Cool California: Sequoia National Park

  The Sequoia National Park was INCREDIBLE!  There are no words for how massively giant these trees are, standing next to tiny counterparts in the forest, and as hard as I tried, I doubt I can show you just how majestic they really are.   But I am going to try?
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  Can you see the magic?  It's so enchanting and fairytale like. 

  The Sequoia national park is a lot of driving, but you can park and walk the different sections too. They gave us a HUGE map to follow!  Check out the squiggles, yup, we drove it.  Everyone looked straight ahead, and some doTERRA Digestzen oil and Peppermint kept the nausea at bay!

Wait, this doesn't do it justice....HERE you go.  Let's zoom in a bit.

Right about where the Reconstruction red sign is......THAT is where things got crazy! You like double back on yourself as you drive the curves. INCREDIBLE!

  Totally worth it.  We first stopped at Hospital rock and had a picnic and did some climbing.
The women here used to use these holes in the rock to grind the giant acorns all around this area for their meals.

​   We drove and drove, just taking it all in.

    Dale spotted a giant tree, and we used a pull off spot to hop out and go see it in person.  It wasn't the largest tree in the Park, Sherman, but it was BIG.

​   Really really BIG!

  Even the drive to our next stop was breathtaking.....​​  

   We headed to Colonel William Young tree next.  This tree was named for the first African American superintendent of a national park.
​  Colonel Young was responsible for the crew that made it even possible for people to bring wagons in to view these beautiful giants.
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Read more about him here:
https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/historyculture/young.htm

  We also were able to drive through tunnel log on our way to the hiking trail.  Thanks to Drea for snagging a photo! :)

​  The hiking trail was set to lead us up to a cool cabin a man made out of a fallen and fire ravished Sequoia.  They call it Tharp's Log.  Drea got a great photo of the inside with her flash.  
  You can see it in the slideshow below along with a beautiful meadow they call Crescent Meadow. We saw some deer grazing even!
 Oh, and a BIG scary "bear" in a green shirt came barreling out of the trees and scared us nearly to pieces on the hiking trail....
​ ORNEREY!

  After our hike, we decide to check out Morro Rock.  This it the highest point of the park.  See it?    Yep, up THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​  400 steps to the top didn't sound so bad.  And if there are steps, it must be cut wide and safe, sturdy with high walls and guard rails, right?!

  WRONG. Don't misunderstand. It was amazing, but at some spots the wall was SO low, and people were pushing past each other going up and down because it was so so narrow. 

 I am telling you right now, my knees were JELLO and I shook like a leaf the whole time, and even well after.  Drea agreed!!!!  Dale thought it was funny to mess with us, of COURSE! 
  The view from the top was spectacular and totally worth it all.  

​  Time to head back down....there is more park to see!

 Our last stop of the day, was to see the King of all Sequoia trees: Big Sherman!

    A little perspective on size....I am still far far away and using my max zoom.

  The General Sherman Tree is the world's largest tree, measured by volume. It stands 275 feet tall, and is over 36 feet in diameter at the base.
​   Sequoia trunks remain wide high up. Sixty feet above the base, the Sherman Tree is 17.5 feet in diameter, at 180 feet up, it's 13.7.  Its largest branch is 6.8 feet in diameter.
 The photo below gives you visual with the people drawn to scale beside it.

  Dale and Drea were kind enough to run back up the hiking trail for the cars and meet me, dad and the kids down at the entrance since we were right there anyhow. We were EXHAUSTED at this point and our feet were aching!  
  We were ready to call it a night and go grab some supper on the way home.
  
  Little did we know, that on our way out, the park would just be waking UP!

  Everyone had to stop and take photos!  We saw 4 bear eating their supper at different turns on the way out.

  AAAAND, grossest of all gross.....

  We kept seeing these GIANT things darting out across the road.......

  Oh what? You can't quite see what it is?  Here, let me pull over and get a closer zoomed in shot for you...................

   AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

  What the heck?! These spiders were HUGE. Like a man's hand! Running across the road!

  WHY do people tent camp here? WHYYYYYY?  {Shudder}  
  I can't have this post end with a photo of THAT.......let me see what else we have.

  Ah, that's better.  A beautiful ending to a beautiful day!  

  After this we packed up we slept hard, packed up, and headed for Texas. We have 12 classes scheduled here, and another 10 or so in Missouri, before we head to Kansas.  Lots of work and classes to teach, so good thing we got to play in Cali, it might be a while until we have a break again.

  See you next time!

Hugs, T