“When I entered this sublime wilderness, the day was nearly done, the trees with rosy, glowing countenances seemed to be hushed and thoughtful, as if waiting in conscious religious dependence on the sun, and one naturally walked softly, awestricken among them. ~John Muir

 

For me, Sequoia National Park was the highlight of our travels so far. This area has immense beauty and grandeur. It is located in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range which contains the tallest mountain in the “Lower 48,” Mount Whitney (maybe that was the one we climbed last night!) as well as the largest tree on earth, the General Sherman tree. 

It wasn’t long and we were at the entrance to the park. Some people were turning around at the entrance gate and leaving. As we pulled up to show our National Park Pass, we were asked if we had chains – they were required to go any farther. Yes, we did (we’d never used them, nor had we ever put any on, but they were in the back of the Gram-per Camper). We went a little down the road to the visitor center and did our usual meet-and-greet with the park rangers inside. We talked about the local wildlife, sequoia trees, the drought, forest fires. The ranger reminded us that we would need to put the chains on once we got to about 4,000 feet. He was right on the dot! At 4,000 feet, we were kneeling in snow and ice, looking at the direction pamphlet and crunching a few fingers as we snapped on our brand new tire chains. We would have never made it up the mountain without them! The snow was pristine and the scenery was stunning. 

This giant sequoia tree is the Sentinel Tree and is located right in front of the Giant Forest Museum. Even though it looks monstrously big, it is really just an average sized sequoia. It weighs about 700 tons, is 257 feet tall, is 27,900 cubic feet by volume and is about 2,200 years old. 

Inside the Giant Forest Museum, you will learn the history of the park and about the ginormous sequoia trees.

Sequoia National Park is the second national park  getting that designation on September 25th, 1890 by President Benjamin Harrison.  (Yellowstone was the first in 1872). It was created to protect the giant sequoia trees that were beginning to be logged and is named after those mighty trees. These magnificent coniferous trees only grow on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They mostly grow between 5,000-7,000 feet elevations. In this forest of Giants are four out of five of the world’s largest trees. Some of the trees here are 3,200 years old!

There are wonderful displays inside the museum that tell the story of the park, the giant trees and the love John Muir had for these trees.  Throughout the park, you see evidence of lightning striking or fire having burned part of a tree. The armour-like bark of the Giant Sequoia can be up to 31 inches thick, making it highly resistant to fire. The protective chemicals in the wood and bark repel the insects and fungi. What seems to claim most of the sequoias is the strong wind. Sequoias have a very shallow root system with no tap root and are extremely heavy so their death is attributed to toppling over.  As John Muir said. “Most of the Sierra trees die of disease, fungi, etc. but nothing hurts the big tree. Barring accidents, it seems to be immortal.”  

After leaving the museum, we couldn’t wait to begin exploring. The rail-lined pathway and covered stairway beckoned us in the correct direction. Although we were only going to Sequoia due to time restraints, Kings Canyon National Park is adjacent. Between these two parks are 75 giant sequoia groves containing 15,800 trees! 

At 2,000 or more years old, many of these giants posses a few battle scars dealt to them by fire or lightning strikes. 

 We, and  a couple of families, were the only ones in the park. Those stayed by the museum, while we went on a short hike. It was so serene and almost magical as we stood on the edge looking across the mountain range. What a perfect communion with nature!

 Mother Nature at her finest!

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir, 1877

How very, very true!

I was a little disappointed as we walked around the area, that we didn’t see any wildlife other than birds. I would love to have seen a bear. We weren’t really equipped to go far off the trail into deep snow so that is probably one of the reasons why. Although it was the time of year to be holed up in a den sleeping, I thought with the warm, almost balmy weather, that a few might have crawled out for a snack. Apparently, they were having good dreams in their hibernation! 

While we were out and about, I did come across a “Family of Sequoias” gathered together in a clearing. 

We drove farther up the road and came to the parking area for the General Sherman Tree. The sign said it was a short hike to see this glorious tree. A rail-lined path left no doubt which way to go. Some of the trees held scars – from lightning strikes perhaps?

The General Sherman Tree is found in the Giant Forest section of Sequoia National Park. It is the largest tree in the world (by volume – 52,600 cubic feet)!!! It stands about 275 feet tall. The top of the tree is actually dead so it won’t get any taller. The tree will continue to add growth to its trunk getting wider and wider. (I think that’s happening to me too! I’m not getting any taller, just wider.) The diameter of the trunk is 36.5 feet – bigger than the width of 3 lanes of interstate! It is 109 feet in circumference and is a whopping 2,200 years old! It weighs about 4,189,000 pounds.

Can you see the snow rollers at the base of the trees?

“I never saw a Big Tree that had died a natural death,” John Muir wrote of the giant sequoia. “Barring accidents they seem to be immortal, being exempt from all diseases that afflict and kill other trees. Unless destroyed by man, they live on indefinitely until burned, smashed by lightning, or cast down by storms, or by the giving way of the ground on which they stand.”

I’m not sure what had caused this Giant to fall. It’s roots were visibly ripped from the earth. A tunnel in the trunk had been dug to allow for the path to and from the General Sherman tree. 

It was hard to leave this magnificent area, but Washington and our family was continuing to call. The very steep mountain road zigzagged back and forth down the mountain. When we got to about 4,000 feet, we stopped at this beautiful pullout to remove the tire chains. Isn’t it gorgeous?

The silhouette  of the tree against the sky was so pretty. 

The road was extremely steep with lots of 20-mph switchbacks. Plenty of signs reminded drivers to “Save your breaks and gear down.”  I was feeling very relieved that we were now lower than most of the snow and ice. With the warm temperature, the roads were pretty clear. Each switchback brought another gorgeous view!

This photo helps to show how steep and curvy the road was. See the car in front of us? Hubby was really concerned as he could smell burning and was worried that the people in front hadn’t remembered to downshift into second. 

Besides being known for the spectacular giant trees, Sequoia is also a land of gargantuan, granite monoliths protruding upwards to the sky.  

If you look carefully, you can see the road ahead that we will be on soon. 

Yes, we are continuing to plunge steeply down the mountain, but isn’t it gorgeous! (Not nearly as scary as driving on a steep mountain in pitch blackness, like last night!)

When we got down to the Visitor Center, we had to stop to thank the ranger. We wanted to share our wonderful experience and new found adoration for the park. As soon as we got out, smoke began billowing out from under the front of Gram-per Camper! It wasn’t the car in front of us that was burning their brakes – it was us! Unfortunately, I went through chemo a few years ago and completely lost my sense of smell. I was totally unaware how bad the smell had been. We stayed at the Visitor Center and let our brakes cool. We walked the dogs and wondered what we could have done differently to prevent the problem with our brakes. We had driven in low gear and used our brakes only to slow as we went around the sharp curves. We were stumped. After the brakes were cooled, we loaded up to finish our drive down the mountain and begin the final leg of our journey. We hadn’t gone far when there was another curve. Hubby pressed the brakes, and they smashed to the floor. WE HAD NO BRAKES!!!   (The story continues with the next post!)