One of the must sees while riding Cali is Death Valley, and it did not disappoint. The roads to and surrounding the National Park are absolutely amazing. While we camped, a group of riders (The PokaDot MC) were also camping, and one of them had an 1190 R (the meaner brother of my S). They told us of a couple different routes, and of one specific canyon that is well worth the effort for what it is. Titus Canyon, aka: Tight-ass Canyon is a one way gravel road that cuts through some spectacular scenery and ends up on a road just as wide as the canyon walls, in some places not wider than 20' and because of this winding twisting madness of a road, it is only one way. So once you are in its grasp, there is no turning around. * A video of riding through the scenery

Once in the canyon, there are hidden petroglyphs, wild goats running along side of you, and it feels like you are riding through the canyon leading to Petra. * Video of riding through the canyon
I must admit that I enjoy these roads more than Marisa, but as previously stated, she is a champ, and stands up with only the view of the back of my helmet to stare at. She can't see all the dips in the road, or the reasons for weaving around like a madman, but she trusts me, and I in return try to earn her future trust... a lot of pretending is going on...

Joshua Tree was also on our "hit list".. not exactly knowing what to expect, except a bunch of short little funny looking Dr. Seuss trees, we were once again blown away. At first, the road into the park is not necessarily breathtaking, but then the scenery gets interesting very fast. First, the Joshua trees take over the entire landscape, and then they eventually start fading away and the terrain is replaced with giant rock formations spiking out of the ground. Huge horizontal plates eroding at different intervals peak out of the landscape like 1000 shark fins.

There are many camping options, some more remote than others, and we scouted out the least populated campground. The sky lit up at night with as many stars I have ever seen, and the sunset was something that will be remembered for a lifetime. This is a must see National Park.

Marisa and I wanted to keep the streak of secluded nature going, so we decided to camp out again for 3 days in Sequoia National Park. A winding road that followed the base of the Sierra Nevada led us to another secluded campground. It was nearing the end of the camping season, so the already remote locations were now completely void of tourist, campers, and humans in general.

So there we were, camping at Sequoia National Park in California.. All was well in the world, we were way high up camping right next to a raging river that we could pump fresh water from and had plenty of food to last for days.

At night we would collect fallen branches and sticks and start a fire, everything was just absolutely amazing.

I think it was the second or third night we were staying there, when I was going through my routine of collecting firewood from the shrubbery and immediate area, and I put it all in a nice pile by the fire pit, and I relieved myself…

I went to the bathroom off in a corner of the site….

I don't know how to say this elegantly, but: be careful when gathering firewood, branches and the sort from the ground, then urinating immediately afterwards. I accidentally got poison oak on my "frank and beans". It was an absolute nightmare. I have no words that can fully describe the horror of the situation, but Buddha got pretty close when he said, "Life is suffering." Truer words have never been spoken.

Not being a fan of what was happening to my body, we quickly retreated down to the nearest town with a urgent care center. I got pumped with enough steroids to have one the triple crown. We love nature.... but sometimes it bites back.

Up next.. Baja California