California: Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP
Wow 🤯
As a flat Earther raised in Florida the mountains are always amazing so this next portion of the trip into the Sierra Nevadas is pretty exciting. We had some desert mountains that amazed but there is something about endlessness of a mountain range like the Sierra Nevadas that just smells different, literally.
As a brief peek inside the RV, it has been a tumultuous week emotionally with questions about our trip mission (growing this family closer together), while simultaneously offering epic experiences in stunningly beautiful creation. While the paradoxical emotions remain, any low is confronted by the grandeur of the Sequoia National Park while we praise and pray for our continued mission.
Words can’t capture the emotion of seeing a living thing created with such scale and age that it defies logic or comparison. To call these Sequoia big is to ignore other things of size on the planet. Three of our 40ft RVs could stand up on end, with slides open and fit inside the width of the base of this tree (38ft). One with slides open would still fit inside the truck over 60 feet up in the air 😳 There are other large pine trees in the forest surrounding the Sequoia but it’s like an elephant standing behind a bush, they kinda stick out.
In our way into the parks we start with a SoCal staple, In-N-Out. 😊 Vince had trouble digesting it after paying $100 for a tank of gas for the SUV but we shall carry on... till we need to fill the RV 🫣 Parked in the San Joaquin Valley near Tulare, we took the SUV and climbed up into the Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks. They touch each other but were commissioned under separate acts of Congress thus the two names with connecting roads and both featuring the Sequoia and some mountain majesty!
One of our favorite adventure things to do is rock hoping along a river and the mountains provided in abundance! Spring snow melt has the rivers running and the granite and marble were gorgeous along the river.
Driving up/down through the clouds to the General Sherman (largest tree in the world) the drive was a treat unto itself. Jayden got car sick from all the twists and turns but was able to get excited about wildlife sightings including a black bear, our first sighting in the wild. we also found some turkey roosting in a tree and found out Robert could speak turkey 😂 Seriously, we said that’s turkey and Robert let out a gobble gobble sound the Tom of the group responded to. They went back and forth for a bit leaving the rest of us in tears 😂
Wild fires were evidenced throughout the park on the trees, with some fresh forest evidence from charred ground and other areas substantial regrowth. We learned there are controlled fires to reduce the “fuel” for forest fires in both the National Parks and National Forests. We also found Sequoia, which do not burn as well due to their substantial outter layer of bark and low sap content, partially burned but still standing tall and in some cases thriving. Some showed signs of burning on multiple occasions but for trees that live 1000s of years that makes sense 🤯 A few did succumb but became tunnels for visitors ti explore laying on the mountain side. Check out the size of these trees!
King’s Canyon was more of the same with snow play and more giants to explore like General Grant and others without names but still enormous!
Driving out into the trees and park exit in the clouds makes these giants even more unbelievable. Thank you Lord for the mountain highs and we look forward to staying in Yosemite for some more mountain adventures and some big waterfalls!
