Sequoia National Park

Sunday, Mar 3

We really enjoyed Andy and Edwards AFB, but we must move on.

As soon as we headed West, we started seeing the largest concentration of wind turbines we've seen. They were on every mountain for miles.

The terrain is changing quickly – and we started to see green! After a month of mostly brown vegetation and brown earth, it is a welcome change to see green grass and trees.

We drove along beside miles and miles of orange groves and vegetable fields.

Around lunch time, we stopped at a roadside vegetable stand and picked up some local fresh vegetables and fruits. Across the street was a food truck and we noticed a lot of Hispanics around it. We decided that if the locals thought it was good, we'd try it. We bought some tacos and I had the best quesadilla I think I have ever had. We took them back to the motorhomes and enjoyed them while sitting beside the road next to an orange grove.

Tony's Tacos, the best quesadilla I think I've ever had

It was only a short drive to Sequoia National Park. Clara and I had been here 45 years ago when I was in B-52 training at Merced AFB, but we don't remember much.

We settle into Potwisha Park. We settle here for two reasons, low elevation (less chance of snow) and the road beyond it is limited to vehicles 22 feet of less (for a good reason).

This afternoon, Bill, Jan and I took off in the car and drove on up the road a few miles (from 2,000 feet to over 6,000). This is incredible country and I'm looking forward to exploring it more thoroughly tomorrow. Unfortunately, Bill and Jan are leaving tomorrow morning. They want to get to their daughters near San Jose early this week because their son, Scott will be there for a couple days on business.

Tonight we settle into a quiet evening, with a nice rain falling on the roof.

A beautiful "Green" meadow where the deer came to eat

Monday, Mar 4

Another day of superlatives. Bill and Jan left this morning headed toward Wendy's. Clara and I left shortly afterward to explore Sequoia. After a visit down the hill to the visitor center, we drove up into the Sequoia forest which are between 6-7,000 feet – where several feet of snow still lays on the ground.

Like the Grand Canyon, there are few words to describe seeing the largest tree in the world. Dimensions and data do not describe the magnificance of these trees. At one time today, we were standing beneath one of them, and the upper branches were literally in the clouds high above our heads.

These huge trees have been living for thousands of years, have survived every type of weather and man made defacing, and they still continue to grow. They makes people and cars seem insignificant when placed near them. Some pictures do begin to show their significance when the picture includes something of a scale that we can relate to.

For Anna and Evan:  Sequoia National Park was created on September 25, 1980.  The park, along with Kings Canyon National Park, encompass the most rugged portions of the Sierra Nevada.  From the highest peaks in the lower 48 states, Ice Age glaciers descended to carve some the country's deepest canyons.  

Extreme elevation change - from 1,500 to 14,494 feet - creates a great variety of habitats.  

The largest trees on earth grows here.  In all the world, sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, usually between 5,000 and 7,000 feet of elevation.  

The General Sherman Tree is the largest of these, and is estimated to be 2,200 years old.  Its largest branch is almost seven feet in diameter.  Every year this tree grows enough new wood to produce a 60-foot tall tree of usual proportions.  

Sequoias don't die of old age and are resistant to fire and insect damage.  Most die by falling over.

They grow to 311 feet.  Their bark is 31 inches thick and the bases grow to 40 feet in diameter.

I hope these pictures provide some idea of the true size and beauty of the largest trees that exist.

The largest tree in the world

The annual growth rings on this tree when it was cut down show that it is 2,210 years old 

Mimi peers out of a tunnel cut through a fallen sequoia

Tree tunnel

Mimi's in the circle beneath the largest tree in the world.

A small car in a giant grove of sequoias

The road goes between two giant sequoias

This evening when we got back to the motorhome, there were three deer grazing in the meadow.  We enjoyed them for a couple of hours as they quietly went about eating their dinner.

Mimi talks to the deer

We plan to leave in the morning and perhaps go to Yosemite National Park.