Sequoia National Park
Started out in Visalia and drove up Highway 198 to the Ash Mountain entrace to the park. Drove up the Generals Highway through the park, stopping occasionally to take pictures of the mountains, river, and vegetation. We’re now taking a mid-day break and getting lunch at the Wuksachi Lodge. There’s still 25 miles of road to drive to reach Grants Grove at the northernmost part of the park.
Since this was to be a true vacation day, we didn’t get up very early. It was around 9 when we packed up the suitcases and got onto the highway. There were fields and groves galore along the highway as we drove east. One farmer had put signs along his fences identifying the trees as Walnuts. I also saw peaches, plums, and probably almonds.
As we approached the park entrance, there were more "service" facilities such as lodges, recreation parks, and restaurants. There were some very nice homes with gorgeous views — which probably cost a small fortune. We even saw some land for sale, but we are not interested in living in California, no matter how beautiful it is.
At the Foothills Visitor Center, a poster showed the wild flowers which are blooming right now and those that are expected in the next couple of weeks. On the poster were two orange flowers, one of which was the California Poppy, some variety of Lupine, and a small white flower. I forgot to copy down the names or take a picture of the sign. We definitely saw lots of the small orange flowers (not the poppies) and the Lupine. I took a couple of pictures of various wild flowers I saw at one of our scenic stops.
At the visitor’s center, I put a stamp in my National Parks Passport. I bought the Passport in March 1991, I think the year we took the kids to Las Vegas for Jim and Robin’s wedding. I also bought the Passport stamp set for 2004 (the 2005 set wasn’t out yet) and a couple of postcards.
The National Parks Website says that the Generals Highway between Ash Mountain and the Giant Forest includes 130 curves and 12 switchbacks. I definitely believe it. What was particularly surprising is that just before we got to the Giant Forest, there was suddenly snow on the ground. With the brilliant sunlight and mild temperatures down in the foothills, I was not expecting such an abrupt transition.
At the Giants Forest, we parked the car and went into the Museum and Visitor’s Center. There I learned that a sequoia’s cone contains approximately 200 seeds and that it takes 91,000 seeds to weigh one pound. One of the exhibits described the current move to restore the forest to better health. That involves allowing fire to take care of overgrown underbrush and removing some facilities from among the trees and relocating them in a less sensitive area. The Wukaschi Lodge is one such "relocation". It was built to replace aging cabins and other facilites that were in the Giant Forest area.
The portion of the highway north of Wukaschi Village has high snowbanks on each side of the road. It’s a lot like driving some of the village lanes in England with the high hedgerows. Seven stopped so I could take a quick picture right down the road.
It’s a bright and sunshiny day with no clouds to be seen. The termperature has varied from 75+ down at the foothills to 65 or so higher up. It was a bit chilly when we walked across the packed snow to get a close-up look (and pictures) of the General Sherman tree.
Another surprise was that we actually entered the Kings Canyon National Park for a short distance. I hadn’t realized that the area around Grants Grove was part of Kings Canyon and not part of Sequoia. We stopped at the Ranger Station to get the Passport stamped. I bought two more postcards and then walked over to the Lodge to make a smashed penney. Steven surprised me yesterday with a smashed penney from the La Brea Tar Pits when he picked me up at the customer’s office yesterday. He had noticed a penney machine at the Wukaschi Lodge and made me one there at lunchtime. So, I asked the ranger at Grants Grove if there was a machine and sure enough there was. So, in addition to postcards and photographes, I have a couple of smashed pennies to bring home from this trip.
