Sequoia-King's Canyon National Parks

Note: I’m still publishing thoughts and reflections on my road trip from last fall.  The time has distanced me from the awe that I felt for these amazing places. I am really grateful for the pictures that I have, jarring my memory and reminding me of the beauty that I witnessed. My hope is that I am still able to express those feelings of amazement in my writing after several months. For those of you that have been waiting for me to wrap up the trip reports: Thank you for your patience.

Monkeying around at the entrance.

At this point, I’m in Southern California. I’ve driven in 10 different states and visited 8 National Parks.  I’m high on life and the experiences of this trip. I feel loved beyond comprehension; loved by God, my friends, and my family. I feel like I’ve memorized every Top 10 song in every genre on the radio, had phone conversations with lots of people, and eaten my way through several bags of sunflower seeds.  My truck is on the road in the pre-dawn light after waking up at yet another truck stop, rolling toward my next destination: Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks.

The giant Sentinel Tree: 257 feet high and about 25 feet in diameter at the base.

These two parks remind me geographically of Yellowstone and Grand Teton  parks. They cover similar landscapes and share common borders. You can drive freely between the two and can buy passes to visit both if you wanted. The area is definitive of the Sandia Mountains: high altitude, big luscious trees, and granite crags. King’s Canyon’s eastern border is actually the home of Mt. Whitney, the highest point of elevation in the lower 48 states. Interesting that it’s so close to the lowest point as well, eh?

Me standing in front of a large fire scar on one heck of a large, old tree.

I mentioned big trees above. That might be an understatement. Sequoia National Park is the home of the highest concentration of its namesake tree anywhere. Sequoia trees, also known loosely as an inland or interior redwood, are the biggest trees in the world by shear bulk. Their trunks don’t taper very quickly compared to other conifers, being more columnar and coming to a scraggly point only near the very top. Thus have an incredible amount of mass, pretty humbling to stand next to. The largest tree in the Grove of the Big Trees was the Sentinel soaring 257 feet high.  Near the tree they have brickwork laying out the size of the tree in the horizontal plane. Even 120 feet up in the air the trunk is still 11 feet thick! I took a little jog through a meadow where a large grove of Sequoias have made their home. In the morning light it was awe-inspiring. The grass, snow, small creek meandering through, and the trees standing guard gave me such a feeling of peace that I couldn‘t help but slow down my pace and contemplate the grandeur surrounding me.

Standing in front of th Grant Tree. It was very difficult to try and take pictures of the trees with people in them, there was not way to include the top!

Moving on down the road, I hiked to the General Sherman tree and the General Grant tree later in the afternoon in King’s Canyon.  The highway that you drive between the two was call the Highway of the Generals?, seemingly a memorial to the Civil War of our country’s history. Both of these giants were just as impressive as the Sentinel. I joke about being a tree hugger, but you’d need about 16 of your friends to give a group hug and make it all the way around these ones.  Much of the trail construction on the trails to the trees was done with blocks of granite that I assume was chosen because of the convenience of the material. They even had granite culverts! Talk about getting my “geek” on…

A granite culvert! Now I've seen culverts made from plastic, wood boards, logs, aluminum, galvanized steel, and rock.  I'm thankful I don't have to try and clean these ones though...