Sequoia National Park (almost)

Trip Start Jan 22, 2006
Trip End Aug 16, 2006

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Flag of United States  , California
Saturday, February 18, 2006

The first that we've not awoken to a cloudless sky and blazing sunshine, it's quite overcast today and that's probably how it's going to stay for the next few days. Despite the downturn in the weather, we headed towards Sequoia National Park, furnished with some budget preserving packed lunches that Lynne had lovingly prepared. As we got closer to the park, the skies darkened further and we actually had the first rain of the trip (Quite Dull Fact Number 1: American cars seem to have no rear windscreen wiper, I discovered this after searching for five minutes today for some sort of switch that turned it on!).

We reached the entrance to the park and were greeted by a friendly (but quite bored looking) warden. With a smile on his face he gave us the rather crushing news that we couldn't get into the park without having snow chains in the boot (in case the road conditions suddenly took a turn for the worse). I suppose we could have pretended that we had them in the back, but to be honest I didn't fancy recreating the downhill competition in the Winter Olympics whilst driving a Chevrolet.

So with rather heavy hearts we turned back towards Fresno, stopping en route to eat our packed lunches in the car whilst overlooking a rainswept lake (hey we weren't so upset that we couldn't eat!).

The fear is that we might face the same situation with the snow chains when we get to Yosemite National Park too. Whilst it is possible to hire snow chains, apparently it is quite easy to puncture or shred your tyres (or tires as the Americans spell them) if you don't fit them properly. So it's a bit of a risk to take when it's a hire car that we're driving.
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