Day 20-21 Sequoia and Kings Canyon

Day 20-21 June 29-30

Sequoia and Kings Canyon

Temp: 77-100+ degrees – depending on if we were at 2000 or 6000 elevation

Mileage: 600ish

Time away from home: 36 hours

We left at 8:30 Saturday AM and took the route up towards Lake Isabella.  It is a pretty drive the changes from desert landscape to pinetrees and mountain views.  Then we got on to hway 155. There was a 16 mile stretch here that, in our estimation, has 400 turns.  It was not a fun drive for Seth and I.  We were getting motion sickness.  We did however, find the biggest pinecone ever!   Many more winding turns later and we finally made it into Sequoia.  

The roots of a tree felled over 200 years ago.

General Sherman is the largest living thing on the planet.  It is hard to gauge the size of the base – 36 ft across and 274 ft tall!  We got into a ranger talk who explained more about the trees and the area. We then found a tree that fell hundreds of years ago and was used as a road for many years until it started rotting out.  We then drove through a tree that fell down hundreds of years ago.  Walked through Cre

sant Meadow hoping to see a bear, but we didn’t.

Next was a walk to the top of the world – Moro Rock!  Sullivan didn’t want to walk it initially so Seth and I walked up by ourselves.  I didn’t understand how many steps we would have to walk up – there were soooo many.  I also didn’t expect it to be so shear and steep on the rock face.  It was scary! But on top the view was great!  You could see forever.  Oddly, there was only a small railing to keep me (and my son) on the top of the rock.  But we all stayed on and we all made it down.  I didn’t think Brian and Sullivan were coming up but they did.  Sullivan got a pic then went on down.  He scooted down the steps on his butt if it was too steep.

side view of Moro Rock

View from ON TOP of Moro Rock

The next AM we took more winding roads into Kings Canyon.  We stumbled across another Ranger and another tour, but this time it was around General Grant and his grove.  She told some interesting stories about how one man put out a fire on the top of the sequoia named California  and another story about how the Sequoia trees were the catalyst in changing thought about ecology and wildlife.  There was a Ranger many years ago who studied how the trees grew.  He learned the forest needed fires to get rid of brush on the floor and smaller trees that would block sunlight.  You can see how small the seedlings are of the huge trees!  On our tour this Ranger passed around bark from the Sequoia – it was soft and spongey, not like regular hard bark.  It is rangers like this who make these adventures so much more enjoyable.

Sequoia Bark

Sequoia seed!

Walking through the tree - root to tree top!

Boydon Cave

While on the Ranger led tour she took us through a felled tree that was used a hotel, saloon and house 130 years ago.  We got to walk through it from roots to tree top.

On the way to the end of Kings Canyon road we took a tour of a cave, climbed on boulders and walked in a stream.

Best Things:

Seth – Moro Rock – it was so scary to go up there! Walking in the water is was cold!

Sullivan – Climbing over the rocks at the end of Kings Canyon because it was harder than other rocks to climb.

Sarah – Moro Rock, General Grant Ranger Tour

Brian - Climbing rocks at the end of the Kings Canyon and walking through  the cool waters with Seth.

Worst Things:

Seth – I can’t think of anything

Sullivan – Moro Rock because it was so scary I think I was going to fall off the whole time.

Sarah – oh for the love of God…the winding roads

Brian - The La Quinta pool was slimy and gross and the drive home was long!

It is wonderful and I am so grateful that God has made this summer happen.  Everything has lined up and things are going along so smoothly (except when boys have to take showers to get rid of the horrible smell coming from armpits, but I will overlook that for now).  Boys are getting along so well.  They are off screens when they need to be and they are looking around enjoying nature.  They are reading the signs, listening to the guides, learning something new. This is an unbelievable summer trip that I surely won’t  forget.  At times however it feels very unreal yet at the same time it feels like exactly what we are supposed to do right now.  I am barely thinking about the house as I know it is in good hands.  I am barely thinking about work and how I am not earning money this summer, but God has has a plan for my work as well.  It is lovely on the days after our adventure when we sit at ‘home’ rethink about what we just did and journal all the fun things.