We have a guest blogger this week….Charlie!
First a little history of Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Sequoia National Park was created in 1890 to protect the giant sequoia trees from logging. Just one week later, General Grant National Park was created and Sequoia was enlarged. In 1940, President Roosevelt created a new national park to include the glacially-formed King’s Canyon which would include the existing General Grant National Park. Since 1943, Sequoia and Kings Canyon have been managed jointly. Unfortunately, most of the canyon was closed due severe storms last winter. My one piece of advice if you plan to visit these parks, bring dramamine!
Now, let’s hear from Charlie….
KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARK
First of all, King’s Canyon is one of the most incredible landscapes on the planet. From giant sequoias to the beautiful deep canyon, it is awesome! It is nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains among the wildest trees in the world. The park is separated into 2 parks—29 miles (or 50 minutes) apart. We went to the smaller part because the roads to the larger part were closed. The smaller part used to be its own park called General Grant National Park. So, I will call it General Grant! There is no easy way access General Grant. You either have to drive through Sequoia National Park which touches both parts of the park or take a looooooooong windy road. Without knowing, we took the “scenic drive” which is 1 hour and 20 minutes of the most windy roads! It made my brothers and me SO sick to our stomachs. It was terrible! We arrived at General Grant’s Village to find only 2 of the 5 buildings were open—the visitor center and the base camp market. The visitor center had a cool movie about Kings Canyon.
After getting lunch at the basecamp market—bbq chips and Pop-Tarts! yum!—we quickly realized that we only had 3 hours of daylight left. We headed to a 1 mile hike, General Grant Tree trail. This trail has 2 tree tunnels through giant sequoias, one to walk through and one to climb through. Exploring is what my brothers and I were made to do so of course whenever we can, we will! The climbing tunnel was incredible! Any tree I can climb through is so cool and so big! It is impossible not to see God’s creation in the trees! Oh, and an interesting fact—the one tree was used as stables and a hotel!
Next we drove up a, of course, windy road to see a panoramic view of King’s Canyon, but were turned away because apparently the road was closed. We didn’t even get to get out and see the view! So, we went to the Big Stump trail which was partially closed because they were doing controlled burns in the area. What we saw of the trail was incredible though. True to its name, back in the 1880s, the big beautiful trees were cut down. On the trail, you can climb on all of the HUGE stumps!
On the way home, we stopped and saw an overlook of King’s canyon, a section of a controlled burn, and a cloud fog blanket over the park. And, one more stop to see the most incredible view of the stars I have ever seen! We returned home after a full day to hot showers and my mom’s famous tater tot tacos! A perfect way to end a great day!
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK
I am writing this from Death Valley National Park, and I am hot and it is buggy! How I miss the lush green sequoia groves!
S E Q U O I A
The reason I wrote the letters so large is because the size is accurate to the trees we saw! Our nation’s 2nd national park has the 2 largest trees in the world! The largest tree, General Sherman, is a quick 1/2 mile walk and the second largest, the President, is about a 2 mile hike from General Sherman tree. The president is the most beautiful tree in the world—untouched by nature or humans. This tree is such a beautiful shade of red and not falling apart, like General Sherman. The 2 mile hike in between is beautiful. Groves and groves of sequoias, big, small, and many affected by fire! No other trail had so many sequoias in one area.
To end our day in America’s 2nd national park, we drove through a fallen tree tunnel and we climbed Morro rock for sunset! Wow! It’s only a quarter of mile hike, but it has 350 narrow stone stairs! The top of Morro rock is at 6,725 feet above sea level. I was hoping to see a ringtail (a small mammal native to this area) which usually comes out around sunset, but was unsuccessful!
I love Sequoia National Park!
Oh, and we saw a Tesla Cyber truck! The most incredible thing I’ve ever seen!
