Sequoia National Park, CA

Wednesday July 20, 2005 Sequoia NP

This is such a beautiful park, with granite cliffs, a crisp blue-green running river, meadows of wildflowers, rolling hills to one side, and forests with gorgeous giant trees. There are no shuttles, which is great because then you can come and go as you please at your own pace, but driving the winding road is exhausting.

A beautiful Sequoia Tree

Before we could even enter the Visitor’s Center, we heard a Ranger talk on black bears. Apparently Sequoia is a great habitat for black bears, and if you’re lucky, you may even see one grazing in one of the meadows and not at your picnic table! We learned that they will break into your car, even with the windows all the way up, to get to any food you have. Bears can even recognize what a cooler looks like and break in to get to it. Did you know that black bears can smell food up to 5 miles away!? But they can’t hear worth a squat!

The park road is narrow, very curvy and steep, with many, many switchbacks. By some miracle Austin didn’t get car sick. Our original plan was to drive from the Foothills section where we entered all the way to the other end at General Grant Grove, to which Sue’s Frommer’s book said would take 2 hours. HA HA! There is no way, even if you didn’t stop, and even if you drive like Mike. We only made it 1/3 of the way, not even making it to the Lodgepole Visitor Center.

Our first stop was at a place called Hospital Rock. I don’t know the story behind it, but it had these red rock art pictures, the red paint probably symbolizing blood. Maybe they tended to the wounded under the rock overhang, either that or left them there to die!

Emma trying to find the deepest hole

Right across from Hospital Rock is a giant boulder with a bunch of holes in it that were used with a pestle to grind acorns into meal. We thought that was pretty cool.

This blue-green container is a bear trap, located in the Hospital Rock parking lot, along with a lot of warning signs about bears. Our bear talk this morning taught us to do the bear dance, that is, if one approaches, make lots of noise, stomp around and wave our arms while screaming. Sounds like Emma having Diva moment to me...(since she's had a few of those on this trip already, I don't anticpate that we'll have any problems with the bears).... Now her, on the other hand...maybe we can put her in there instead...

Continuing up the twisty road, we headed to the Giant Forest, checking out the museum and walking the Giant Tree Loop. At the beginning of the trail and right in front of the museum is a tree called The Sentinel. This thing is MONSTROUS, although according to the placard, is average for the giant Sequoias! The trees are so big and thick, that they don’t look real. The base of this tree is 21 feet wide, and it’s 278 feet tall. It’s estimated to be 2,000 years old.

The Tree Trail circles the Round Meadow, and walking this trail is simply magical. The trees are so amazingly beautiful. The older sequoia giants are scattered throughout the forest, with stands of 4 or 5 together every now and again. You can’t believe the wonderful smell, almost like a mixture of pine and cinnamon, with a hint of cedar. Sprinkled among the trees are boulders and fallen sequoias, and the meadow is filled with wildflowers and lined with soft ferns where little streams trickle in from the hills. I could just see myself living in this wonderful place, getting lost in the beauty everyday. It’s so peaceful, yet so awesome in its scale and presence. All of the world’s cares can’t help but fall away. It is by far my most favorite place so far.

After making lunch, we headed to Moro Rock and climbed the 400 steps to the top of the granite dome. Emma only made it about 1/3 of the way, which is a good thing because I would have been a nervous wreck with her by the time we made it to the top. The view is beyond magnificent. I was so moved that it brought tears to my eyes (maybe the fear of heights had something to do with it…). I was so glad that Austin climbed back to the top with me and that we could share such an amazing experience together. The view is like a buffet for the eyes – snow capped mountain peaks, jagged rock formations, smooth boulders poking from rolling hills covered with green trees, and a valley with a river that flows out to infinity. Inspiring. I didn’t want to leave (maybe the fear of climbing down had something to do with that…).

Making one last stop, we mugged at the kitschy tunnel log, a fallen

sequoia that you can drive through the width of (the kids were
disappointed at first because when I told them you could drive through it, they thought that meant you could drive down the hollow middle of it!)

It was a blissful 79 degrees on the top of the mountain. Placing our bets as to what the temp would be when we pulled into the hotel parking lot, we headed back down the forever long and winding road. Poor Mike, he was so mentally tired from driving this road. I said a silent “thank God” to myself that we didn’t stay into the evening hours.

Pulling into the hotel, the temp was 102 degrees at 6pm – Emma and Daddy tie for the answer. Argh! Pool, here we come. The water had to be 87 degrees, but at least if felt cool once we got out.