Bishop – June Lake – Tenaya Lake – Yosemite Valley – Bear Valley, Mariposa – Modesto – Pleasanton – San Francisco

587 kilometers

After we ticked off beautiful National Parks like Capitol Reef, Bryce, Zion and Death Valley it is time to go north again. North? If we would have gone from Las Vegas straight to Tijuana (border with Mexico) it would have taken us a week max. However on forehand we had two destinations that we really had to go to: San Diego, because I have a bunch of friends living here, and San Francisco, because Jacko’s father lives there. So that’s why we go north again. We already made some awkward loops in North America, so this one we take for granted as well.

We conquer another big climb towards Crowley Lake and make our way to June Lake. The perfect clear turquoise water surrounded by mountains welcomes us.

In the winter this is a ski town, but also in summer there is plenty of recreation going on along the lake. We drink a beer at the local brewery and immediately get overwhelmed by enthusiastic middle-aged women that want to know everything about us. We have a nice chat with two different groups of people. They both give us their phone numbers “in case you reach Ventura/LA, you are more than welcome to stay over“. The American Hospitality is reaching another height. Suddenly the night is falling and we still don’t know where we’ll sleep. We pick a spot next to the lake with the help of Google Maps and cycle towards it. It’s a perfect spot. When I reach the spot I already hear Jacko enthusiastically splash into the water.

The next day is all about the Tioga Pass. We’ve been hearing so much about this pass and we’ve been looking forward to it with a mix of excitement and fear. Just before the pass we stop at a gas station and eat something. The tension builds even more. It’s time to climb. The Tioga pass is like a diagonal straight cut into the side of a mountain like a warm knife through butter. We reach 9900 feet / 3000 meter and it’s the highest point we’ve reached so far.

We enter Yosemite National Park and once again the pay booth doesn’t really know what to do with cyclists. Before they know it we already passed (smile and wave!) without paying an entrance fee. We find another beautiful alpine lake at 8000 feet / 2500 meter Lake Tenaya. We push our bicycles through the white sand and take a well deserved dive in the cold water. After the day trippers leave it’s time to put up our tents. We find a spot that’ll do, a little bit hidden between the trees because it is not allowed to camp here.

It’s Monday morning, my favorite day of the week! Whereas people back home drag themselves to work after a nice weekend, I am waking up with a beautiful view over an alpine lake where clouds of mist glide over the surface. Unlike the rest of the world, the only thing I have to do today is enjoy and cycle a bit. We are woken up by a handful of loud bluebirds, it’s like a natural alarm clock. It’s early and freaking cold. Due to all the climbing yesterday we’re back at altitude. Today we descend into the Yosemite Valley. A beautiful descent into the Yosemite Valley. I don’t think we’ve ever descended longer and steeper than this one. I try to enjoy the amazing views but all I can think about is: ‘I hope we don’t have to climb back up tomorrow‘.

We end up in the valley. We try to take in all the beauty surrounding us. We see El Capitan, the famous fin-shaped rock. We cycle further into the valley and have lunch. We try our tactic of asking people at the campgrounds whether we can pitch our tents on their spot and we score another 1 out of 1. We set up camp and socialize with our fellow camp mates. It’s still relatively early so we decide to do a small hike to the Lower Yosemite Falls. It’s hot so we cool off by bathing in the pools below at the falls. On our way back to the camp we get treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets over Half Dome I’ve ever seen.

Next morning we cycle out of the Yosemite Valley and to my relief we don’t have to go back up yesterday’s descent. In fact we get to descent even more, what a relief! We follow the Merced river, climb over a small pass and get into Mariposa. We arranged a WarmShowers stay for tonight, which was supposed to be in Mariposa, however when we call him and he gives us the precise coordinates it turns out we have to do another 20 kilometers. They turn out to be the hardest 20 kilometers I’ve ever done.

I’m hitting the wall hard (NL: hongerklop). Totally empty we arrive at a farmhouse in a little village called Bear Valley and we’re greeted by Bill and Nancy. Normally they AirBnB their extra two bedrooms, but for cyclists they rent out these rooms without charge. After a shower Bill gives us a tour around the farmhouse. They make everything themselves: the meat, vegetables, everything. They even breed the worms their chicken eat themselves.

The next two days are rather boring. We cycle over flat plains amidst agricultural terrain with strong headwinds. Peaches, corn and apple orchards everywhere. Too bad the fruit is not ripe yet. We try to sleep in Modesto, a fairly big and ugly city. Many parks in the city to pick from. We check one out and it gets our approval. We treat ourselves on a three-course meal consisting of fish and corn on the grill, a salad and bread with butter. When the night is about to push the day away we are greeted by two security guys. From a distance they ask if we will leave the park. “Yes sure, we’ll clean up and leave“. We never see the guys again and we take a gamble by staying and putting up our tents out of sight. We never saw any security in one of the other smaller town parks, but I guess in bigger cities the parks are more regulated. At night we find out why. Many homeless roam the park, luckily on the other side of the park. Still we don’t sleep very well.

We get woken up many times in the middle of the night by people roaming by.

In the morning we cycle through Modesto, a dirty city, people have been dumping garbage everywhere. This is America at its worst. For tonight we’ve arranged a WarmShowers stay in Pleasanton. After a long day we check out the town’s square before heading to the address we’ve been given. The town indeed lives up to its name and is very pleasant indeed. When we drive up to the house we can’t believe our eyes. Two Tesla’s on the very big driveway in front of a huge house next to a golf course. We are greeted by Rick, his wife Sue and daughter Claire. We get our own room and are treated to take-away Thai. Rick worked in the Silicon Valley all his life and he knows surprisingly much about my ex-employer ASML.

After a delicious breakfast with waffles and egg’s we are ready to drive towards San Francisco. Very quickly we reach the suburbs of San Francisco but the streets are super sketchy: tents with homeless on the sidewalks everywhere, the roads filled with glass of smashed car windows. These are slums.

We don’t dare to stop for lunch in these (neighbor)hoods and therefore we drive on to the ferry that will bring us to downtown SF. Another world awaits us at the other side of the ferry ride. We celebrate making it to San Francisco with a four-pack of beer that we drink on a square.

In San Francisco we stay with Jacko’s dad Huib, his husband Jeff and Jeff’s friend Zabi. For the first time in this three month trip we are going to stay somewhere longer than one or two days. We’re planning for a week. We both get our own room and a bathroom. Just like Jacko, Huib loves to cook and every dinner and every breakfast is a feast. In the evenings we have dinner and stay around the dinner table for hours chatting about everything. The house feels like a warm nest.

During the day we take our bikes and stroll around the city. San Francisco blows us away. The city is vibrant, parks are filled with people, people jog and bike in the streets, the patio’s filled with people having a drink with the sun on their face. It seems like such a happy city. The rainbow flags tell us something about the fact that everybody is welcome here. There are complete gay neighborhoods, but also ethnic neighborhoods like Japan and China town that still have a very social function here.

We cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge, a bucket list checkmark. We visit a game of the San Francisco Giants (baseball). After the game a random female Giants-fan compliments my new SF cycling cap. After a short small talk she asks us if we want to join her on her boat. We don’t have to think about that very long. The boat is anchored in the marina right next to the Giants stadium.

Logically we ask if we’re going to take the boat out for a spin, but Jenny only has this boat to chill on. Jenny from the docks, she is funny. We drink beer on the boat, meet another friend Zach, enjoy the sun setting over the skyline of downtown SF. We skinny-dip in the water. We’re ecstatic; what a time to be alive.

We find our favorite park to hang out at. We watch people, play with the dogs and watch the city skyline. Via via we hear about some illegal midday party at the shores of the west coast overlooking the Golden Gate bridge. The rugged terrain with abandoned bunkers make for a perfect setting. The crowd is fun and the music good. It’s too bad we have to leave: we’ve arranged to get Huib, Zabi and Jeff out of the house to go see a drag queen show. Huib and Jeff have had a wild past fighting for gay rights in a still conservative America, so this is not their first drag show. It’s an absolute fun night with the five of us.

We decide to have one more beer at a pub around the corner. The pub has big glass windows, the bikes are right there on the other side of the glass. Jacko locks his tire to the frame, I lock my bike to a lamppost. When we decide to go home we find out Jacko’s bike is gone. Our minds immediately click into a seek and destroy mode. “Jacko you go down this street, I will comb out this neighborhood here. Zabi, Jeff, Huib you take these streets“. After 2 hours of searching for his dear red Trek 520 one after the other comes home down-hearted without result. Such a perfect day ending on such a low note.

The next days we mourn. Then we accept the fact the bike is gone and Jacko will not get it back. Jacko starts taking action and works hard to figure stuff out with insurance, police report and checking bike shops for new bikes. He decides to put up a crowd funding action to collect money. To his disbelief people are so insanely generous and he reaches his goal amount in 4 days. Even my friends, some never even seen Jacko in real life, decide to donate.

After losing faith in humanity for a couple of days the excessive warmth of people absolutely overshadows it right away.

Because I have some friends about to leave San Diego I decide that I will already start cycling towards San Diego alone and that Jacko will join me there again. Giving him some time to buy a new bike and get his shit together.

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6 Replies to “California part II: Yosemite & a Stolen Bike in San Francisco”

  1. Klimmen en dalen en dan een warm onthaal bij vriendelijke Amerikanen dat is natuurlijk ongelooflijk mooi
    Helaas is niet iedereen even aardig maar gelukkig wel weer vrijgevig voor een nieuwe fiets
    Na een geweldig weerzien van je vrienden in SD nu weer opweg naar het volgende land kijken wat de gastvrijheid daar jullie geeft
    Veel plezier en succes en STAY SAVE xxx

  2. Wat een bijzondere verhalen en geweldige foto’s! Door de leuke manier waarop jullie allebei schrijven waar ook jullie gedachtes en emoties voorbij komen lijkt het vaak alsof je als lezer aanwezig bent bij jullie avonturen. Ik zou het zelf nooit durven maar maak het zo toch ook een beetje mee, dank daarvoor! 🙂 Ik ben erg benieuwd naar jullie Mexicaanse avontuur, een gigantisch land. Ik ben erg benieuwd wat voor verschillen jullie gaan zien/ervaren in elke regio. Heel veel plezier alvast!

  3. Weer een verhaal dat je in één ruk uitleest. Wat maken jullie veel mee, Marijn!! Onvoorstelbaar dat crowd funding zo effectief kan zijn: gelukkig!! Wens jullie wederom een goede voortzetting van de reis en kijk met belangstelling uit naar het volgende verhaal.

  4. Ik lig hier op mijn bedje aan het zwembad op Zakynthos met meer dan voldoende water jouw laatste verhalen te lezen. Respect hoor….wa jullie allemaal meemaken. Wat een prachtig verhaal weer met geweldig mooie foto’s.

  5. Het blijven mooie verhalen Marijn. Veel plezier nog in San Diego en ik ben erg benieuwd naar het vervolg in, naar ik verwacht, een totaal andere wereld. Blijf genieten. Groetjes

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