USA 2005

Wednesday 10th August 2005 - Sequoia National Park day 1

We left our camp site by the river Kern at about 9:30 and continued north on secondary roads through the remainder of the Sequoia National Forest on our way to the National Park. The scenery was beautiful and as we progressed, the forest became thicker and the trees taller.

We stopped for photos and a short walk at Trail of 100 Giants, where we saw our first genuine giant Sequoia. "Oh.... my...... God" said Jack as he first saw it!

The journey turned out to be further and more arduous than expected however. The road soon started to climb as the terrain became more mountainous. Soon, the road was just mile after mile of alternating hairpin bends. Great scenery and quite engaging driving... but it went on forever and made for very slow progress.

We eventually got to the camp ground at about 3:30 p.m. All told, the journey from Vegas to Sequoia NP was not far off 500 miles in the end! There were half a dozen to choose from and we were lucky to get one of the last places at Lodgepole, the only one which has showers. On registering, we were given lots of advice and information from the ranger, especially about the issues surrounding the presence of Black Bears in the park. Apparently they do come down to the camp ground from time to time to scavenge. All sites are provided with bear proof "bear boxes" into which all food and anything that a bear might conceivably regard as food, must be secured.

After setting up camp we all had showers and did a bit of shopping at the market.

It was a lovely day, with the temperature not too high, especially since we had climbed into the mountains, so we decided to select one of the nearby trails to walk before dinner. We chose the Congress Trail which takes you past one of the most famous trees, "General Sherman", which is believed to be the largest living tree on earth, at 274 feet high, with a diameter of 36.5 feet and an estimated age of at least 2,300 years!. The trail was only about 2 miles long but took us past many of the most impressive trees and, once we had left the vicinity of General Sherman (which was crawling with tourists), was fairly quiet. It was an excellent introduction to the park. Bekky and Jack walked at their own pace, carrying one of the new 2-way radios so that they could talk to Martin if necessary and Martin and Marina walked on ahead. At the end of the walk, we collected firewood, which is allowed at the park, provided it's on the ground and dead.

Back at the camp site, we had dinner and Martin lit a substantial camp fire. Meanwhile, Jack and Bekky had made friends with a couple of young Californian boys, Erin and Christian and they spent some time playing ball with them, before bringing them back to our camp to be introduced to "flaming mallows".

It was a long journey to get to the park, but it has all the makings of a nice relaxed final park of the holiday.

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