Las Vegas-Death Valley-Seqouia and Kings Canyon NP

Hello everybody,

Finally another message from me.
Total cycling distance so far : 12 287km or 7750 miles

On friday, octobor 17th, i leave Las Vegas but i am still in Nevada and i notice it. When i go to a countystore to buy some grooceries there are more gamblingmachines or 1armed bandits as some people call them than there are grooceries. Even in a supermarket i have to pas a small casino to be able to buy grooceries.

On saturday i arrive in Death Valley after cycling over a pass of 1010m (ca 3500ft) high and that while it is still 35degr C (mid 90F). It is also a strecth of 110km (70m) without any village or water supply so i carry 7l or almost 2 gallons.
Death valley is the lowest point of the USA -82m (-282ft) and is located between 2 high mountainridges. That is way the heat of the sun cant escape and so it is also the hottest place in the USA. I guess you know this but there is another consequence. After sunset the heat can escape and this creates a wind. I didnot know this and when i put up my tent there was no wind and i didnot put my lines up and i could not put my picks deep in the ground because it was to rocky. So after dark the winds blows and my tent flies allmost away. I hold it with 1 hand and put rocks on it with my other hand. It was a very unpleasant surprise and through the night i wondered if my poles would be strong enough. Luckely i can say they are. The next night i was on the other side of the valley and here it is much wider so there is not so much wind.

On sunday i see the salt planes and i am on the lowest point. Where there is water you can see a lot of plants and palmtrees. Than it is very nice.

On monday i leave Death Valley but have to cycle over the Torine pass (alt 1511m or 4956ft) and you have to start below sealevel but i can cros it before noon so I miss the hottest point of the day. Now it is only in the 80F or almost 30C

I met here a fellow cyclist called Adam. He is riding this pass on a fastbike and goes than home in his car. He gives me very cold water (which is very much appreciated) and offers me to stay at his place. Unfortunally it is to far to reach in 1 day and the next day i have to go further to be on time with my next host from CS in Porterville. Adam, thank you very much for the water and all the local advice and the pictures you send to me.
Adam is not the only person who offers me water. Several people stop to offer it to me. So as a cyclist you dont have to worry to be thirsty but i do recommand to take a lot of water with you.

That night i camp in a dry river. I dont think the risk of being flooded after a storm is very big in an area that only receive 2 inches of rain every year.

So on wednesday, october 22nd, i cycle into the San Joaquin Valley and this is absolutely no dessert any more. There are many orchards for a lot of fruits. It is a big change to me but a fine one. I never saw orange orchards and so on.
I have another big surprise that day. Hank, my CS host in Porterville, rides to me on his motorcycle just to deliver a very cold beer. I would like to say that a beer never tasted better but it was an american brand and not a belgian one which are the best beers in the world but i most admit it was a close second one. That evening Hank and some friends played poker and i enjoyed watching the game allthough i didnot understand it.

I took a restday there and Hank showed me around to in the surroundings and took me to his school where he is a tutor. I spoke before 2 classes, a spanish and french clas, to show how important knowing languages is. It was a fine experience for me and there was a lot of interest from the studens. I must admit they didnot know much of Belgium not even our capital.

I cycled on and reached Seqouia NP on saturday, october 25th. Sequoias are very big trees who only grow when the circumstances are right. It has to be high altitude, warm, humid and so on. To get there i had to cycle up another pass of 2000m but had some nice vieuws. I did also a 2day hike here on the high sierra trail. Normally there is allready snow this time of year but this year the snow is late I enjoy the beautifull weather allthough at night it freezes.
Seqouias are not the highest or widest tree in the world but their hight and wide combined makes them the trees with the most mass. For this reason they were wanted for the log industry and in the 19th century many were cut down.
I saw some of the biggest seqouias wich are named after the generals from the civil war. General Sherman is 31m if you go around it, 13m just through it. He is estimated to be 2200 year old. The oldest seqouia is almost 3000 year old. That is 1000 year before the birht of jesus.

Here i had a bad moment. While trying to get a picture of these gigantic trees i stepped on the road. When i car came i quickly stepped away but i hit a wrong button on my camera and all of my pictures were erased. Every now and than i saved them on a family website but i didnot do that the last month so i dont have any pictures anymore from Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and Death Valley. Needles to say i was furious but what can you do?

I cycled on and reached Kings Canyon NP on tuesday, october 28th. It exists out of 2 parts. 1 is formed by a glacier and so it is wider. The second part is formed by a river and pritty narrow. Another great thing is that you cycle from the top at 2008m high to the bottom of it at 934m. I had an amasing ride into the canyon but because the road is a death end road i had to cycle back the next day. That ride was a bit slower.
I wanted to do some hiking here aswell but a stormfront was expected to pass by so i made sure i was out of the mountains by then and had to forget the hike.

On wednesday when i was looking for a place to camp but couldnot find any because everything was fenced of. I know i really dont camp on private ground without permission here. European tourist make jokes about that : if caught on wild camping in Europe they will fine you, in the USA they will shoot you. So at that moment i met Mark. He was cycling there on his road bike and he let me stay at his place.
The next morning his wife Theresia gave me ride for about 10 miles because she and Stan (my host in Oakhurst) thaught i could not reach Oakhurst in time and now the rain was here.
I had hoped by cycling norht i would avoy the storm but that didnot go that way. Stan and his father George were so friendly to let me stay till the storm was over. That took 4 days.
Everyone was happy because i hadnot rained since april and there could be a shortage of water for the farmers. I wasnot that happy.

In the last few months i had several times some irritation in my right eye and now again and it was wurse. I deciced to go to the emergency unit where they washed it out and referred me to an eyespecialist. It turned out that my cornea was a little bit damaged and i cannot were my contacts for a month. So i bought some glasses and had to take some medication. After 24 hours i was much better and on tuesday i continued my trip.

Stan, thank you very much for taking me to the hospital in Fresno and helping me out in general.

So this is it for now. I ll try to make another rapport tomorrow.

gretings,

nico