Saturday, July 3 to Las Vegas

So I had decided to cross Yosemite to the East and ride to Death Valley and Las Vegas.

The way into and out of Yosemite leads through spectacular canyons with views of the rivers and snow covered mounains.

The park is very popular , especially on the weekend of Fourth of July, so I left early and got through without a problem.

I enjoyed a hike on the mountains covered in snow and the brisk, cold mountain air.

Nothing is healthier than that.

Not just a great Valley...

but a shrine to human foresight, strength of granite, power of glaciers, the persistence of life, and the tranquility of the High Sierra.

Yosemite National Park, one of the first wilderness parks in the United States, is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more.

I rode out by way of the Tioga Pass at an elevation of 9 ,900 feet or twice as high as Guatemala City.

From there it was all the way down to Death Valley, the lowest point of which lies beneath sea level.

I had been warned not to go through Death Valley in summer, but it is no problem.

I checked my bike, let off some air from the tires and bought a gallon of water to drink.

The heat is intense, it is like riding hrough a furnace, the hot air blasting at one from all sides. On a motorcycle one dehydrates quickly, so I put on a long sleeve shirt, double pants and that kept the heat reasonably tolerable.

To keep te engine from overheating, I kept the speed up to 50 mph, below that the heat became too much.

The landscape is amazing, nothing can live there, except specialized small animals. The bottom of the valley resembles hell, it gets to over 120 F at noon. I had reached it at 6 pm and still the heat was 110 F.

The hottest air temperature ever recorded in Death Valley (Furnace Creek) was 134 °F (57 °C) on July 10, 1913, at Furnace Creek.

During the heat wave that peaked with that record, five consecutive days reached 129 °F (54 °C) or above. The greatest number of consecutive days with a maximum temperature of 100 °F (38 °C)°F or above was 154 days in the summer of 2001. The summer of 1996 had 40 days over 120 °F (49 °C), and 105 days over 110 °F (43 °C).

The name Death Valley was given by the prospectors in the Calfornia Gold Rush.

It is obvious that without adequate preparation one could not survive here for very long.

It was an interesting experience to have crossed this tremendous desert and at 9.30 pm I was nearing Las Vegas, a sea of light on the distant horizon.

Tired after a ride of 500 miles and having crossed two parks, I checked into the Sahara Hotel and Casino, and had a Bass Ale.

NO BEER EVER TASTED SO GOOD!!