Forest Of White Giants
So I thought that we weren’t going to see any giant trees until we got to Redwoods National Park in just over a week. As it turns out, I was mistaken. On this fine morning, we set off to do some hiking and to see the giant sequoias. We entered through the West gate and drove straight for Tuolumne Grove where the sequoias are. We had no trouble finding parking when we got there and went right for the trial head. Unfortunately, Kizmet wasn’t allowed in the grove, but the trail wasn’t too long, so we were able to leave her in the car in the shade. The
way there was mostly downhill and we saw our first sequoia about a mile into our hike. They really are amazingly massive. Pictures can’t quite capture how huge they really are. We got some pictures of the trunk and then continued on to the main part of the grove. There were a couple dozens giants in total but none of them were as big as the first one we saw. On our
way back out, we got some pictures in the trunk of a sequoia that had been hollowed out in order to let horses and carriages through. Needless to say, the arch carved in the middle killed the tree and fire was then free to take off the top. It was pretty sad that people had killed a tree like that purely for ease of passage. We’re kind of a destructive species. Luckily the ants find it a good home. Isaac and Mum set a
faster pace than Dad and I on the way back up, and they had retrieved the lunch and Kizzy from the car by the time we arrived at the top. Service is always, of course, nice. After lunch we hopped back in the car so we could drive around and do some more exploring. During our drive down do the bottom of Yosemite Valley, we stopped at a couple of waterfalls, such as Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite Falls, and Cascade Falls, to take some pictures. Down at the bottom of the valley we walked around Yosemite Village for about an hour, checking out the store and some such. There wasn’t all that much to see, so we bought some ice creams and started to head back since it was getting pretty late. Peace out m8s.
