California Dreamin’ - Sequoia and Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks

The next days for the Bauers held quite a bit of excitement.  Our to-do list included seeing a really big tree and returning to Bilbo’s favorite place on Earth.  But before we could enjoy, we had to get some more driving under our belts.  Lucky for us, the road ahead was very scenic!

 

We stopped in a little town called Visalia for the night, then headed into Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. 

 

The park welcomes you in with a windy road up the mountain with sweeping views and some wildlife along the way.  

 

The road’s guard rails were being refurbished, so we had to wait the specified 20 minutes for this little light to turn green.

 

It was alright, though, we had plenty to look at during our stop an after we got the go!

 

Then we were on the the main event, the Giant Forest, home of the largest tree (by volume) on Earth—General Sherman!  We drove through a grove of hulking sequoia trees as we made our way to the General Sherman Trail.  

 

 

The trail took us further and more intimately into the sequoia grove until we reached it.

 

GENERAL SHERMAN!

 

The General states 275 feet high, has a diameter of 25 feet, and estimated volume of 52,513 cubic feet!  Although not the oldest tree, he is between 2,300 and 2,700 years old.

We continued along the trail loop where we saw more sequoias…

  

including fallen trees…

 

 

a burnt out tree…

and some powerful trees.

(The President and the Congress)

 

 

  

By the time we drove back down the mountain the day was still young.

   

  

So we continued on down the road to Bilbo’s favorite spot, Yosemite National Park.

 

No time is wasted here!  As soon as you enter the park, the grand view of Yosemite Valley is spread before you.

 

Then, you go through a tunnel and find yourself even closer to the beauty!

We stopped for a quick pic at Tunnel View and examined the bronze map of the valley before getting into the thick of it.  Like in Joshua Tree, we spent the first day driving through and getting an over all view of the park.

  

On the valley floor we took a quick walk out to Bridal Veil Fall.

We also caught a far off glimpse of Yosemite Falls, the second tallest waterfall in the world!

We drove right beside one of Yosemite’s most famous features, El Capitan. No matter where we looked, beauty was all around us.

 

The next day began with another breath-taking drive through the valley and past El Cap, until we found the parking area for our trailhead.

 

 
Our first hike at Yosemite was to Mirror Lake, a relatively new lake caused by glacial melting.  The lake may be gone within the next century due to sedimentary deposit.

 

 

The morning was cold, only 24 degrees when we started, but we enjoyed a nice leisurely stroll.  So serene that Bilbo stopped for a think.

 

The cobblestone along the path made us feel like we were walking a fairytale road.

 

The lake is seasonal, so it was dry when we got there and we were able to walk right out to the center of the lake bed.  That made for some nice pictures.

  

We saw a lone coyote on the road as we drove from the Mirror Lake parking area to our next destination.

 Our next hike was to Taft Point and the Fissures.  The trail was snowy and crisp, but a lot of people were in the area and a good path had been walked into the snow.

 

It was so cold that we crossed a frozen creek!  Brrr…

 

 

Our hiking book described wide deep fissure in the rocks that allow a “gut-wrenching” view of the valley floor.   We were a little disappointed when we found them, though.  I guess we got our expectations up too high.

 

The big attraction here wasn’t the fissures, it was the view from Taft Point.

We met some nice ladies who took lovely pictures of us and gave us pointers for our future visits. 

 

 

Our last event for the day was a drive out to Glacier Point, where visitors get a unique view of Half Dome (the feature to Bilbo’s right).

Glacier Point offers perspective on how glaciers carved the Yosemite Valley.

 

When leaving Glacier Point, we saw another coyote prowling along the road.  They seemed to be very interested in the cars going by.

 

One last stop at Tunnel View, and we were headed through the tunnel and out of the park.  I have to tell you that I loved this place just as much as Bilbo and, Man-Oh-Man, are we looking forward to a second trip to Yosemite!

 

We watched the sun set as we made our way to the last hotel before we reached our CA home.

That’s right, folks!  At this point we only had one day of driving left.  That means that our next blog will be about our arrival to and first weeks in Ferndale, CA.  It is a great place and we’re looking forward to sharing it with you!