Sierra Nevadas

Back in September, I took my big trip for the year, a trip focused in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, but with extensions into the Bay Area and Cascades. In the span of eight days, I climbed summitted no less than four peaks; entered as many national parks and twice as many more state parks; crossed the mountains three times, twice via scenic byways; toured two historic homes; gazed on the Milky Way as never before; and seen, among others, Mark Twain's desk, the locomotive used in Back to the Future: Part III, the site of the gold discovery that set off the California Gold Rush.

I flew to San Jose one Friday night after work and started my explorations the next day in rugged landscape north of the Golden Gate Bridge. That night, I stayed with my aunt in Northern California. From her cabin, I sought out two nearby attractions: to the north a hike in Lassen Volcanic National Park and to the south a Bidwell Mansion led my aunt herself. Labor day found me cruising the Feather River Scenic Byway on my way toward on overnight in a $20/night hotel in Reno.

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Changing the pace a little, I spent majority of Tuesday in one place, Virginia City, Nevada. Bidding good-bye to one city born of silver mines and sustained by the tourist trade, I headed 100 miles south to a gold-era ghost tour preserved as a state historic site. I closed out my fifth day on the road, with a short investigation of Mono Lake and a moderate warm-up hike in Yosemite National Park.

I dedicated Thursday to the single task of hiking to the top of Half-Dome, an rewarding, nineteen-mile-eleven-hour endeavor. To follow a day spent almost exclusively on foot, I recovered with a day spent mainly in the car, but not without leg-stretchers at a railroad museum, state park full of giant sequoias, and delightful dusk hike on Lake Tahoe. I closed my time in the mountains with a visit to Sutter's Mill in Coloma, and closed the loop on the trip at Winchester Mystery house, practically in the flight path of San Jose Airport.

Statistics
Total Miles: 7,174.5 miles
• Plane: 5,677
• Car: 1,433
• Hike: 61.5
• Train: 3.0
Total Counties: 29
New Counties: 15
Fuel: 42.8 gallons
MPG: 33.5
Cost: $1,067.91

Driving Elevation Profile

Day 1 - Golden Gate Bridge

Day 2 - Lassen Volcanic National Park

Day 3 - Feather River Scenic Byway

Entr'acte - Reno

Day 4 - Virginia City

Day 5 - Bodie

Day 6 - Half Dome

Day 7 - Lake Tahoe

Day 8 - Winchester House