Spring 2001: Death Valley and California

In February, having had enough of Seattle's rainy winter, we stuffed our camping junk into the car and headed for points south. Went down through central Oregon and into Nevada, where the weather started to clear and the temperature rise. Had a beautiful day driving down the East slope of the Sierra's, past Mono Lake, and on down into Death Valley. It was over 100 when we arrived, but eased off later on. Patti and I did a bunch of short hikes there, usually starting at daybreak when the weather was cool. After a few days in the Valley, we headed over to the Mojave Desert, much less crowded and a different sort of atmosphere. Then up the coast to Patti's sister's in San Francisco, a tour of the Napa Valley wine country, a night in the Redwoods (perhaps my favorite natural wonder), and back to the rain.

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