Our California excursion this year was to hike around Kings Canyon and Sequoia Nat'l Park. Thankfully the oppressive heat wave we experienced in Sacramento (115 degrees) was over and we had perfect hiking weather. Most everything was getting ready to close for the season (end of September), so we got there just in time.
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| Panoramic Point |
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| Panoramic Point |
We stayed at Muir Lodge in Kings Canyon. Basic and comfortable. Brought some food, but had to shop at the village convenience store or eat at the take-out restaurant that had typical camping options - pizza, wings, salad. With the season ending, we found that no park convenience stores had any kind of bread the whole time we were there - except tortillas!
Each day we picked an area of either park and explored/hiked. having 4 days there gave us time to see more of both parks than we'd seen in the past.
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| Turk, the fire starter, roasts marshmallows at lodge |
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| All lodge furniture was handmade |
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| General Grant tree |
It was time to see THE SEQUOIAS many of which were near the Muir Lodge (at Grant Grove Village). The 3000 year old General Grant Tree is the 2nd largest tree, in mass, in the world at 267 feet tall and nearly 29 feet diameter. President Coolidge called it the Nations Christmas Tree.
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| Michigan Tree fell in 1931 due to nearby spring-too wet! |
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| Gamlin Cabin |
Gamlin Cabin was built in 1872 by Israel Gamlin, who with his brother filed a timber claim within Grant Grove. The cabin was once used by the first ranger of the grove during the warmer seasons.
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| cutting down Chicago tree into sections |
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| Chicago Stump today |
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| more sequoia stumps, and curious cows nearby |
The Chicago Stump is found at the end of a long, bumpy drive in an area called the Converse Basin - an area that was heavily cut by timber companies. The tree was originally known as the General Noble Tree. In 1897, it was cut down into sections and reassembled at the Chicago World's Fair to show unsuspecting populace that these giant trees existed. This magnificent display was referred to as the "California Hoax," because of widespread skepticism that a species as big as the giant sequoia was real. After the fair, the cut section of the 3200 year old tree was moved to Washington DC and sat in front of the Dept of Agriculture until it decayed.
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| Chicago tree on display |
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| a rusting cable used to lower sections of the tree |
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| Introducing - General Sherman |
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| chipmonks everywhere!! |
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| welcome to the park! |
Lots of great hiking amongst the trees here. At Big Trees Trail, the private structures have been removed and whole area returning to its natural state. We really were dwarfed by these big fat trees! The stately coastal redwoods are the tallest trees in the world while these sequoias are the largest in volume.
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| A tree tunnel |
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| common for these trees to have fire damage |
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| looking through a tree damaged by fire |
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| nice boardwalk around Big Trees Trail |
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| tree eating a rock? |
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| more fire damage atop Beetle Rock-granite dome |
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| natural rock sculptures atop this dome-where we napped |
The most impressive hike was our walk up Morro Rock. This granite rock has had a formal hiking path constructed on it since 1917 when it was built of wood. Concrete was added in 1931 with concrete steps in some spots and railings in others. The more than 350 steps - I lost count - to the top at 6725feet to look across the High Sierra peaks.
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| Morro Rock - we climbed to the top! |
Our return through Fresno took us to a wonderful farmers market, celebrating mushrooms (fungi). Chefs were cooking, we were eating. Brought bakery bread back to Florida along with great memories.
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| making fresh spring rolls with mushrooms-yum! |
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| love this sign !! |
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