CALIFORNIA

Though Sequoia National Park is not just about the giant trees, as I have mentioned in my Tokopah Falls post, but then, the Sequoias are such giants that one can hardly ignore them in every visit.

Highway 180 Divided by 4 Giant Sequoias

 Entering Sequoia National Park from the South, where the change in vegetation changes amazingly from dry grass, yuccas, oaks and chaparrals at low elevation very common in an arid climate to a forest of conifers at high elevation, our first interesting glimpse of the giant Sequoias where on Highway 180 where the 4 giants seemed to be equally spaced apart for the highway to pass through. Since we were not in a hurry, we stopped when we saw a dirt pull-over to let our eyes feast on these monstrous creatures.

What Are They Looking At?

( One of the 4 Sequoias that divide the Highway 180 in the above picture )

 Once inside the park, there were just groves of the giant Sequoias everywhere, it is hard to find your tree to take a picture One interesting feature of the park is that there is no dominant specie of conifer, since we had our 13 year old niece with us when we travel, it sounded more fun, since she kept on guessing the specie, whether it is a Sequoia, a ponderosa pine, a fir, a sugar pine, etc. I was just amazed with her at how she prepared for the trip by reading a lot about the species of conifers  . I have experienced in the trails that the great outdoors usually brings a strong interest for kids to learn more about their natural world. If you want them to ask a lot of questions and interpret a lot of things (that is make them think to make hypothesis to their questions) , all you’ve got to do is bring them out of the doors. 

One of the interesting clusters we saw right on the road was on our way to Crescent Meadow. It is such a huge cluster of giant conifers, the Sequoias. 

Parker Group

What Is he Taking Picture Of?

 Some of the trunk of these Seqouias are broken looking like a creepy cave 

Sorry, but have to stand here to illustrate the hugeness of the trunk

We surely had fun taking our time with these group of giants ( Parker Group) which can be found on the Crescent Meadow Rd.

Still on Crescent Meadow Road, there is an interesting Tunnel Log which you can drive through.

Tunnel Log

 The tunnel log is made from a sequoia that fell on 1937 from natural causes. The sequoias’ demise are oftentimes due to their weight, when they get too heavy they can no longer support themselves and topple. The chemical make-up of sequoia make it resistant from diseases and wildfires. Other trees in the Sierra die from disease, fungi, fire, but it seems nothing can hurt the Big trees except their own weight. Their chemical make-up make them among the oldest trees in the world.  The oldest known having lived more than 3200 years. And these trees can only be found here in California’s “Sierra Nevada” (spanish of snowy range). And because they grow for many centuries, from a tiny seed, they grow into giant trees! Though in the first few years of their lives you may probably think they are dwarf since they grow very slowly compared to other trees, but if you can live as long as they are, you would be surprised as to how it turns into, a giant! 

General Sherman Tree, the largest living tree 

 General Sherman tree is not the tallest tree in the world (the tallest tree is another redwood, located in Redwood National Park, also in California), it is not the widest tree in the world, but it is the largest in terms of volume, having an estimated trunk volume of 52,500 cubic feet. The sequoias, just like the redwood, soar high into the heavens that it is hard to photograph them from ground to top even if I lie down on the ground. These giant trees soar high into the sky and grace the landscape offering a beauty that can not be found anywhere else on Earth. 

For lodging information, please visit the site: http://www.visitsequoia.com/default.aspx

For more information, visit the park site at: http://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm

The pictures above were taken last summer 2008, at this time of the year, the park is a winter wonderland deeply burried in snow that will last until late spring or early summer.