The Great Northwestern Loop

[Mark W. Ingalls]

<snip> That cracked up ice shot is taken from 12000', basically on your road shot from the bridge looking up the receding glacier you'd need to go over top of that ridge line. I was mainly posting it to give some perspective on those cracks you see from the road verse in person (those little dots going across the snow pack are people).

Cool... Once again, the scale of things is way outside of our everyday experience.

PRAY I discovered the options are not real good.

Yah, my bumper is so weak I don't believe jacking on it would move anything besides the bumper. I was mulling over making jack points tied from the frame for all four corners; now I'm down to two, and that seems do-able.

@ Ted, Ed, Jay, Craig, Dave, ... everybody who have left kind words-- Thank you. We might not be able to describe the tie that binds us, but we know it is there nevertheless.

 

[zonker]

Mark... I have to say that I am duly impressed! I had no idea of the artist that lurks within. Your sketch of me from memory is so accurate that I would have guessed that you had produced it from a photo that Bobby captured on his cell phone. Way to go guy! Maybe you should give up the engineering field and setup up shop as a portrait artist.

It was great having you stop in for a visit. I felt bad that I didn't have much time since we were heading out on a mountain bike adventure with some friends. The food was great and so was the beer thing that you whipped up. Don't think I have ever had a beer with that sort of color and taste ever in my life.. pretty good if you can get by the color. The best part of course was the company.. not ours.. but yours. It was a true treat to sit and yack with you for the evening. Beth and I enjoyed it very much. Too bad you live WAY DOWN THERE! Hopefully our driveway was comfortable enough?

Rest assured you, Edna and Bobby are welcome in our driveway anytime... and you don't even have to cook! The best to the three of you.

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

The last installment of this trip report was in October and it's now March. In the five ensuing months, we were busy with health issues and other things in life. Edna has been having a specially hard time of it since the new year and so I decided to make her a slide show of the "best 851" photos with her favorite background music while she is in the hospital. We're halfway through our third week in MD Anderson now, so we've gotten plenty of time to relive those adventures from last summer and the memories are refreshed. I decided to try and finish the second half of our Great Northwestern Loop for my WtW fam, especially the newer members, to inspire all of us to see the joy in life and be thankful.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Our next destination was Yosemite. The first time we were there, Edna took over 1200 pictures. I thought we should go back again so she could actually see it this time. Like many of the other parks we had visited, there was plenty of road construction as the federal government tried to get the economy going again. We decided to avoid the valley proper, and stuck with 120 all the way across from West to East.

We were a little concerned about where to spend the night: We were in one of the busiest NP's during the busiest time of the year. Fortunately, we were able to find a beautiful, quiet spot by driving down an old log road in the Stanislaus National Forest. The entrance from the main road onto the log road was a little washed out, which prevented it from being snapped up by a bondocking RV'er.

As we entered the Park the next morning, Edna wanted to hike to the Merced Grove. I was afraid we might have a problem with this, but Edna reasoned that we might have had a problem during any other leg of the trip, especially off-roading in Arches NP, so we parked and set out.

We made it all the way...

...but it took pretty near all she had to give, as this photo shows...

Edna just loves those majestic giants!

With Edna resting comfortably in the back seat of the truck, Robert and I tooled around looking out the window.

Stay tuned for video!

 

[chnlisle]

Y'know Mark I've been there at least 50 times and each time I feel like John Muir seeing it for the first time. It really is one of the most spectacular places on earth. Those of us who were born and live in the west are very lucky.

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Y'know Mark I've been there at least 50 times and each time I feel like John Muir seeing it for the first time. It really is one of the most spectacular places on earth. Those of us who were born and live in the west are very lucky.

yep.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

thank you for sharing the trip.we have also gone to most of these places and have always enjoyed them.thanks again frank.

ps i like the storm flap holder upers,i'll have to make some for my rig. frank

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Yeah, Frank, they work pretty good; you can tuck 'em up under the flaps when the flaps are down and then they'll fold right inside the soft sides when the roof is lowered.

Anyway, with Edna wiped out from the hike as she was, I just drove slow and let her take pictures out the window...

When she saw these guys, Edna woke up fast- "Pull over!"

She zoomed in on the guy fixin' to summit after we'd been there awhile. We saw something move and realized it was a human...

We also saw a couple FWC's as we were leaving the park...

I shot this video as we were heading away from the park...
Grumpy People

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

mark could you show a close up of the flap holders,i think i have the idea but would like a size.great pics of yosemite .we can't wait to get our bobcat on the road.we have done a lot of camping in most of these places over the past 35 years so we look forward to the next step with our popup.thanks .frank

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

mark could you show a close up of the flap holders,i think i have the idea but would like a size.great pics of yosemite .we can't wait to get our bobcat on the road.we have done a lot of camping in most of these places over the past 35 years so we look forward to the next step with our popup.thanks .frank


We're away from home right now (and we're not camping ) Frank, but whenever we get a chance I'll post some shots in a new thread in the FWC user's section.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

thanks enjoy your trip.no hurry for the pics.frank

 

[ski3pin]

Nice photos and trip report! Thanks for sharing.

 

[realbtl]

Mark- Thanks for the Tioga pass pix. I used to live on the Delta on Bethel Island and many times made the BI>Tioga Pass>Sonora Pass>BI loop on my motorcycle. My last time on that loop was with my dad on our second to last mc trip when he was 78 yrs old. Brings back fond memories.

I hope you and your family are doing well, Barney