treestreestrees

Ahoy,

For Memorial Day weekend we finally made it out to Sequoia National Park! The trip had been slotted for several other weekends that fell through until this weekend. I asked at the beginning of the year if we could make it out to Sequoia this year. It's just that whenever we go to Yosemite we pass the sign for Sequoia and I can't help but remark how it's closer and we could just hop off the highway earlier to go to Sequoia instead of Yosemite. I didn't know very much about Sequoia, I just knew it was closer and therefore I wanted to go.

The weather was slated to be very favorable. In fact, it was pretty likely to rain. I booked a campsite in the Sequoia National Forest thinking that it would be close enough, but alas, I realized it was a 3 hour drive from our campsite to the Park! So we ditched the campsite and decided to just drive up to the Park and hopefully score a first come first serve campsite. Worst case scenario we would have to go back to our original site.

After entering the park, it was quite a long and winding path to get to a campsite that was available. We passed up a few that were all full. As we approached higher elevation it started to rain, and then it started to rain harder, and it continued to rain. The elements always add a wow factor to any trip outdoors. In line for a campsite, the ranger told us the car in front of us got the last reservation! In times like these I think back to all the moments that delayed us that would have gotten us a campsite. It was about another 20 minutes to the next campsite and I sulked regretfully about what had led us to our predicament.

Sequoia National Park & Kings Canyon National Park are technically 2 separate parks but operate as one. The path in the parks goes through National Forest land going from Sequoia in the south to Kings Canyon in the north. We found our campsite at Stony Creek Village in the National Forest. We rolled in and found a lot of empty sites. The ranger flagged us down and told us there were walk ins available and we breathed a huge sigh of relief. Also, the rain had subsided - so everything worked out. This was the cutest campsite I'd ever stayed. We had our own creek that we had to cross to get to our site. It was huge and as private as we could hope for. Plus, since it was still National Forest we were able to transfer our original reservation to this site with no additional cost. Bonus!

The following morning we went on a Crystal Caves tour first thing. It included a short and steep walk downhill to the cave. We learned that you're not supposed to wear the same clothes to any cave tours because you could be carrying a disease from cave to cave. So we had to make mental note to wear something different for our next cave tour. Cave dwellings are so cool.

We met up with our friends who arrived just on time to our site. It's always great when people can be timely and reliable. Off we went to see some trees, the biggest tree. We saw General Sherman (~ 2,200 years old) covered in fog. There's something magical, spooky, and eerie about a forest enshrined in fog. I feel like it's more of a unique and rare experience to see a forest like this. It's a testament to nature and how flexible you have to be, how undemanding you need to be of its powers. It will give you whatever experience it wants. You are just another creature amongst giants. We walked around a meadow of giants too, and I think since it was after the rain and spring - all the bears must have been out. Because we saw 8 over the course of 2 hours. We saw 6 (3 of them cubs) in one meadow and I think 1 adult bear was not even 12 feet away at its closest point, and 1 each at 2 other meadows. Also, 2 marmots. Back at our campsite we saw 3 mule deer. So much wildlife! What a treat. I felt honored to be in the woods that day.

After A & I struggled with our wet fire ring the night before, we knew we had to make a new game plan. The fire was successful that night despite the hail and rain that poured on us. We stood over the fire with umbrellas for a good 15 minutes while the sky cried. Canned soup never tastes so glorious as around a campfire.

The following day we headed up to Kings Canyon to see the General Grant, the nation's Christmas tree. We hopped out of the Park after that to make our way home. It was a short trip, but action packed. I couldn't have asked for a better time.

 happily smoky,
jt