman. Agriculture was the predominate industry and lemon pepper was first commercialized here in 1967. For a town of only about 11,500 residents, it has a big wine and foodie downtown.
The pick-up party started about 4. There were about 20 people. Young waiters came out with wine which was then paired, as explained by the chef, who was heavily tattooed, with the food course. The waiters kept pouring wine as I emptied my glass. There seemed to be no limit. I drank way too much. There were 5, or was it six, small but delicious courses. After that I don't recall anything. My spouse arranging for us to pick up our wine after returning from Hawaii and her driving us back to the hotel. No recollection of that or the drive. But it was fun.
May 19, 2025 Monday Day 17 Travel to Oakland
I swam in the morning in the resort pool before we packed up, checked out and left for Oakland. The drive down to Oakland took us through the California Delta, a low lying agricultural area and over a long bridge. I wanted to go to Jack London Square, but when we arrived there about noon I was very disappointed. Not much there. We drove around downtown and there was very little vehicle or pedestrian traffic.
We saw nothing of interest (I suspect that we shortchanged Oakland) and there was no easy place to park so we drove over to Berkeley and parked near the UC campus. I had been there many years ago for one of my son's college visits. (During that trip we went to a baseball game at the even then decaying Oakland Alameda Coliseum.) but I had forgotten how beautiful the campus is. Frederick Olmstead participated in the design of the campus. As we walked around the campus we didn't see too many students, but the beautifully landscaped grounds seemed like Berkeley's Central Park. Lots of redwood tress and walkways. We should have spent more time there.
Leaving the campus we walked a short distance through Codornices Park past our parked car and over to the city owned Berkeley Rose Garden. It sits in a small canyon and has a rose covered ampatheatre leading down from the road. The park was constructed from 1933-37 by depression ear agencies. The north side has tennis courts, which were actively being used while the south side has a grove of coastal redwoods and oaks. The over 100 varieties of roses were in full bloom. From the top of the Park there were expansive views of the City, the Pacific Ocean the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay.
In the later afternoon we drove south to the Fremont area to a Best Western Hotel. I selected it because it: had a shuttle to the Oakland Airport, was pretty close to that airport, offered a free breakfast, they agreed to let me park the car there for free during the trip to Hawaii and I usually have had good experiences at Best Westerns. It turned out badly, although not all the fault of the hotel. The hotel was just off the freeway in an area which encouraged one to remain in the hotel. The hotel looked like a prison and although our room was adequate, it was on the second floor with no elevator. Nor was it in an area which was conducive to walking. However the worst was that shortly after we checked in I received a notice from the airline, Hawaiian, that our flight had been cancelled and that out 5 hour nonstop flight had been turned into a 9.5 hour trip with a change of planes in Seattle. I spent over two hours on the phone with the airline finally getting us rebooked on an Alaska Airlines (corporate parent of Hawaiian) nonstop flight to Kauai. Unfortunately that flight left at 6:50 am from San Jose so we had to get up unreasonably early, missed breakfast and had a $50 Uber to the airport. But at least it was a non-stop.
Tuesday May 20, 2025 Day 18 Travel Day to Hawaii.
Got up at an unreasonably early hour and boarded the Uber in the dark even thout we were a month away from the longest day of the year. We arrived at the airport on time and passed through security without delay. We had a bit of breakfast at the airport (we left the hotel way before its breakfast was served) and tried to sleep on the 5+ hour flight to Kauai. The airline provided no food in economy.
Due to the time zones we landed in Kauai shortly after 9 am. Perfect weather. The airport is very open and largely outside. We picked up the rental car and took off for Princeville on the North Shore to our hotel. I did know where we were going but given that essentially there is one belt road around the island it is hard to get lost. It took about 45 minutes to get to our resort. The foliage along the drive was very verdent and lush. Princeville is a very upscale area with lots of hotels and golf courses. It is beautifully landscaped. We arrived well before check in time so we went to The Spot in Princeville Village for lunch. Food was OK, but the outdoor setting was very pleasent.
The hotel/resort was very nice. A two bedroom suite with lots of gentle breezes flowing throug the rooms. We walked around the grounds, checked out the pool and the other amenities. We drove to dinner at Kileaue Fish Market. We both had fish plates, marlin and tuna. Everyong is very casually dressed, perhaps to partially offset the high coast of living. After dinner we went to the food market in Princeville Village. The prices were really high. It was a long day so we went to bed early.
Wednesday May 21, 2025
We woke up fairly late and ate breakfast on the balcony. Very pleasant view and weather. I made some reservations for the following days, but we had to rouse ourselves to get moving. Our first stop was the not so Secret beach, a/k/a Kauapea Beach. It was difficult to find this beach. No signs for it and there was just unofficial parking along the dirt road. It required a .5 mile hike on a pretty steep jungle trail to get to the beach. The beach is completely uncommercialized, no food stands, no restrooms and no hotels. However it has powdery golden sands, which as the sun rose became unbearably hot, a breathtaking view of Kilauea Point and a mile of unspoiled beach. No lifeguards and the water looked inviting, but treacherous so I only ventured into the water up to my knees. Only a few other people were there. The hike back to the car was difficult.
After driving back to the main road we stopped at the Christ Memorial Episcopal Church. The 100 year old stone structure and cemetery had lots of stain glass windows, mossy tombstones and was circled by tall palm trees,
The next stop was the Anini Community Park. This seemed to be a very non Kauai area, There was a mini golf course, a cafe a traditional children's playground and and a site for a farmer's market. It was built by the founder of E-Trade as a gift to the people of Kauai. We opted for a walk on the WaiKoa Loop Trail which is a generally flat trail through the largest mahogany tree forest in the US. We discovered during the walk that parts of the trail were closed due to the destruction of a dam which not only closed part of the trail but resulted in the open parts of the trail being very muddy and buggy.
After we finished the sweaty and muddy walk we stopped at the cafe for a very refreshing shaved ice. By the late afternoon we drove back to the hotel. I swam in the pool and we made dinner in the room.
Thursday May 22, 2025 Day 20 Limahuli Garden
I made the reservation to go here after I was unable to secure a pass and parking permit to go on the Na Pali Trail. I thought that the $30 per person entry fee was excessive, but I was wrong. This was a wonderful garden with thousands of native Hawaiian plants, a great self directed tour informed by an extensive tour book and multiple helpful signage. It is set at the end of a sheer walled valley and offers a close up view of Makana Peak, popularly known as Bali Hai. It has many species of plants which no longer exist elsewhere on the island.
On the drive back from the Gardens we stoped at the Hanalei Valley Lookoutand the Wildlife Refuge. Not a swimming opportunity.
The next stop was Hanalie Beach. The small parking lot initially was full, but after driving around a few times we got a spot. It had very good swimming.
We ate dinner at the hotel.
Friday May 23, 2025 Day 21 Chocolate Tour
We went to a 9:30 tour at the Chocolate Farm Tour. It was only about a 23 minute drive to get there but I missed the turnoff. Fortunately we left early. It was a very good tour with a great tour guide. $89 fee per person. Very large pods for the cacao beans. The moist surface of the beans were very sweet and tasty. Among other things it was advertised as all the chocolate you could eat. I took them up on it and while the various chocolates were very good, I ate too much and it gave me an upset stomach.
After the tour we went to the Anini Beach Park. At least I think we did. It was not marked as a park and there were no public facilities. The beach was in a protected cove and was excellent. Easy to swim once I got out beyond the breakers without fear of being swept out to sea. I swam for about 45 minutes. The sea water I swallowed probably aggravated my upset stomach.
In the late afternoon I walked out first along the golf course and then out a Haku Road to the St. Regis hotel. he views from the road were stunning. It has a large parking lot for guests. There is a public parking lot with 10 parking spots from which you can get access to the Hideaways Beach. That is reached by descending a steep rock staircase which had handrails. Princeville clearly discourages anyone not an owner or guest from coming there since there is essentially no public parking and no public transit in the area. You could take a long walk into the area. I walked down the staircase to find a small but very nice beach. Very smooth sand and very few people. With no bathing suit or towel I just wadded in the water along the shoreline.
Saturday May 24, 2025 Day 22 Snorkeling and the Na Pali Coast Wilderness State Park
I wanted to go to the Polihale Beach, but that was accessible only with 4 wheel drive. I also wanted to see the Na Pali coast so the best way to do that was to take a cruise. I made a reservation and I got up at 5 am to drive to Port Allen at the southern end of the island for the cruise with the Blue Dolphin. There were several others in the area. Who knows if they were the best or the least expensive, but I received a small discount through the resort.
We took off about 8 am. It was a medium sized catamaran and had about 75 passengers. We were provided with a light breakfast. The water was pretty rough and I began to wonder if I would keep breakfast down.
After about 20 minutes we came upon Polihale State Park Beach.
Shortly thereafter we stopped and went snorkeling. There were lots of colorful fish, but no sea turtles. There were lots of other tour boats in the area.
Along the way to our next snorkeling spot we came across pods of dolphins. They must be very used to the boats because they swam along side.
We cruised along the coast observing the Na Pali mountains and snorkeling.
After lunch and much drinking on the boat, we arrived back in Port Allen about 3 pm and before starting back I walked around the Port. It is no longer the island's biggest port, but it remains an industrialized area. However it appears to be the largest base for the Na Pali tours so there are lots of restaurants and tourist shops. There even is a small airport.
It took me about an hour to return to the hotel and then I took a nap when I returned. Late in the afternoon we walked about a mile up La Haku Road to a cliff viewpoint to watch the sunset. It was underwhelming, although there were a lot of people there. Not enough pollution in the atmosphere to create vivid colors, but it was a nice walk.
pA
Sunday May 25, 2025 Day 23 Waimea Canyon State Park
We had breakfast in the condo and as usual, we didn't leave as early as I had planned. We got out by 10:30. It was only a 65 mile drive but driving almost all around the island and then up the winding Waimea Canyon Drive took 1 hour and 40 minutes. The route took us south on 56, then west on 50 until we reached route 550. It wasn't too crowded, but the largely single lane windy road made speed impossible.
Route 550 starts in Waimea and is a magnificent, scenic drive which follows the entire length of the Canyon's western rim. Initially it is grassland but after a few miles turns into a verdant forest. We passed several turnoffs until we arrived at the entrance to Kole'e State Park. A very small parking area which we had to drive through twice until a parking spot became available. It cost $10 to park and $5 for each person. At that site there are good bathrooms, a necessity for me after that much travel and sitting, and a viewpoint high above the canyon. We, along with others walked up to the viewing platform for many Kodak photos. Called the Canyon of the Pacific, this gargantuan abyss of lava rock is over 13 miles long and 2500 ft deep. The Waimea River (red water) flows through and along with volcanic shifting has helped to create and shape the Canyon. The multi colored striations along the canyon walls represent successive volcanic eruptions and flows over the past 4.5 million years.. The island was created by Kauai's original shield volcano, Wai'ale'ale. The volcanic hotspot has moved on to Yellowstone National Park. Trees covered the lower slopes where there is abundant soil and water while the ridges tend to be dryer and covered with smaller vegetation.
The Pacific was visible
The fog quickly rolled in and at times there was a light rain
The Waipo Falls plunge 800 feet from the Alaka Swamp in the Canyon uplands to feed the Waimea River.
No doable trails leading from the Visitor Center so we resumed our trip up the Drive. We passed a lookout next to a little red earth waterfall but continued on to Lookout #2. This offered a different view of the Canyon. Our next stop was at the Pu'u Ka Pele Lookout. We ate lunch there at the picnic area while admiring the Canyon views.
Around mile marker 17 we parked at the Kokee Natural History Museum. The parking lot was overrun with chickens and chicks. We were going to take a short walk on the Nature trail behind the museum, but it began to rain heavily and unlike the other rains we encountered on the island, this didn't end quickly, so we passed on the walk and entered the 2 room museum. It had exhibits on the geography of the area and an explanation of why this area received an average of 420 inches of rain annually. Trade winds and an inversion layer. Imagine if all that rain were snow, it would be the world's best ski area. The staffer as very informative and talked at length about the area.
We used the facilities at the adjoining lodge and the started back down the canyon.
Our last stop in the Park was at Pu'u Hinahina Lookout. This provided an entrance onto the Canyon Trail. Initially this was a flat trail among stands of small trees. However it quickly began a descent into the Canyon which became steeper and on a trail marked by rocks, roots and fallen trees. My spouse wisely turned around. I descended about a mile and the came to a fork, right to the canyon rim and left to the falls. I wanted the falls, but it was getting late I was getting tired and most importantly it began to rain lightly, but enough to make the trail slippery. So I went right and got another nice view.
The hike back up was slippery and strenuous. The main viewpoint off a short trail from the parking lot faced into a steep gorge while looking across the gorge I could see the trail I just walked on.
Another trail off the parking lot offered a view of Ni'ihau island, 17 miles away across the Pacific.
It was now about 5:30 and there was no internet. We drove back down the Canyon Drive, following a Ford F-150 all the way and parked at the end to locate a restaurant which was in the neighborhood and open during Memorial Day weekend. After several false starts, we identified Living Foods in Koloa, only a little bit out of the way. It was advertised as a community based farm to table operation. I was a bit surprised that it was housed in an upscale outdoor mall in a seemingly affluent community. However the food was very good, I had a tuna pokey bowl along with a local beer. The outdoor dining was very pleasant and the $88 bill was normal in Hawaii. Before the restaurant we stopped at a gas station. It was a $45 fill-up, I think that is the most I ever spent on a single fill-up. We drove back in the dark, which was very dark and arrived back at the condo shortly before 10.
Monday May 26, 2025 Day 24 Memorial Day
A slow day. We didn't get moving until the early afternoon. Then we went to Hanalie Beach. I was surprised that we found parking there, It is a wide, long beach at the base of the bay with lots of sand and calm waters. I swam for about an hour into and out of a strong wind blown current.
We ate dinner in Hanalie at the Terrrace in Hanalie. It was on the second floor open to the outside with a nice breeze. Our waiter was a local young man who had lived on Kauai almost all his life. He enjoyed the surfing. This time I had a salmon bowl that was very good along with a beer. Only $82 tonight. After dinner we purchased ice cream at the local market using the resort's discount card. Over ate on the ice cream.
Tuesday May 27, 2025 Day 25 Departure day
Woke up early and packed, finished off the ice cream among other foods and checked out by 10. I filled up the gas tank on the way to the airport for $9.
The rental car return went smoothly as did the check in. There was a long line at security. All of that is done outdoors under a roof. I wonder what happens to the process and travelers when it rains and the wind blows sideways.
The long 5 hour flight was uneventful, although unlike the outbound flight we were served some food.
It was dark when we arrived at the Oakland airport. Between walking through the airport, securing our luggage and waiting for the Uber it took over an hour. The Uber ride to the hotel was $28. The driver spoke not a word to us and didn't help with the luggage. No tip
We returned to the same Best Western that we stayed at before going to Hawaii. Fortunately the car was still there and intact. I wondered about the neighborhood as the hotel had a guard in the parking lot.
Wednesday May 28, 2025 Day 26 California
The hotel breakfast was pretty good, not up to other Best Western experiences, but filling. The plan was to meet my cousin and her daughter for lunch in Berkeley in the early afternoon. We checked out of the hotel about 11 and I hoped to charge the car at a BoA site in San Leandro. However I got a bit lost making the last turns into that station and by then it was full, including a county testing team that arrived just before we did and said they would be there for 20 minutes. We chose not to wait. Instead we visited a Ghirardelli ice cream and chocolate factory outlet. Hidden among residential neighborhood and light industry, with good parking, it is a nice and cozy place with an ice cream bar and lots of chocolate offerings. It remaindered me of a similar outlet in San Francisco that we visited several years ago but much less crowded. However the prices were similar and seemingly not discounted. Nevertheless less we purchased 6 lbs of chocolates for $80. A ridiculous extravagance.
We arrived at the restaurant, Le Mediterance, a middle east restaurant, early and parked in a public lot for $6.75. The food was good and we had a nice long visit with my cousin and her daughter.
About 4 we said goodbye and left for Healdsburg to pick up our wine at Williamson Wines. I charged the car at the Safeway and we enjoyed some wine, sliders and snacks while conversing with a woman at the bar who was visiting the area from Washington for a wedding. I guess because we spent over $600 for wine we were comped for the wine and meal.
We picked up our wine and drove to Napa before checking into the Vino Bello resort. After settling in we did some grocery shopping and went to sleep late.
Thursday May 29, 2025 Day 27
We ate breakfast in the room. Around noon we got out and walked around the area for several hours.
In the late afternoon we went to the main resort pool and I swam for about an hour. There were lots of people at the pool most of whom sat at the edge with their legs in the water. So I was almost the only one in the pool. The water temperature was very pleasant.
We cooked dinner in the room.
Friday May 30, 2025 Day 28 Napa
Napa is a city of about 78,000 residents. It is the center of wine country in California. The Mexicans arrived in the area in 1823 and established a mission. Some of the natives were converted, but the majority were run off or killed. The first Americans arrived in the 1830s. Nathen Coombs, an American pioneer founded the city in 1847. After the American conquest tensions broke out between the American settlers and the remaining natives . That resulted in a war during which the US soldiers hunted down and massacred as many natives as they could find driving virtually all of the remaining natives north to Clear Lake. In 1850 the first steamboat navigated the Napa River to the town and in 1859 the first winery was established in the area. However it wasn't until the 1960s that vineyards and wineries became a major factor in the area's economy. That was followed by many restaurants and hotels.
Ate breakfast in the room and I swam in the late morning. It was predicted to be a very hot day. We drove into and around downtown Napa about 1:00. Surprisingly there are lots of free public parking lots in the downtown and many of them have free Level 2 charging stations. A very nice benefit for visitors. We initially parked on the street and walked along the river. The City has done a very nice job of developing the riverfront with restaurants, shops and condos and building defenses against a repetition of past river flooding. The ocean tides get this far up the Napa River.
About 3 we moved the car to the Coombs Street lot and plugged in the car. There were 8 charging spots, but two of them had confusing signage saying EV charging only, but were also designated as handicapped spots. Those two were the only ones available. I parked in one of them.
We walked around the downtown some more, on the other side of town. It is a very upscale place with lots of rrestuarants and wine shops. There was lots of public art.
I reserved a bike for the following day from a bicycle shop at 950 Pearl Street in the southern end of town, near the Oxbow Market. It cost $55, an expensive all day bike ride. At 4:00 we went to Eido, a Japanese restaurant, at the beginning of Happy Hour. We had several servings of sushi and drinks.
At 5:30 we walked over to the Opera House for a performance by Leela James at Blue Note Napa. We had a very attentive waiter and we ate dessert and had more drinks. My spouse very much enjoyed the performance which had an overwhelmingly black audience. I was less enamored with the performance. The performance ended about 7:30 and we walked back to the parking lot. No ticket on the car. As we were driving back to the hotel there were large crowds of people walking to the BottleRock venue for a concert of Latin music. We got back to the hotel about 8:30.
Saturday, May 31, 2025 Day 29
It promised to be a very hot day. After breakfast in the room we left the hotel about 8:30 got to get into town for my bike ride before it became too hot and before the area adjacent to the bike shop filled up from the Farmers Market. We found a convenient parking space near the shop and actually arrived a few minutes before 9 before the shop opened. I had to wait a few minutes while the clerk waited on an older couple who required a lot of instruction, but after a last bathroom visit and filling my water bottle I got out the door by 9:20. I had to ride on a few blocks in downtown to get to the Vine Trail Bike path.
Initially the trail passed through a warehouse and light industrial area. Very quickly I was into a residential area of older homes. As I continued on the flat and well maintained trail it continued to parallel Solano Ave into an agricultural area with several vineyards and wineriers. After about 12 miles and 1.5 hours I arrived in Yountville. This is a picture perfect place, what most people think of when they think of Napa. It has only about 2500 residents, but it is located in the heart of the Napa Valley wine country. Lots of upscale restaurants, hotels, shops and people on the street. Everything is beautifully manicured. No litter or graffiti and nothing is out of place. I left the trail and rode through the town passing the expensive French Laundry restaurant and also rode into some residential neighborhoods. Very well maintained houses and lots, but not gigantic homes. I finally stopped at City Hall to rest in the shade and drink some water. There were several charging stations there that were in use.
I returned to the trail which now paralleled Route 29, the main north south road in the area. After a short distance I came to the Yountville Cross. Rather than continue on the bike trail, which was just a painted partition on the road, I took the cross intending to return to Napa via Silverado Trail. While on the Cross I passed several very attractive wineries. However when I arrived at Silverado the trail it was also a painted partition on a busy road. So I turned around and retracted my path on the Cross. I stopped at a Nature Preserve, mainly to rest. I rode back into and through the town and returned to the Vine Trail, this time turning north onto the portion of the trail I had not ridden. This took me through a canopy of trees.
I got a bit lost when I returned to southern Napa, but after riding through some streets I recognized the area and returned to the bike shop around 3:15. I was exhausted and pretty tired after the 30 mile ride. The shop told me to select whatever I wanted from the refrigerator so I drank a Gatorade and a water. My spouse picked me up. We had dinner in the hotel.
Sunday June 1, 2025 Day 30
We attended an extended sales event. I have got stop going to them. The points incentive is nice, but not worth the time. We left Napa very late, about 1:00, much later than I had planned.
Drove east on I-80 and route 50. Stopped in Placerville for a car charge. Very good charge in a Bank of America parking lot. We walked around the town which was a pleasent, quaint, gold rush town. Continuing eastward the road is very green and scenic. We passed through South Lake Tahoe along the southern shore of the lake and then into the gambling dens in Stateline NV. Turning north along the eastern shore of the lake still on routh 50 we squeezed between the lake and the Carson Range and as we passed through the Cave Rock tunnel the landscape turned from green to brown. Skirting Carson City we traveled along the Carson River and entered the portion of Route 50 that is labeled the Loneliest Road in America, into the desert. (I was so named by Life Magazine in 1986 as a pejorative, but Nevada adopted it as a marketing tool. It is actually part of a US highway which stretches from Sacramento CA to Ocean City MD.) At Sliver Springs we took alternate Route 50 to go to the charging station at the Walmart in Fernley. That was the last fast charger for a long distance. We rejoined Route 50 in Fallon (I used to go there for work at the Fallon Navel Air Station.) Soon after we left Fallon there were virtually no signs of civilization, desolate, just some telephone poles and an occasional structure. Mostly it was just sagebrush, rocks, initially blue skies and dirt, although we did visit the 600 ft Sand Mountain, really a giant sand dune. It is the only home of the imperiled Sand Mountain blue butterfly. It has a lifespan of one week. There was very little traffic, but the road was well paved and the speed limit at times was 70 mph. We passed through a few very small towns which had virtually no activity and seemed dreary, although it was getting into evening.
Before the sun set we viewed flat open vistas, high mountain passes and scenic mountains in the distance. After the sun set it became very dark. There were no street lights and lots of cloud cover so navigating the curvy road was a challenge. The isolation was breathtaking. We charged the car at Champs Chevron in Austin. It was a Connect EV machine which I had not previously used, but had signed up for a few days ago. Nevertheless I couldn't get the machine to work but a call to customer service started the charge. It was an outrageous price but it was the only working charger on that stretch of road. We ate dinner in the parking lot.
Austin was founded by Pony Express riders who discovered silver. A mining boom followed and at its peak the town's population was 10,000. Now it is 300. Perched above the town is the now abandoned three story Stokes Castle, build by Anston Stokes, a mining, railroad and banking magnate. Completed in 1897 it was envisioned as a summer home, but the family occupied it only for 3 years.
The last segment of this drive was the 144 miles to Ely. This section of Route 50 is designated as a Scenic Byway, but it was very dark, I was tired and the only thing we saw was Conners Pass, at 7729 ft., the highest point on Route 50. Ely was founded as a stage coast station on the Pony Express route. Very little gold was found there, but in 1906 copper was discovered. The copper boom lasted until the 1970s until Kennecott Copper closed its mine and its smelter. The mines were reopened in the early 2000s and now the ore is sent to Seattle for refining and the copper is sent to Japan. Its population has been decreasing for 30 years and it is now under 4000 residents.
After passing through the casino district, lots of neon, we arrived at the La Quinta Inn in Ely about midnight. Nice hotel with a large room. The only charger in town was not working, but the hotel permitted me to plug into a Level one outdoor electrical outlet. However the now needed reliance on Level 1 chargers, essentially wall outlets is is going to be a problem.
Monday June 2, 2025 Day 31
We had a mediocre, but filling breakfast at the hotel,. After breakfast we checked out, packed the car, but left it at the hotel to continue charging. We walked into town to the White Pine Public Museum, about a 15 minute walk along two noisy roads. Admission was $14. The museum has a little bit of everything from eastern Nevada history. Railroads, Pony Express (it never made money and after 19 months was killed by the telegraph's extension to the west coast), Native Americans, mining artifacts, a historic jail, a pioneer cabin and lots of personal items from local residents.
The docent was very talkative and offered a picture of living in Ely. Very conservative and heavily dependent on local mining and ranching. She was born in Ely, but moved to Texas. However she missed the mountains and moved back getting a job with the Highway Dept which involved among other duties, snow plowing. It snows a lot in Ely but she said the cab in her plow was toasty. The town doesn't have a clothing store, but she didn't mind the multi-hour drive to cities to go shopping. She said that when she was a kid her family made day long shopping trips to other cities.
We walked a short distance for lunch at Hometown pizza. Pizza and salad lunch special for $28. Filling and actually pretty good. As we walked back to the hotel to pick up the car we saw one of the 14 large murals that the town promotes.
We departed Ely about 3 pm with about 120 miles for a one + hour drive through empty land on routes 6 and 50. I drove consevatively since I did not know what options for electricty awaited me in Baker so we covered the 62 mile trip using only about 58 electric miles. On the way into Baker we saw a wonderful rainbow, long and thick.
We arrived in Baker at about 4:30. Our lodging is a quarter mile south of the town. It is a 1952 trailer home. It has a few modern touches, toaster, refrigerator and microwave, but otherwise it is old, comfortable, efficiently laid out and narrow. It can sleep 6, but more that 2 would seem crowded. As advertised it has great views of the mountains and the outdoors. However it did not have the advertised hot tub.
The car is on the right slowly charging getting about 3 miles/hour.
Baker is not much of a town. It is small and funky. The area had a number of notable European visitors in the late 18th and through the middle 19th centuries without any permanent settlement. Spanish explores came through in 1776, Jedediah Smith wandered through in the 1820s, John Fremont came through in the 1840s, Mormon explorers came and left and John Muir climbed nearly Mt. Wheeler in 1878. However it was not until 1875 that the Lehman family settled in what became Baker and established a ranch. Miners and ranchers moved in and the town was named after George Baker, a prominent settler. However even its position as the gateway to Great Basin National Park has not stopped its downward spiral. It had 68 residents in 2010 and in 2020 that was down to 42. No chain hotels and few restaurants, one is closed and for sale, along with a public school that only offers grades 3-6. The area seems to offer limited prospects. Still its position on the Utah Nevada border, a terminus of the Loneliest Road in America, (an accurate title) and the great outdoors capped by Great Basin National Park makes this place a worthwhile visit.
As we approached Baker most of our digital clocks changed to mountain time, presumably beacuse we were very close to Utah. However Nevada, and Baker are on Pacific time. It was confusing and the only known accurate time piece was the analog clock in our lodging. We pieced together dinner from our food cooler.
After dinner I walked in the evening down the road, route 487. There were very few cars on the road and very few houses along the road, most set very far off the road. Lots of sagebrush.
After dark we went outside to look for stars, but there was too much cloud cover.
This area is part of the Great Basin National heritage area. Straddling the Utah Nevada state line (the area extends west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in California and east all the way to Fillmore Utah) it offers wide open spaces and star filled nights in a classic western landscape. Within the Basin waters have no outlet to the sea. Streams and the small rivers drain into shallow salt lakes, marshes and mud flats which ultimately evaporate into the dry desert air. Much of the Basin was covered by the massive Lake Bonneville. As the Lake dried up the Snake Mountain Range became an island, its elevation a cool oasis for temperate-climate plants and animals. Many of these organisms were unable to cross the hotter desert basin so they became isolated and developed adaptations found nowhere else on Earth. Within its boundaries lie high desert valleys, biologically rich high mountain ranges, farms and ranches, historic sites and tribal communities. The area encompasses nearly 16,000 square miles, but has only 21,000 residents including the 6,000 in Ely and Delta. The entire Area is very remote and I suspect not for everyone. The distances are vast, facilities are basic and the few towns don't offer much. However among the seas of sagebrush there are star filled skies and soaring mountains. It should be interesting.
Tuesday June 3, 2025 Day 32
We ate breakfast in our lodging and got out shortly after 8. We took the short drive to the Park Visitor Center. The civilian employee was very helpful and directed us to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center. We were directed to Lehman Road which took us into the Park, (This was no admission fee to the Park which was good since we forgot our Senior Park cards), and also to the Lehman Caves. I think this odd situation resulted for the fact that the Lehman Caves were designated as a National Monument in 1922, but the Great Basin Park, which includes the Caves was not created until 1986 under President Reagen.
The Park offers the opportunity to experience desert heat and alpine cold in the same day.
We picked up our cave tickets, $24 without the senior discount because we had forgotten our cards, and spent some time talking with a female Ranger. Again there were no Ranger activities that day due to staffing shortages. She thought that there might be a tour the next day and suggested that we check in tomorrow morning. She recommended that we go to the Baker Creek Loop Trail so we drove the short distance to back to the Baker Creek road. This is an unpaved, although very drivable in a sedan, road 3.5 miles in length which rose about 2700 ft and lead us to the Baker Creek Loop Trailhead. On the Baker road we passed the Gray Cliffs area, drove through lots of airborne dust and parked at the trailhead. The Baker Creek Trail is 3.3 miles loop trail with a 850 foot elevation and was rated as easy to moderate. It was shaded in many parts and in many places ran parallel to the bubbling Baker Creek. The trail was rocky at times, there was lots of green foliage, alpine meadows, sagebrush and lots of wild flowers. After over an hour of walking we had not arrived at the loop turnoff. We talked with a young couple we met and they had the same question, althought they were in better shape than us. Finally two men said that we had not yet reached the turnoff. However we had 1:30 cave tour reservations so we decided to turn around. We got back to the trailhead about noon, shortly before the young couple who had hiked to the turnoff and completed the loop. Still a good hike.
We enccountered a group of wild turkeys crossing the trail.
We drove back down the gravel road and back to the Caves Visitor Center. We purchased a National Parks Monopoly game and after depositing it in the car we went next door for lunch at the Great Basin Cafe. Unlike most eateries in National Parks, this is actually run by the Park Service. There was a limited menu. I had a chicken sandwich special and my spouse had quasadias. The hot sauce was very hot. Food was pretty good and reasonably priced. I resisted the ice cream float.
After lunch we went out to the back of the Visitor Center and waited under an aweing with about 20 people waiting for the 60 minute Parachute Shield cave tour. (there is a shorter 30 minute tour.) It was an interesting cave tour. The ranger guide was pretty good and there were lots of odd and weird shapes in the cave. Like many caves there were lots of stalactites and stalagmites. However there were also some formations that are rarely found in caves or unique to Lehman. Shields are disc like formations found on the cave walls. Draperies are thin curtain like formations that hang from the cave's ceilings. Helictites are unique to Lehman. They are formations of twisted, spiraling shapes. All of these are formed when mineral rich water drips into or flows into the cave. The caves were known to and used by the local Indians for a long time. They were discovered by a local miner and rancher, Absolum Lehman in 1885 when he was looking for a missing horse. He gave guided tours of the caves for many years until they were designated as a National Monument in 1922. The caves are about 2 miles long boring into the eastern base of the Snake Range. The caves began developing about 515 million years ago and the passages formed 2 to 10 million years ago when warm acidic water dissolved the marble.
The caves were the site of a Viceroy cigarette commercial in 1959 and the movie the Wizard of Mars in 1965.
We left the Park about 3:30 and returned to our lodging about 4. I plugged in the car and resumed slow charging. Before sunset I again took a walk on route 487 and saw the weekly community softball game.
We barbequed sausages and added leftover salad and pasta for dinner. When it got dark we went out and looked at the stars. This night the ski was clear and we saw great expanses of stars including the Milky Way and the ever present North Star and Big Dipper.
Wednesday June 4, 2025 Day 33
I woke up early and watched the sunrise from outside the trailer. There was a nice view of the mountains and a passing deer.
We ate breakfast in the trailer and then drove to the Ranger station where we learned that due to staffing shortages there were no ranger programs nor were there astronomy programs. I hope that the wealthy enjoy the tax cits that they probably will not even notice which were financed by the government wide staff and benefit cuts.
Wheeler Mountain Scenic Drive is a paved 12 mile windy drive which takes you from 6700 to 10,000 ft. We passed several campgrounds and trailheads. At mile 5 we stopped and walked the Osceola Ditch Trail. On the drive to Ely along Route 50 we passed the ghost town of Osceola. We did not stop since it was dark and late. However in the late 1880s placer mining extracted over $2 million dollars worth of gold from Osceola. However tunnel mining was hampered by a lack of water. The miners unsuccessfully attempted to build a ditch to bring water there from Spring Valley. In 1889 the Oscoela Gravel Mining Company built an 18 mile ditch and tunnel that brought water from Lehman Creek to the area . It took 10 months to build using hand tools, horses and mules and consumed 2.2 miles of timber. The expectation was that fabulous wealth lay ahead. But the gold production did not live up to expectations and by 1901 the ditch was abandoned due to drought, water theft and leaky flumes.
While walking down to what remained of the ditch we passed through a forest of ponderosa pine, white fur and Douglas fur tress, as well as wild flowers and an alpine meadow.
At one of the pull outs we met a couple from Pennsylvania. Retired, they told us of a trip they took in the Yukon past the Arctic Circle to the Arctic Ocean with another couple in a truck and trailer. They entered Canada from Montana and after driving halfway up into Canada they drove on the Dempster Highway, an unpaved road with very few town or services.
As we climbed higher aspens lined the road and forests of limber pine and Engelmann rose on the slopes.
The road tops out at 10,000 ft and then descends about 100 ft to the parking lot trail head. We ate lunch at a shaded picnic table and welcomed the moderate temperatures afforded by the high elevation. We then set out on the Alpine Lakes Loop. This was rated as an easy hike and had an elevation gain of 440 ft. The trail was pretty smooth and went through some pretty forests, but there was still some snow and that resulted in muddy conditions. At about 3/4 of the way the trail was covered in deep snow and the sides were blocked by rock piles.
My spouse decided not to press on in the face of that obstacle. I made my way over the rocks and was rewarded in a short time with the beautiful alpine Teresa Lake. The lake was surrounded by a glacier carved bowl called a cirque. Towering about the lake was Wheeler Peak.
On the way back down to rejoin my spouse I found a way through the woods to avoid the snow mound. We walked back down the trail to the junction with the Bristlecone Trail which lead to an ancient bristlecone pine grove. However this was rated as moderate difficulty and had 500 ft. of elevation so my spouse decided to pass. It was a narrow trail which at times was covered in snow or more frequently, mud from melting snow. I passed the rock avalanche area before finally coming to the pine grove.
The Great Basin Bristlecone Pines are the oldest non-clonal species on the plant. (Clonal orgnaisms are genetically idential plants which clone non-sexually and live for 10,000+ years.) They grow in isolated groves just below the tree line. they grow in harsh conditions in which the temperatures fall well below freezing, high winds and short growing season. In some years they do now grow at all. However that results increadibly dense wood with a high resin content which provides resistence from insects, fungi, rot and erosion. Given the harsh environment and the nutrient poor, rocky soil they grow in, there there tends to be very little vegetation around the Bristlecone pines so there is little opportunity for fires to wreak havoc on their near eternity. They are found at high elevations in California White Mountains, Utah and Nevada. This dispersion is thought to have occurred thanks to the wind or an extinct bird which carried the seeds. However climate change is threating the trees by reducing soil moisture and increasing the risk of fires. Comparing tree rings of the bristlecones with those of dead trees enables scientists to date the age of the trees which range up to 5,000 years. Older than Stonehenge. Bristlecones start as saplings which grow straight and are very flexible. It is only when they reach maturity after a feww hundred years that they get hard and begin to develop theoir grotesquely beautiful forms. Even when they die, the trees hard, dense wood, results in the dead trucks standing for centuries and parts of the bristlecone can remain alive with one or two living roots. Even the pine needles participate in this longevity feast living for up to 40 years.
I did not attempt to continue up to the Rock Glacier.
After touring the bristlecone pine grove I retraced my steps and met my spouse at the junction. We walked back down to the trailhead and as we approached it we took the Sky Island Forest Trail. This is a boardwalk, wheelchair accessible trail that winds through an alpine forest. The many interpretive signs explained how this forest exists, cut off from other forests by distance, elevation and time. It is .4 miles long and has an elevation gain of 22 ft. It is unusal to have mature forests at this high an elevation, especially one that is isolated from the low lands.
On the drive out of the Park we stopped at the Ranchers post.
Before returning to our lodging we stopped at the biggest, and I think the only open reataurant in Baker, the Dinner at Bristlecone General store. It was pizza night and the place was busy. Another starry night while the car was charging.
Thursday June 6, 2025 Day 34 End of Trip
We ate an eclectic breakfast from our leftovers and didn't got out until 10 am, but we had a little over 200 miles on the car. That resulted from 3 days of Level 1 charging at the trailer and was reassuring since while ChargePoint customer service said that the next charging station was working, the Plugshare app said it was out for maintenance.
We stopped at the Baker Post Office to mail postcards to the grandkids. I saw two people working there and I image that it is stations like that which contribute heavily to the Post Office's deficit. Not that I am in favor of eliminating such low usage stations, but if the service gets privatized I suspect they will be eliminated.
A few miles out of Baker we took the cut-off road to get to Route 50. Again we were driving through a vacant desert landscape until we came to the Casino Border Inn on the Stateline in Nevada. It was advertised all over the place in Baker, but it was very small. It is 152 miles on Route 50 from Ely Nevada to Delta UT and there are only 2 gasoline stations, and of course no working electric charging stations.
Crossing into Utah we finally got our digital clocks right. Ever since we approached Baker three days ago our digital clocks incorrectly registered Mountain time.
In Delta we found the free Level 2 Charging station at the Intermountain hospital. Good charge, good bathrooms and we ate lunch under a shaded picnic table.
Delta is a tidy town of about 3600 residents. It is the largest town in the county and lies along the Sevier River. Agriculture and the Intermountain Power Project are the main industries in town. The River supports the former before it dries up before dry Sevier Lake. Alfalfa is the primary crop and the dry climate helps the farmers control the moisture content of the crop after bailing to eliminate mold.
After lunch and 25 miles of charge we drove to the Topaz museum in town. I did not know that one of the WWII Japanese interment camps was located close to town. The museum, opened in 2015, preserved the history of the Topaz camp and recounted a very dark story from American history, which it appears the Trump administration is attempting to eradicate. (I had visited two other WWII internment camps, Manzanar and Heart Mountain, but it useful to remind Americans of this past so that it would not be repeated. Unfortunately it seems to be repeating now.) Two docents spent a lot of time with us explaining the exhibits and providing background about these events.
Briefly, after President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, the Japanese American community on the west coast was doomed to a forced mass removal. This occurred without any due process, trials or even hearings. All were swept up simply because of their ancestry even though 2/3s were American citizens. The stated reason was concerns about sabotage and disloyalty. However not a single Japanese American was convicted, or even prosecuted for disloyal actions. Surprisingly, Japanese Americans in the rest of the continental US were not subject to this treatment, nor were the Japanese Americans in Hawaii ultimately incarcerated even after an initial order to do so, because the Island Governor pointed out that since the Japanese Americans constituted a large portion of the population, the island would be crippled by such an action. Nor were German Americans or Italian Americans subjected to similar treatment even thought there were several instances when members of such groups were suspected and convicted of espionage. I suspect that some of the reasons for this action were: mass hysteria after Pearl Harbor; bigotry and a willingness to eliminate Japanese American competitors in business and agriculture and even to seize their businesses and farms.
The museum had an example of the rooms the internees were given. No running water and except for cots, no furniture until the internees constructed some out of scrap lumber. There were some videos by former internees who after recounting their experiences including always dust, said that they offered their recollections in the hope that this would not happen again.
The docents were both former public school history teachers and they said that for a long time Topaz was not part of the state curiculum for their classes. Eventually it was, but then it became optional and now there is fear that teaching the subject will run afoul of the anti DEI initiatives. They also mentioned that there was a lot of pro Trump sentiment in Delta based in large part on White grievance.
We left about 5:30 and again drove through a lot of empty, desolate country, although as we approached the I-15 corridor the landscape became somewhat green and varied. We did one last charging session at the Walmart in Spanish Fork and arrived home around 8.
Epilogue
In 34 days we drove 3300 miles, not counting the miles in the gasoline rental car in Hawaii. The car was charged at 16 commercial EA sessions, receiving 600 KwH for a savings of $578. We received 187 KwH at ChargePoint for $72 over 6 charging sessions, one EV Connect session and multiple Level 1 charging sessions at lodgings.
