Sequoia

Jules walking up the Congress Trail 

This is the General Sherman tree, the largest tree in the world by volume. Can you see the people in the left-hand corner? It is a BIG TREE. 

We were all excited to see once we actually got to Sequoia National Park that the sequoias were indeed very impressive! Much more so than the ones we'd seen earlier in other parks. This is (yet another) park where I really really want to come back to backpack through it (and hike Mt. Whitney!!)

We headed off down the Congress trail and then eventually Juliet and Neil split off to go back to our car and I took the boys down the Alta trail towards the Big Trees area. 

So interesting to see how much fire damage the trees can tolerate. 

One thing I was not expecting is that the sequoia bark feels kind of sponge-like? Basically they get to a point where they aren't really growing taller but just wider, and the bark layers provide protection from fires over their thousands of years of life. 

Once we passed the McKinley Tree and headed down the Alta trail, we saw almost nobody--I think maybe we saw 4 people in the next 3 miles? Seriously amazing after the crazy insane crowds around the Sherman tree. 

Legit had the place to ourselves and it was so so so beautiful. 

I really enjoyed the time with my boys. Tons of people have expressed sympathy for me with a house full of all boys now that both Juliet and Abigail are in college, and you know what? I really like these dudes. They are so fun to be with and I love them to pieces. We miss the girls so much, but I don't for a minute wish that I didn't have all four of these guys together to enjoy. (I mean, come on, I have teenage sons who still kiss my cheek every night before they go to bed?! How lucky am I??)

Matty doing the Three Amigos salute, smh. I didn't realize this is what he was doing until one of the older kids explained it to me...

Meanwhile Juliet and Neil were enjoying the other half of the Congress Trail; we both were positive that the other group could not be seeing such magical things as we were seeing & then had serious FOMO when we shared pictures!

Then we went to the Giant Forest museum and wandered through the nearby groves. 

Crazy to learn that so many sequoias were cut down and hotels built in their place; it was really interesting to read about the restoration work and to see how incredibly difficult it is to regain and regrow what has been damaged by corporate greed. I really hope our national parks survive the horrors of the Trump Administration. 

A few final photos with a Matthew for perspective. 

This is a sequoia cone--can you believe how tiny they are? The cones can stay on the trees for twenty years before they are released, and the resin sealing them closed does not melt until it is immersed in fire (more specifically the fires of Mt. Doom, haha). The issue now is that the fires burning through the sequoia groves are so hot and so intense that they ignite the crowns, so the trees' fire resistance is essentially not a match for the current mess of climate change. 

Some very very beautiful flowers that were smaller than my pinkie nail. 

Near the end of the day we climbed up Moro Rock, which is a cool view but it was so crowded and I was so annoyed by the people who had their dogs with them, which is absolutely not allowed. And the people flying drones (I did yell at the drone people). 

And then back to our Airbnb, where we all enjoyed showers and food made in an oven!! And ice cream and Netflix, let's be real. (Although I just laid in my bed while everyone else watched Netflix and enjoyed the quiet and my book.) 

 

Kings Canyon

First of all--Kings Canyon was SO beautiful and it is top of my list for a return (extended backcountry) visit. I feel like we just barely scratched the tiniest bit of surface here! I would say this is definitely a backpacking park. 

We were not backpacking, but we still really loved it and saw some incredible beauty! 

One of the things we had read about KC was that it was really buggy (and Yosemite too in the high country, but we didn't see as many bugs there, probably because it was legitimately too hot for them to fly). So we came prepared! 

We set out to hike the Mist Falls trail on our only full day there. It was a very very easy trail for the first couple miles and we made crazy good time. 

Lots more sugar pine! 

And lots of style. 

This section of the Kings River was so placid, which is a major contrast to most of the river stretches we saw. So beautiful but so deadly! 

This is more what the river looked like--there are so many drownings here every year (we saw the paramedics rushing to one rescue while we were there; someone fell in and was under for a long time. Not sure if the CPR worked or not but judging by the chat I overhead between some rangers the next day, I think it ended in a fatality). 

Anyway, on that cheery note--enjoy a picture of us enjoying a beautiful view! 

Seriously such a beautiful place, and hardly anyone there! 

Mist Falls is only about 4 miles from the trailhead at Roads End, so it's a pretty quick hike. The trail then continues up to a series of meadows and the High Sierra and I wanted to keep going SO BADLY. 

Another time. 

Standing inside a giant sequoia looking at the falls--pretty cool. 

We enjoyed lunch at the falls and then set off back down the trail. 

Seriously could not get over how gorgeous this particular viewpoint was. 

Matthew was really in peak form that day. 

When we got back down to the trail fork, we opted to cross a bridge so we could get down by the river, which felt amazing to our hot feet! 

I convinced everyone to take a different (longer) trail back, and there was some weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth until we realized the entire trail was LINED with raspberries and blackberries. 

I was so glad we ended up taking this route (seriously NOBODY else was on it) because we ended up coming across an older guy who was lost and absolutely panicking. He said he had been up and down this 5-mile section of trail over and over and he couldn't figure out how to cross the river; he could see people on the other side but didn't know where the bridges were. (He didn't have a map, cell service is nonexistent, and his only supply was an unopened 20-oz plastic water bottle.)

Anyway I was really glad we found him--he was almost in tears when we came up to him and told us that he was convinced he was going to die out there. (He had gotten tired and turned back while his family kept going but had taken a wrong turn.) 

I felt pretty bad for him when we got back to the bridge area and he realized he had been about 50 yards short of it when he turned around again. But we got him back to the trailhead and his car! 

Then we changed into our swimsuits (always fun in a hot car) and went over to the Muir Rock area to swim. Or to perch like Gollum, as the case may be. 

I jumped off once and that was enough for me; I was seriously so scared of hurting myself yet again and my feet touched the bottom when I jumped and I noped right out of that. 

So I sat in the sun and cheered everyone else on. Juliet joined me and fell asleep almost immediately. 

Eventually the boys got really cold (the water was even colder than in Yosemite) and came over to me; all Matthew had wanted to do for the last week was find a section of river where he could move rocks around so he was in heaven! 

Then eventually Isaac, Luke, and Matthew went to go jump again (incidentally Muir Rock is named after John Muir, since he used this rock to gather groups and talk to them about the High Sierra). 

Some screenshots from videos: 

Isaac 

Matthew 

Nathan (everyone was jumping with shoes because there was a very fast current whipping you back to shore, which was very rocky, so you wanted shoes available immediately so you could pop back up to standing before you got washed up). 

I think this is Isaac and Matthew but maybe Luke? 

Our sticker collection is getting pretty good, despite the occasional peel-off (I think we have like 5 parks that we currently need to re-sticker). The other side is more protected, I think. 

Dinner--caesar salad, kung pao chicken, and delicious grapes. 

And some fireside fun!