Sequoia National Park

So the Sunday after Kings Canyon NP, we were in Sequoia NP.

Big. Ass. Trees.

Okay, so there's more to it than that, but it really begins and ends with the Giant Sequoias that dominate the northern end, and higher elevations, of the park.

To the left you see April standing in front of a small stand of the giants. She's the little blue speck at the bottom of the photo...

This was taken at General Grant Grove, which is at the northernmost point in the park.


In the photo below, I am standing on the trunk of a fallen tree. Most of the fallen trees have been down for 50-80 years or longer. The wood has a very high concentration of tannic acid, making it very resistant to the parasites that cause bad breath and gingivitis...er, that's not right, is it? I guess it's the parasites that would normally cause the wood to rot.






So after seeing the the Grant Grove Saturday morning on the way into Kings Canyon, we headed south to the Giant Forest, aptly named, on Sunday. This forest of over 1,600 acres, contains more than 8,000 of the giant trees, and has more than 40 miles of hiking trails. We will definitely be back to enjoy them!


So as soon as we arrived at the Giant forest and began the walk down to see the General Sherman tree, we encountered a mother Black Bear. See below as she high-tails it off the trail. They tend to get the heck out of dodge when the rangers show up...












Here is the General Sherman tree. The damn thing was too big to get in one shot- the photo to the right is a composite of four shots...

Just to emphasize how massive these trees are, here is an outline of the base of the General Sherman:










After checking out the General Sherman, we went to Crystal Cave. It's a 30-minute drive at 10-15mph to get there, and then a 1.5 mile hike to the cave, yet there is still a lot of visitors that make the trek. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot at the trail head, it began to flurry a little bit. It was very strange to see snow again after almost 4 years away from MA, but it wasn't cold enough (yet) to stick, and it made the hike to the cave feel a bit like hiking in the foothills of the Appalachians in the fall, back in Georgia.

From the trail:

Stellar Jay

The tour of the cave was about 45 minutes long, and was worth it- we are hoping to find a geologist or cave scientist that can maybe get us into one of the other 250+ caves in the park that are off-limits to the public...

Marble Hall

So as you can see from the photos, we had a great time and saw some cool stuff for such a short trip. We intend to get back there next spring for sure, and do some serious camping and hiking. It's less than 5 hours away, and is worth it for a weekend trip!

-j