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South from Reno, NV to Deep Springs College, by Bus
South from Reno, NV to Deep Springs College, by Bus
This was my visit to this very unusual college, which my daughter has been attending for the past year.
After my night in Reno, my hosts dropped me off at the bus stop in Reno, where I boarded a bus that took me through beautiful country that I would later explore with my cousin in much greater depth.
My first People of CA
My first People of CA
The bus (Eastern Sierra Transit Authority) and driver (at L) were so sweet! I had a great phone conversation on my cell phone with Green Streets' new summer intern for much of the trip down, but also talked with a NC guy who was coming out to go hiking. I asked him what he did for work, and he replied, "As little as possible!"
The passenger (at R) was typical of so many people who were hiking through the area, which, it turns out, is a stopping point along the famed PCT, or the Pacific Crest Trail that goes through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the range that is just west of Deep Springs College. It was an extremely snowy winter and spring, so people were coming down from the mountain absolutely exhausted and thrilled with the break!
DEEP SPRINGS
DEEP SPRINGS
This is a view from Deep Springs toward the Sierras. I'd be happy to share more pics of the college with friends and family, so if you are one of those, please ask. I don't know for sure, but I think they are more privacy-conscious than I might be, and I want to respect their wishes.
I stayed at DS for 4 nights, swimming in a freezing cold reservoir, meeting students and staff, cooking (baking!), and biking with my daughter up to the pass in the mountains (to Nevada) which you see in the picture! A challenging ride, esp as the elevation at the pass is 6400 feet.
From Deep Springs to Mammoth Lakes (carpool+bus)
From Deep Springs to Mammoth Lakes (carpool+bus)
I had the pleasure of getting a ride from the president of Deep Springs College into the town of Bishop, the town nearest to Deep Springs. I had not spent any time with him before that ride, so the 45 minute trip was a great time to get to know each other. He had kindly delayed his planned errands in Bishop by a day, in order to give me a ride.
From Bus Stop to Lodgings (dial-a-ride bus)
From Bus Stop to Lodgings (dial-a-ride bus)
Of course, I could have gotten a ride from my cousin from the bus stop to the inn she had found for us but I preferred to take a Dial-A-Ride with the Eastern Sierra Transit Authority. (Their summer shuttles had not started yet, and the winter ski shuttles had ended, although there was still lots of snow and skiing!) I wanted to support the bus routes and the drivers, and was happy to let my cousin relax after her long drive (8 hours over 2 days) from the SF Bay Area. And I preferred to ride in a bus versus a car.
From Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite (car)
From Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite (car)
My cousin and I had great adventures for 4 nights in this area. It was her old stomping grounds and she was excited to show me all the places she used to hike and stay at, on her days off from the Yosemite summer camp she worked at, when first coming to CA in the 1980's, (with me!) We rented E-bikes in Mammoth, canoed in Mono Lake, and explored the waterfalls and WERE traffic in Yosemite.
Among the adventures my cousin and I had in the eastern Sierras and in Yosemite were
- Hiking a little (she has a bad knee so not much of that. But I could jog, and did, a little!)
- Renting e-bikes in Mammoth Lakes and riding up to the lakes, meeting some PCT hikers we shared our snacks with, and learned we knew people in common with one of them, taking a dirt road that turned into a completely snow covered one that we had to drag our bikes along for hours, never sure we were actually going to get out of the woods! (The rental store did not charge us for the extra 2 hours - very sweet of them.)
- Soaking in hot springs after the full body workout of being lost and hiking with our e-bikes!
- Kayaking in Mono Lake and seeing the calcifications there called tufa's, and the ospreys nesting above them
- Visiting Camp Towanga, a very cool Jewish (not exclusively) summer camp where my cousin worked for many years, met her husband, and raised their kids, at least in the summers. (I'd be glad to share pics upon request.)
- Seeing a few sights at Yosemite. (We didn't spend much time there b/c it was packed with visitors... and their cars! I did realize that we were as much a part of the problem as anyone.)
- Glamping ("glamous" camping in a pre-set-up tent, with rented bedding and nice showers.
- Seeing the amazing devastation of California's massive wildfires in so many different places, from Mono Lake to Yosemite (and Camp Towanga, where the directors's house and other buildings, as well as the forests beyond, were burned down in the Rim Fire.
I'd be happy to share pics with anyone interested...
Then we drove (carpooled?!) to the Bay area, stopping off on the way to visit with family in Berkeley.
In the Bay Area
In the Bay Area
We traveled throughout the Bay Area mostly by bike and ferry, except when we drove my 88 yo aunt from her new home in Marin County to relatives in the East Bay. It was so nice that my cousin had a bike I could borrow!
Off-road bike paths are everywhere!
So nice to be able to bike to my aunt's apartment which is ON A BIKE PATH.
And, then to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge
Ferry " home" from downtown San Francisco and back out from under the SF fog to sunshine.
SF to LA (Pasadena)
SF to LA (Pasadena)
I usually use Googlemaps to figure out my travels, but Amtrak and Googlemaps don't work very well together re California travel! Even now, when I try to recreate what I did, Googlemaps is not giving me any train options for the trip; it gives me all sorts of bus routes, with multiple connections, when I was looking for a train route.
So I switched to Amtrak.com and gradually found the route I ultimately took: Amtrak's San Joaquins to Bakersfield and Amtrak throughway bus from Bakersfield to Pasadena.
One of the very confusing issues is that San Francisco doesn't have a real Amtrak train station, and to use the Amtrak.com's trip planner, one must know your origin and destination stations. I knew that the California Zephyr ends in the East Bay in Emeryville, CA, so I assumed that Emeryville would be the best SF station to check for routes.
The options seemed to be either the beautiful, yet 12 hrs 40 min long, often late, with a once-a-day arrival at 9PM Coast Starlight or a couple of inland routes. I planned to have dinner with my nephew in Pasadena, so opted for the San Jaquins train+bus combo.
My route to Emeryville from Marin was circuitous and had many legs. My cousin gave me a 10 minute car ride to the ferry, which I rode to SF. From SF's ferry terminal, I walked to a nearby BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station, took a subway train to an Oakland BART station, and the found the "Emery-Go-Round" shuttle, which I took for a few stops to the Amtrak Station.
See image at left of that morning's route (map shows cars vs the actual ferries and trains I took) which took hours to research (I really wanted to avoid taking buses in rush hour traffic!) It took over an hour and cost about $20.
Imagine my surprise then, when, once on Amtrak, I learned that I could have gotten on the Amtrak train in Richmond, 15 mins from my cousin's house! I had no idea that the train would go north before going south, and so had not considered getting the train in Richmond. Somehow integrating and sharing this kind of information would certainly make using public transport easier to understand and more appealing to use.
The San Joaquins train I took from SF to Pasadena was a lovely trip. I was surprised to see as much water views as we saw at first, seeing as the train was named for the famous San Joaquin Valley, California's fruit and nut growing area. But afterwards, I see that, rather than cut through the mountains separating the Bay area from the valley, this train went north along inland waterways, and then south into the valley.
Then we came to more of the views I expected, of fruit trees and farmlands
There was a mother with two kids sitting at a table nearby... I have seen many parents and kids on this trip, and enjoy many aspects of the dynamics. I briefly babysat one little girl while her mother retrieved something. The train feels to me like a lovely, traveling "village"!!
On this trip, I met Australian Sue Till, who was aiming to use "public transport" to intercept and meet up with her husband, David, who was hiking through the Sierras on the Pacific Crest Trail. She planned to take the train to Merced, near Yosemite, and reassess once there. She spoke to me about how frustrating it was to figure out public transportation options, and I could agree.
Like me, Sue also planned to go to Albuquerque, NM. She asked me to ask my Albuquerque friend for a lodging recommendation, which I did. My friend offered to host Sue, too, so I put the two of them in touch. I was thrilled when I finally arrived in Albuquerque to discover that Sue would be joining us for 3 of my 4 nights in "ABQ".
Here's a little conversation with her about her upcoming extensive travels. While I don't like the carbon footprint of traveling, I adore so many of the people I have meet when I have traveled. It's a huge dilemma for me.
Amtrak buses are really nice too! I had lovely conversations with my fellow travelers, including these two women. Like so many I met on this trip, the younger one was returning from was visiting a daughter who was expecting a child! I don't recall the other woman's story, but do recall that she was very interesting to talk to.
And the views of the brown CA hills outside of Pasadena were lovely!
Pasadena
Pasadena
This album is pics from my quick day of walking around the lovely Caltech campus. I did not see "the sights", but had a lovely time. I took a bus (my AirBNB hosts gave me a transit card that I later found out was also usable on the light rail train I took to LA.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Scenes from my hour or so in LA, during which I rented (free!) a bike-share e-bike for half an hour, walked through the original, now very touristy, Pueblo de Los Angeles, and enjoyed the lovely train station. There are also scenes of the LA River (!) and the industrial areas that I saw from aboard my train to Albuquerque, the Southwest Chief. I also have a shot of the Fullerton CA station we stopped at on our way out of the area.
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