Big Time Adventure

Before I start on the next section of my travel I wanted to put in a few more pictures from Death Valley that my sister took. She has a much nicer camera than I do, so her pictures do a better job of capturing the size of the valley (plus since she was taking the pictures I'm actually in some of them). 

The Valley is very large, but not as dead as the name implies

Amazing Sunset in Badwater

I found a hole to sit in so I could be the lowest person in the US.

From Lake Isabella Casey and I went up and over another mountain range and all of a sudden California got much more green. There were orchards all over, cattle grazing on the mountainside, and trees everywhere. I am a big fan of forests, they are a familiar feature from a life in the midwest. When we got into Sequoia National Park however there was ample evidence that this was a land far removed from my Minnesota home.

California Forestland

The Sign says it all.

Tunnel Rock, an early landmark entering Sequioa National Park

Driving through the pine forest and climbing higher and higher into the mountains there were occasional trees that were almost unbelievably large. These were the sequoias that the park is named for, and even having seen them first hand, touched them, and climbed on and inside of them I still have trouble comprehending how huge these things are. It is a very odd feeling to see one of these trees in a forest of normal trees, like it just doesn't really belong there, and part of me just refused to believe they were real. Back in the early 1900's a couple of these trees were cut down and shipped around the country to show off to people, but most people who saw it thought that it was some kind of hoax.

The trees are bit bigger than I am

Some small to average sized sequoias

Standing on the roots of a fallen tree

The view from on top of the root structure

These fellas are big

There was a lot of stopping just to marvel at the enormous trees, and as we got a bit higher also to marvel at the beauty of the park in general. I am constantly amazed by mountains, both how huge they are and how they open up the view of the world when you are up on them. As cool as unspoiled wilderness is there is also something great about seeing a road snaking up a mountain side, being able to look back at the point you were at an hour ago down the mountain is almost like looking back in time.

The mountains are also very large.

We climbed Moro rock and there were some great views of the surrounding mountains, several of which still had significant amounts of snow on them. Watching the mountains appear and disappear in the clouds was really fascinating, especially since many of the clouds were moving through below us. I've seen the tops of clouds often from an airplane window, but seldom when standing out in the wide open.

Climbing Moro Rock with Casey

Snow-capped peaks emerging from the clouds, awesome!

There were also some storm clouds zooming overhead. They were moving fast and there was no lightning, but there was a bit of thunder, and Casey was getting a lot of static shocks, so we didn't hang around on the peak too long.

Dark Clouds, Thunder, Static - Check, Check, and Check

There was rain falling off and on as we got into the heart of the sequoia forest. There is a great hike a couple miles long near the General Sherman, the largest tree in the world (and that's per volume!) I won't spend much time trying to describe these trees or put up a ton of pictures of them, they are really something you have to see in person to get an idea of how ridiculous they really are.

Inside of a pretty big tree

Hanging out with the Senate

Face to Face with The President

Checking out the large crack on the President's backside - he he ;)

Many of these trees are thousands of years old and have survived all sorts of natural disasters. They stop growing taller at a height of a little under 300ft, but still put on mass. The General Sherman puts on more than an entire normal sized trees worth of mass every year.

General Sherman is a big fella

Hanging out at the feet of a giant

One tree, or two?

Casey working on getting tree tall

Confirmation, Casey is a bit of a tree hugger :)

I could have wandered around in the sequoias for days, but there was a lot more to see, and not much time to see it in. This trip was more to plant a seed for future trips, I can't wait to get back to these parks in the future. On our way out of the park we went through an area where there had been some logging before the park was created. It made me very glad for the protection these trees have now and the thoughtfulness of the people who worked so hard to make sure they are protected for people to see hopefully for hundreds of years to come.

Another fun game, mimicking sign markers. I know what this guy is up to.

Tree Tunnel!

I think this was just called "Giant Stump". It lives up to it's name.