October 6, 2014
Yesterday afternoon Brent and Jackie drove to Visalia to stay with friends and then drove up to Reedley, about 30 minutes away, to where we were staying. We were looking forward to spending the day with them. We left the hotel about 7:15 and it was about a 45 minute drive to Kings Canyon. The first stop was at the Grant Grove. The General Grant Tree Trail was a 1/3 mile trail through a grove of giant sequoia
Jackie & Brent inside a fallen, hollow sequoia
The General Grant Tree is the world's third largest tree and has the greatest base diameter of any sequoia at 40.3 feet. This is 3.5 feet more than the diameter of the world's largest tree, General Sherman that you'll see later in this blog. This tree is as tall as a 27-story building. It is wider at the base than a three-lane freeway. It weighs more than 700 large cars. If the wood were strong enough for construction, more than 40 average sized, 5-room houses could be built from it. A relatively young tree for a huge sequoia, the Grant Tree has lived for nearly 20 centuries.
All 4 of us in front of the General Grant Tree
Fire scar on the back side of the General Grant Tree
Brent on the General Grant Trail
When we left this area, we headed to see the Chicago Stump. This was an interesting trip because we had to drive a narrow, rutty "road" for about 2 miles. Our little car was low to the ground and it was quite a challenge. When we finally got there, I saw it and said "Is that it?" Not what I was expecting after driving down that road. It was the General Noble Tree and was cut about 5' above the ground. In 1897, it was cut down in sections and reassembled at the Chicago World's Fair. Brent climbed on top of it to pose for me!
Brent standing on the Chicago Stump
After that little adventure, Conrad declared "No more gravel roads!" Next up was the Hume Lake Dam. It was constructed in 1909 and was the first design with multiple arch shapes. This was as close as we got to it. It was really a pretty place. There was a church camp here.
Hume Lake Dam
Hume Lake and Dam
We were headed down in the valley for a view. We wanted to go all the way to the end of the road but just didn't have the time to do that and go on down to Sequoia. It was a gorgeous drive and another beautiful day!
Driving down into the valley
Still driving
More views
More views
Still more views
The rock is really close to the road
More views
More views
We went as far as Convict Flat. We found a picnic table and had a yummy picnic lunch. Then, we were headed back out of the valley and south to Sequoia. (These two parks are joined together. You never know if you're in Kings Canyon, Sequoia or Sequoia National Forest!)
Jackie and Brent at the beginning of the Sherman Tree Trail
Conrad and Linda at the beginning of the Sherman Tree Trail
The Sherman Tree Trail was about a half mile, all downhill. About halfway down the trail, a brick "footprint"matching the base of the Sherman Tree. The footprint, like the tree, has a circumference of 103'. It makes a person feel awfully small!
Brent & Jackie in the middle of the Sherman footprint
Sherman Tree Trail
Jackie and Brent in front of the General Sherman Tree
Conrad and Linda in front of the General Sherman Tree
These trees started out as two trees but grew together to make one tree.
Jackie and I took the easy route out (to the handicap parking area) and the guys hiked out and then drove over to pick us up. We spent some time around this tree before meeting the guys.
After looking at the trees, we visited the museum. One of the most interesting things I learned there was that it takes 91,000 giant sequoia seeds to make one pound! They had these seeds in a quart jar.
Giant sequoia seeds - 91,000 = 1 pound
All day, Brent kept saying that he wanted to see a bear. So far, we had only seen one all week. But, he finally got his wish! We stopped in the road (behind another car that had already stopped) and took several pictures and a little video. The bear didn't seem interested in us and just kept wandering around.
The black bear
Next stop was at Auto Log. Early visitors to the Giant Forest often had difficulty comprehending how big the giant sequoias are. To help give a sense of their size, a roadway was cut into the top of this fallen tree. Due to rot in the log, cars can no longer drive on it, but it remains an interesting historic feature. We all walked out on it though.
The Auto Log
This was the tunnel log. Of course, we had to drive through it!
One of the last stops was at Moro Rock. You can climb to the top of this granite dome via a steep 1/4-mile staircase (over 350 steps). I didn't climb up here because of the altitude for one and I wasn't sure these knees would have made it back down! (My new knee would have done fine but the other one...) Brent, Jackie and Conrad went up to the top and were gone about a half hour while I waited below. They all said it was a little scary up there but the view was worth the climb.
The steps are hard to see but the wind around the rock.
The steps are a little easier to see in this picture.
The view from the top of Moro Rock
The trail at the top of Moro Rock
A view from the top of Moro Rock.
A view from the top of Moro Rock.
A view from the top of Moro Rock. That road in the middle
is the road in and out of the park.
We're leaving Moro Rock but stopped to look back at Moro
Rock. They were a long way up there!
These birds were taking a bath in the holes in this rock.
This was near Hospital Rock.
Here are the four of us in front of the Sequoia sigh
Jackie remembers this sign from her childhood. She
grew up in Los Angeles and her family was here
several times.
It was close to 6:00 by the time we got here so needed to get on our way. We made a stop in Three Rivers to eat dinner then back to the hotel. We said our good nights and Brent and Jackie headed back to Visalia and their friends. It was a wonderful day. So glad they were able to join us for the trip. Wish they could have spent the whole week with us. Back to San Francisco tomorrow.
s.
