Hello!
Time to say a few words about Sequoia and King's Canyon NP.
These two connected parks are huge. The driving is challenging - crazy curvy roads. To get to the main Visitor Center in Sequoia from our place 6 miles outside the NP boundary took about an hour. To get to King's Canyon Visitor Center was an hour and 20 minutes and then to get to the far side of the canyon another hour. Crazy!
We learned a lot about the giant Sequoia trees. They need fire, moist soil and sunshine.
For 100 years the idea of how to protect the Sequoia groves was fire suppression. During that time there were no new Sequoia growing. They wondered why that was and finally figured out that the Sequoia groves need fire. The trees resist the fire due to their thick bark and high tannins that do not burn easily. As an added defense they eject thousands of seeds which fall on the fertile ash in a field cleared of underbrush. This enables the seeds to take root and grow without having to compete with all the other trees (which were burned by the fire). Controlled burns help the Sequoia!
We took some lovely hikes, straining our necks to see the tops of these giant trees.
The pictures cannot convey how large they are in circumference. We were messing around measuring the shadow to get the diameter, then π×d to determine circumference. We estimated a factor increase because the shadow is not at the base - and because this was just silly. A couple passed by and I asked them if they needed anything measured. They laughed and asked if we were "math teachers" - Carsten misheard them, he thought they said "math creatures" - why yes, we are! LOL
This is the base of the Mark Twain Tree. It is / was 92 ft in circumference. It was chopped down in the early 1900s and transported to the East Coast. While tragic, it ended up raising awareness about Sequoia and funding the conservation efforts. Naturally a second "slice" of the tree is in the British Museum.
(Sheri for size)
King's Canyon had its share of Sequoia trees as well but the namesake is the beautiful canyon.
The King River cuts through the canyon. We had a lovely (long) drive to the end of the canyon. We stopped for a couple of quick hikes
Really an incredibly lovely day!
Oh - last night we had dinner at Peaks Restaurant in Sequoia. The food was delicious and the sunset was gorgeous.
Finally, and just for laughs... I saw this and had to wonder about stupidity of people.
This is a vault toilet (a primative 1/2 step up from a port-a-can) - y'all, the access trapdoor has a PADLOCK on it. Who are we keeping out? What are they after? What idiot would open this? The toilet doesn't smell like roses but you open that door we are talking another level of stink! Is this really necessary?!?!
Ugh.
Tomorrow we head to Pinnacles NP. We don't know much about this one so it will be a few days of discovery!
More soon!
Sheri + Carsten
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