It's a bright new day in sunny California, and we're heading out to King's Canyon/Sequoia National Parks. I have high hopes - although it's a holiday Monday, we figure most people will be heading home, and apparently Yosemite is the heavyweight around here, so the crowds should be there. Fingers crossed!
We didn't see much of Fresno, as we were located at its north end, which feels a bit like Saskatoon's north end. Hotels, restaurants, big box districts, car dealerships. On our way out of Fresno, we get a glimpse of their downtown, and then we're zipping away on their concrete bypasses and overpasses. I tell you, Saskatoon could use a few of those. I was puzzled by the amount of four lane streets around here, and the many lights, which seemed a bit of overkill for the traffic we were seeing.
On the other hand, I'm thinking it's more likely that they have adequate infrastructure to move their traffic, whereas Saskatoon doesn't. Which is why we have way more congestion than we should for a city our size. Fresno is 400,000 to our 200,000.
We drive into the park on the north end, closer to King's Canyon, because we plan to do the scenic byway in that section first, then we'll double back and head out on the south side of Sequoia park. First stop is the visitor centre. Who do I run into there but the lady from Key West who was on the Forestiere tour with us yesterday in Fresno! We chat for a few minutes about what to do in the park, then we both head our separate ways (she's not going on any 4x4 trails).
First stop in the park is the General Grant Tree. This is the first sequoia we've seen, and it's freaking big. I know there will be bigger ones in the park, but it's still an impressive sight to see just how amazingly tall they are. One of those falls on you, and they'll never find you - it'd be like a bug on a windshield. Boom! Squish. By the time we've finished walking the small trail around the grove, there's a bus pulling up and many people bouncing out. Time to move on.
Our next two stops are on unpaved roads (which means the tour buses won't be following us). First stop, we drive to the trailhead and have a short hike out to see the Chicago Stump. This, as you probably already figured out, is the stump of a giant Sequoia that was cut down so that part of its trunk could be taken to the world expo in Chicago and reassembled there. And then, to top it off, people thought it was a hoax! You bastards cut down a 3,000-year-old tree to make a disposable decoration for a stupid expo?! Unbelievable.
The next drive takes us through Stump Meadow. You can guess what Stump Meadow is, right? A logging operation was set up in here around 1880; they cut down virtually everything, and here you can see a lot of the remaining stumps (the green trees in the background are new growth). There used to be about 6,000 Sequoias in this area; now there's only about 60-100 large ones remaining. Grrrr. Makes you very angry.
Just beyond Stump Meadow, you drive up a very sandy incline that's got to be tricky for any non-4x4 vehicles, and then you're at the hike to the Boole tree. The Boole tree is named after the logging supervisor who spared it because of its size. When the park service took over the land, it was the only large tree remaining in the area, with everything else cut down.
It's a 2.5 mile loop hike, and a pretty secluded hike. We ran into three other people on the trail in total, so it was nice and quiet. And when we reached the tree, we had it to ourselves.
It's huge! I know, they're all huge - but this one has the largest circumference, and I think it's the 7th largest in the world. There are little hollows in its roots that some animals are probably using as dens. Amazingly big tree.
Then it's back to paved roads for us as we head into King's Canyon. This is your quintessential mountain road, clinging to the sides of mountain slopes as it curves back and forth with the landscape. The road is only open in summer (not a surprise, once you've seen the road). It is a great scenic drive, very beautiful, coming back down from the mountains, into the valley and following the river. We drove all the way out to Roads End, where the road ends. After that point, you're going on foot, and you need to get permits from the rangers to continue. There are so many people out there, heading out on hikes!
The Zumwalt Meadow near Roads End was particularly lovely. And when we stopped at the nearby Roaring River Falls, we ran into the Key West Florida couple again! Disneyland was right: it really is a small, small world. They're headed on to Yosemite tomorrow; we wished them better luck than we had. Actually, I'm sure Yosemite will be fine by tomorrow - all the weekenders should be gone.
Well, King's Canyon has been much more beautiful than I expected. Problem is, it's already 2 p.m., and we haven't even started back towards the Sequoia end of the park. Stephen thinks we'll be finished and out of Sequoia by 5 p.m. I think we'll be lucky to be out by 6 p.m.
It's a one-way drive into King's Canyon. From Roads End, we have to go alllll the way back to the beginning, then we head on the other road into Sequoia. That road is called the Generals Highway (since a lot of the big trees seem to be named after Civil War generals).
We stop in at the Lodgepole Visitor Centre, and I ask the ranger "why will marmots attack my car?" One of the park brochures warned that if you're camping overnight in Mineral King, you need to get chicken wire or something to wrap around your cars to keep the marmots out of the engine and undercarriage. Apparently, the marmots like to chew on the hoses. Who knew? Marmots seemed so friendly, and yet they want to strand you in the wilderness (and then they'll chew on your bones, no doubt).
We're finally in Sequoia National Park. The tallest tree is the General Sherman. Sherman is definitely a giant. The trail leading to Sherman is all downhill - everyone skips happily along to see the tallest tree in the world. General Sherman is also very difficult to photograph; you have to take the picture from far away if you want to fit the entire tree in, and then you have to squint to see the ant-sized people. And he's a giant tree in a grove of giant trees. Pretty impressive.
Once you've finished wandering through the Generals Grove, you have to climb all the way back up again. Doh! However, on the way back up to the parking lot, Stephen and I pass everyone. "You are all weenies!" I shout. "My brother has asthma! You need to exercise more!" They are angry and would beat me up if they could catch up to us, which they can't. Ha ha!
We drive through the Giant Forest, then over to Tunnel Log, where you can drive your vehicle through a log (as long as it's less than 8' high). As you'd expect, there's a bit of a line-up to drive through, with people standing on the sidelines taking photos. Other people's cars glide through easily - Stephen's over-sized vehicle is the tightest fit.
Nearby, is something called Moro Rock. We have no idea what it is, but it's right here, so let's go see. Uh oh. Stephen shakes his head. "There's no parking. We can't stay." He starts to slow down, and then we see the big rock jutting upwards above the tree line. "Do you want to take a picture?"
"No! I want to climb the damn rock!"
We circle around to take another try at the parking lot, and end up parking on the shoulder outside the parking lot, because once I've got my heart set on climbing the damn rock, you know we're going to climb the damn rock.
It's like a weenie version of Angel's Landing. Lots of stairs cut into the rock face. Sure, it's a steep climb, but there are railings everywhere. Easy-peasy. Are we obnoxious? Sure we are.
After that, it's time to go - it's already past 6 p.m., and the sun sets around 7:30. Not so much a problem if you're travelling on Interstates, but the Interstates mostly run North-South in California, and we're travelling West with only secondary highways, and not through very many towns, so wildlife is more of an issue. Stephen was hoping to make it to Morro Bay, but that ain't gonna happen - too far away, not enough time.
As always, it takes forever down a winding winding road to get out of the park. The little blip on the map called Lemoore is about as far as we can make it before running out of daylight. We get a room at the Motel 6 Maximum Security Prison (that's what the room looks like, anyway - either the hotel should be cheaper or the room should be nicer. And no free breakfast for you, you ungrateful inmate!).
Oh well. At least we're not sitting in a tent during a lightning storm.
We didn't see much of Fresno, as we were located at its north end, which feels a bit like Saskatoon's north end. Hotels, restaurants, big box districts, car dealerships. On our way out of Fresno, we get a glimpse of their downtown, and then we're zipping away on their concrete bypasses and overpasses. I tell you, Saskatoon could use a few of those. I was puzzled by the amount of four lane streets around here, and the many lights, which seemed a bit of overkill for the traffic we were seeing.
On the other hand, I'm thinking it's more likely that they have adequate infrastructure to move their traffic, whereas Saskatoon doesn't. Which is why we have way more congestion than we should for a city our size. Fresno is 400,000 to our 200,000.
We drive into the park on the north end, closer to King's Canyon, because we plan to do the scenic byway in that section first, then we'll double back and head out on the south side of Sequoia park. First stop is the visitor centre. Who do I run into there but the lady from Key West who was on the Forestiere tour with us yesterday in Fresno! We chat for a few minutes about what to do in the park, then we both head our separate ways (she's not going on any 4x4 trails).
First stop in the park is the General Grant Tree. This is the first sequoia we've seen, and it's freaking big. I know there will be bigger ones in the park, but it's still an impressive sight to see just how amazingly tall they are. One of those falls on you, and they'll never find you - it'd be like a bug on a windshield. Boom! Squish. By the time we've finished walking the small trail around the grove, there's a bus pulling up and many people bouncing out. Time to move on.
Our next two stops are on unpaved roads (which means the tour buses won't be following us). First stop, we drive to the trailhead and have a short hike out to see the Chicago Stump. This, as you probably already figured out, is the stump of a giant Sequoia that was cut down so that part of its trunk could be taken to the world expo in Chicago and reassembled there. And then, to top it off, people thought it was a hoax! You bastards cut down a 3,000-year-old tree to make a disposable decoration for a stupid expo?! Unbelievable.
The next drive takes us through Stump Meadow. You can guess what Stump Meadow is, right? A logging operation was set up in here around 1880; they cut down virtually everything, and here you can see a lot of the remaining stumps (the green trees in the background are new growth). There used to be about 6,000 Sequoias in this area; now there's only about 60-100 large ones remaining. Grrrr. Makes you very angry.
Just beyond Stump Meadow, you drive up a very sandy incline that's got to be tricky for any non-4x4 vehicles, and then you're at the hike to the Boole tree. The Boole tree is named after the logging supervisor who spared it because of its size. When the park service took over the land, it was the only large tree remaining in the area, with everything else cut down.
It's a 2.5 mile loop hike, and a pretty secluded hike. We ran into three other people on the trail in total, so it was nice and quiet. And when we reached the tree, we had it to ourselves.
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| The Boole tree |
Then it's back to paved roads for us as we head into King's Canyon. This is your quintessential mountain road, clinging to the sides of mountain slopes as it curves back and forth with the landscape. The road is only open in summer (not a surprise, once you've seen the road). It is a great scenic drive, very beautiful, coming back down from the mountains, into the valley and following the river. We drove all the way out to Roads End, where the road ends. After that point, you're going on foot, and you need to get permits from the rangers to continue. There are so many people out there, heading out on hikes!
The Zumwalt Meadow near Roads End was particularly lovely. And when we stopped at the nearby Roaring River Falls, we ran into the Key West Florida couple again! Disneyland was right: it really is a small, small world. They're headed on to Yosemite tomorrow; we wished them better luck than we had. Actually, I'm sure Yosemite will be fine by tomorrow - all the weekenders should be gone.
Well, King's Canyon has been much more beautiful than I expected. Problem is, it's already 2 p.m., and we haven't even started back towards the Sequoia end of the park. Stephen thinks we'll be finished and out of Sequoia by 5 p.m. I think we'll be lucky to be out by 6 p.m.
It's a one-way drive into King's Canyon. From Roads End, we have to go alllll the way back to the beginning, then we head on the other road into Sequoia. That road is called the Generals Highway (since a lot of the big trees seem to be named after Civil War generals).
We stop in at the Lodgepole Visitor Centre, and I ask the ranger "why will marmots attack my car?" One of the park brochures warned that if you're camping overnight in Mineral King, you need to get chicken wire or something to wrap around your cars to keep the marmots out of the engine and undercarriage. Apparently, the marmots like to chew on the hoses. Who knew? Marmots seemed so friendly, and yet they want to strand you in the wilderness (and then they'll chew on your bones, no doubt).
We're finally in Sequoia National Park. The tallest tree is the General Sherman. Sherman is definitely a giant. The trail leading to Sherman is all downhill - everyone skips happily along to see the tallest tree in the world. General Sherman is also very difficult to photograph; you have to take the picture from far away if you want to fit the entire tree in, and then you have to squint to see the ant-sized people. And he's a giant tree in a grove of giant trees. Pretty impressive.
Once you've finished wandering through the Generals Grove, you have to climb all the way back up again. Doh! However, on the way back up to the parking lot, Stephen and I pass everyone. "You are all weenies!" I shout. "My brother has asthma! You need to exercise more!" They are angry and would beat me up if they could catch up to us, which they can't. Ha ha!
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| Tight squeeze under Tunnel Log |
Nearby, is something called Moro Rock. We have no idea what it is, but it's right here, so let's go see. Uh oh. Stephen shakes his head. "There's no parking. We can't stay." He starts to slow down, and then we see the big rock jutting upwards above the tree line. "Do you want to take a picture?"
"No! I want to climb the damn rock!"
We circle around to take another try at the parking lot, and end up parking on the shoulder outside the parking lot, because once I've got my heart set on climbing the damn rock, you know we're going to climb the damn rock.
It's like a weenie version of Angel's Landing. Lots of stairs cut into the rock face. Sure, it's a steep climb, but there are railings everywhere. Easy-peasy. Are we obnoxious? Sure we are.
After that, it's time to go - it's already past 6 p.m., and the sun sets around 7:30. Not so much a problem if you're travelling on Interstates, but the Interstates mostly run North-South in California, and we're travelling West with only secondary highways, and not through very many towns, so wildlife is more of an issue. Stephen was hoping to make it to Morro Bay, but that ain't gonna happen - too far away, not enough time.
As always, it takes forever down a winding winding road to get out of the park. The little blip on the map called Lemoore is about as far as we can make it before running out of daylight. We get a room at the Motel 6 Maximum Security Prison (that's what the room looks like, anyway - either the hotel should be cheaper or the room should be nicer. And no free breakfast for you, you ungrateful inmate!).
Oh well. At least we're not sitting in a tent during a lightning storm.
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