July 9, 2015 Happy Birthday Janet!!
It rained today!! Considering the weather that has been prevalent here in California, one thing that never occurred to us was the possibility of rain as we toured. But today it happened - not down where our RVs were parked BUT in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range - in Sequoia National Park and the adjacent Kings Canyon National Park.
In fact, we even saw lightning and heard several very loud cracks of thunder. The consequence was that low hanging clouds kept us from seeing some of the vistas of the parks. Still we had a delightful day taking in all of the beauty of the area and the enormous trees.
Frank was the driver today - and what a job that was. Our campground is in the central valley while the highest point we visited today was over 7000 feet high. And when you drive in mountainous area like that you are on narrow two lane roads filled with tight curves and hairpin turns besides going up and down. In addition he was sometimes driving through clouds. (fog.) And to top it off there were three others of us in the car wanting to stop at various lookout points which would suddenly appear so we'd yell STOP for things like this unusual rock.
We primarily had come to see the huge sequoia trees including the General Sherman which is called the largest tree (by size of the trunk) and the General Grant the tallest sequoia. So we traveled the Generals Highway (2 narrow lanes) from the "you are here" on this map to the General Grant area near the left side about half way up. We spent nearly seven hours doing just that!!!! Imagine how many days you need to really see this beautiful area -- too bad they weren't in our schedule
We stopped at a couple of the visitor centers along the route to check out their exhibits including movies about the area
and see things like this "normal" sequoia tree
Note the huge gap at the base of the tree caused by fires yet the tree still is very much alive and continues to grow. These big trees usually can heal themselves after fires. Notice it isn't even black.
To give another feel for the size of these trees note the cabin at the base of these trees
This is over 6 foot Frank heading for the pathway to the General Sherman tree - the largest tree. They simply cut an arch through one of the fallen sequoias.
The tree in the center of this picture is the General Sherman taken from a distance away so as to see the whole thing (fog however intervened). Note the size of the people at its base
This is a shot of Ken walking up the path ahead of me so as to get close to the tree.
Just around the bend ahead we discovered this
We backed off and waited for the bear to ample away down the hill before continuing on :-) to see the General Sherman tree
The trunk of this tree is 40 feet in diameter and its height is such that if it laid down.......
Some of these trees are as old as 3000 years. This one is only 1700 years old.
Our travels took us past one small meadow, lots of trees, plenty of rocky areas ....
and fields of pretty wild flowers
While we didn't begin to see all of these different flowers, this chart does give an idea of the number of different plants that grow in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. I'm sure we'll see more of them when we get to Yosemite National Park.
In the parking lot at the base of the walkway to the General Grant tree there was this clump of five sequoias
This fallen tree gives an idea of the size of its base
This is a shot of Ken, Frank and Bette walking the path to the General Grant tree. It is an awesome walk just taking in their majesty
Here we are at the base of the General Grant which is the tallest sequoia tree in the world
A walk around to the back side of this tree reveals the huge scar it has from fires yet it lives on
It is interesting to see what kinds of damage the trees can overcome. This tree may have been struck by lightning yet it continues to grow and survive. Yest that piece of bark to the left is part of the tree. We had to walk around it to believe it ourselves
The "cave" area at the base of this one probably provides a home to some animal. The droppings at the base are the reason a fire is good for the forest at times as this keeps the seeds from being able to plant themselves
This cabin built back in 1872 by a couple of men who owned the land prior to it becoming a national park
And this is where they lived prior to building it
The trees resist decay so it is still much like it was back when this picture was taken.
We ended up well over a hundred miles from the campground so by the time we got back we were ready for supper, some relaxation (Bette and I played a game of TriOminos) and bed.
PS Bette sent me a picture of the rainbow we had in the sky this morning before we headed out for our day in the parks. She and Frank were up and outside early and noticed it
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