In the land of giants

I can cross another national park off the list. I am down in California, well central and northern parts because at this time the southern parts are going up in smoke. My October jaunt started in San Louis Obispo with my sister where I saw dolphins for the first time in my life. We were walking around Avila beach and out in the bay there were five or six dolphins feeding and playing. Somehow I thought all the animated and watercolor paintings of dolphins breaching and leaping seemed a little too idyllic and therefore must be romanticized or fantasized, but certainly not in truth. And it was a pleasant sort of image adjustment to know that really and truly that is what dolphins look like playing.

From SLO, I drove out to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. It was a pretty drive with fall colors and vineyards, but in all my 14,000 miles of driving, I can now say I made myself car sick. I drove the windiest road I have been on yet – 180 turn after 180 through forest and rock and farm. Those kind of roads always look so picturesque in the car commercials, but I can say they are not so much fun in real life.

Another new thing for me was visiting a national park in non-tourist season. The “winter” is when they do their road maintenance and close the lodges. Thus all the well traveled scenic roads with overviews you usually can hop out of your car, walk down a short path, and view the spectacular scenes were not accessible by car. To get to Moro Rock in Sequoia NP was a five mile hike round trip. But the view was amazing and I was the only one around.



The walk up the rock was another story though. I’ve never been very big with heights so this narrow staircase up the rock was not really my cup of tea. I made it up about halfway, which was fine with me. I figured that I could see the view on both sides and I was already above everything else around, how much more was a few feet going to improve my view.

Sequoia NP is home to the largest tree on Earth. It is called General Sherman. It’s scared and burned and missing most of it’s top it seemed. But, it is not the largest for its height but by its sheer girth – as you can see. The amazing thing about the tree was not the scars from forest fire or lightening, but that the old sepia photos of loggers and mountain men standing around the tree from 1900s had the same burn marks.

There were many amazing trees with fire scars and trees that reached amazing heights, but this one was my favorite. Burned completely on one side and full of life on the other. Just shows how resilient the tree is and unpredictable fire is.