Places Visited: Friday, June 3: River Bend & Kings Canyon RV Park & Mobile Home Park Sanger (East Fresno), California: $25 FHU-30amp. Gravel interior roads with grass sites. N36° 43.924' W119° 28.084' 559-787-3627 (be aware that this RV-Park is NOT a resort. Far from it there are many ramshackle trailers providing permanent housing.) This is the day we are going to do Kings Canyon National Park. Kings Canyon and Sequoia are adjoining National Parks, both have giant sequoias.
We are staying in a mom & pop campground east of Fresno on CA-180. The Kings River flows through the campground we are staying in. Actually, what remains of the Kings River is flowing about 30' behind our motorhome. I say what remains of the Kings River because not far upstream from our campground is a reservoir that captures the water from the Kings River and delivers the vast majority of its water to a series of irrigation canals that water the fertile San Joaquin Valley around Fresno.
CA-180 is the highway that goes east out of Fresno into Kings Canyon until the road dead ends way back in the canyon. It is 35-miles from our Campground to the entrance to Kings Canyon with the last 16-miles being a constant 6% grade that takes us from 275-feet to over 7,000-feet in Kings Canyon. Most of the literature recommends not taking vehicles over 22' up to and through either Kings Canyon or Sequoia National Parks but people do it anyway. Especially people with rented motorhomes. Kings Canyon has two major attractions. The first is giant Sequoia trees. Not far from the entrance to Kings Canyon is Grant's Grove where a number of extremely large and old sequoia trees are easily accessible.
The hardest thing to do with a giant sequoia tree is to capture the enormous size. Pictures just do not seem to be able to do that. Look at the huge pine tree to the right of the giant sequoia in the picture on the left. That is a big pine tree but it is dwarfed by the sequoia.
In these pics I am trying to so some comparisons to get a sense of the true size of these giants. The giant sequoia in the pic to the left has a trunk that is massive in comparison the the very large pine trees also in the picture. In the picture to the right look at how small the pine trees look in comparison to this giant.
All of the really big and really old sequoias have fire scars. Remember, these trees are over 2,000 years old and have witnessed numerous forest fires.
The General Grant tree is the 3rd largest living thing on earth. Two other sequoias are larger.
A number of trees are taller including some coast redwood trees located in northern California and at least one cypress tree has a larger diameter. However, as far as sheer mass is concerned Sequoia trees have a good deal more mass. Sequoia trees are built like stove pipes; they don't seem to get smaller at the top.
This huge stump is located next to the entrance station to Kings Canyon. It was cut in the 1800's. Note how it has resisted decay.
This old log has been around a long time. Since the early 1800's it has been used as a shelter/house by the soldiers that guarded this grove from loggers. Then as the soldiers acquired housing this old log was used as a stable for their livestock.
Older sequoia trees have been topped.
Some of these sequoia trees are approaching 3,000 years old. It is hard for me to comprehend something that was alive 3,000 years ago still being here today for us to admire. They were around for 1,000 years before Christ walked on this earth.
Many times we see two trees that have grown up together. These giants seem to merge into one huge tree at the base. Joyce is holding a sequoia cone. This cone contains hundreds of seeds. Isn't it amazing how small the seed is that results in these huge trees?
Joyce liked the benches made out of an old sequoia log. They do make a good bench don't you think.
In addition to the sequoia grove there is a 36-mile drive into Kings Canyon that rivals virtually any scenic drive anywhere. John Muir said that Kings Canyon was more awesome than Yosemite. Who am I to argue with John Muir?
Kings Canyon is said to be the deepest canyon in the US even deeper than the Grand Canyon. The drive into Kings Canyon starts out along the top of the canyon then works its way down to the valley and Kings River over the 35-miles. The CCC built this road back in the 1930's and they provided ample view points, vista stops, pull outs and sight seeing opportunities. Kings River has cut a narrow gorge through the extremely hard granite in places. Perpendicular walls are common.
We drove as far as the road goes into the valley then turned around and started the climb out on the same road that brought us in. The attraction is the awesome canyon with vertical walls and turn outs where you can get out of your car and peer down into the canyon. In the valley you peer up at the mountains towering above.
You can see several road cuts down this sloap as the road wends down into the canyon.
Waterfalls are common in Kings Canyon as are picturesque rapids.
About half way intoKings Canyon there is a small restaurant and I think I recall some small cabins on a spot of land that appears to be privately owned. We couldn't get served in the restaurant but I do remember that they had $14 hamburgers. Trust me these were not gormet burgers in a gormet setting. The wall mounts in the restaurant were interesting as was the operating gas station.
Deep in the canyon we started seeing metamorphic rock (sedimentary rocks that have been transformed via extreme temperatures and pressures. A cave created by acidic water eroding marble is open to tourist traffic. Marble is ordinary limestone that has been transformed into a metamorphic rock by extreme pressure and heat.
The pic on the left shows the walkway to the cave while the pic on the right is of sedimentary rocks that once lay in flat beds. Extreme pressures deep within the earth have distorted those once parallel beds of sediment. I suspect that this rock was transformed into marble. The pic to the right is showing a 100' by 100' section of the canyon wall.
Before dropping into the canyon we stopped to admire the beautiful meadows and inspect giant ponderosa pines.
And as if we had not seen enough there was snow at and above 7,000'.
Until next week just remember how good life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, June 3: River Bend & Kings Canyon RV Park & Mobile Home Park Sanger (East Fresno), California: $25 FHU-30amp. Gravel interior roads with grass sites. N36° 43.924' W119° 28.084' 559-787-3627 (be aware that this RV-Park is NOT a resort. Far from it there are many ramshackle trailers providing permanent housing.) This is the day we are going to do Kings Canyon National Park. Kings Canyon and Sequoia are adjoining National Parks, both have giant sequoias.
We are staying in a mom & pop campground east of Fresno on CA-180. The Kings River flows through the campground we are staying in. Actually, what remains of the Kings River is flowing about 30' behind our motorhome. I say what remains of the Kings River because not far upstream from our campground is a reservoir that captures the water from the Kings River and delivers the vast majority of its water to a series of irrigation canals that water the fertile San Joaquin Valley around Fresno.
CA-180 is the highway that goes east out of Fresno into Kings Canyon until the road dead ends way back in the canyon. It is 35-miles from our Campground to the entrance to Kings Canyon with the last 16-miles being a constant 6% grade that takes us from 275-feet to over 7,000-feet in Kings Canyon. Most of the literature recommends not taking vehicles over 22' up to and through either Kings Canyon or Sequoia National Parks but people do it anyway. Especially people with rented motorhomes. Kings Canyon has two major attractions. The first is giant Sequoia trees. Not far from the entrance to Kings Canyon is Grant's Grove where a number of extremely large and old sequoia trees are easily accessible.
The hardest thing to do with a giant sequoia tree is to capture the enormous size. Pictures just do not seem to be able to do that. Look at the huge pine tree to the right of the giant sequoia in the picture on the left. That is a big pine tree but it is dwarfed by the sequoia.
In these pics I am trying to so some comparisons to get a sense of the true size of these giants. The giant sequoia in the pic to the left has a trunk that is massive in comparison the the very large pine trees also in the picture. In the picture to the right look at how small the pine trees look in comparison to this giant.
All of the really big and really old sequoias have fire scars. Remember, these trees are over 2,000 years old and have witnessed numerous forest fires.
The General Grant tree is the 3rd largest living thing on earth. Two other sequoias are larger.
A number of trees are taller including some coast redwood trees located in northern California and at least one cypress tree has a larger diameter. However, as far as sheer mass is concerned Sequoia trees have a good deal more mass. Sequoia trees are built like stove pipes; they don't seem to get smaller at the top.
This huge stump is located next to the entrance station to Kings Canyon. It was cut in the 1800's. Note how it has resisted decay.
This old log has been around a long time. Since the early 1800's it has been used as a shelter/house by the soldiers that guarded this grove from loggers. Then as the soldiers acquired housing this old log was used as a stable for their livestock.
Older sequoia trees have been topped.
Some of these sequoia trees are approaching 3,000 years old. It is hard for me to comprehend something that was alive 3,000 years ago still being here today for us to admire. They were around for 1,000 years before Christ walked on this earth.
Many times we see two trees that have grown up together. These giants seem to merge into one huge tree at the base. Joyce is holding a sequoia cone. This cone contains hundreds of seeds. Isn't it amazing how small the seed is that results in these huge trees?
Joyce liked the benches made out of an old sequoia log. They do make a good bench don't you think.
In addition to the sequoia grove there is a 36-mile drive into Kings Canyon that rivals virtually any scenic drive anywhere. John Muir said that Kings Canyon was more awesome than Yosemite. Who am I to argue with John Muir?
Kings Canyon is said to be the deepest canyon in the US even deeper than the Grand Canyon. The drive into Kings Canyon starts out along the top of the canyon then works its way down to the valley and Kings River over the 35-miles. The CCC built this road back in the 1930's and they provided ample view points, vista stops, pull outs and sight seeing opportunities. Kings River has cut a narrow gorge through the extremely hard granite in places. Perpendicular walls are common.
We drove as far as the road goes into the valley then turned around and started the climb out on the same road that brought us in. The attraction is the awesome canyon with vertical walls and turn outs where you can get out of your car and peer down into the canyon. In the valley you peer up at the mountains towering above.
You can see several road cuts down this sloap as the road wends down into the canyon.
Waterfalls are common in Kings Canyon as are picturesque rapids.
About half way intoKings Canyon there is a small restaurant and I think I recall some small cabins on a spot of land that appears to be privately owned. We couldn't get served in the restaurant but I do remember that they had $14 hamburgers. Trust me these were not gormet burgers in a gormet setting. The wall mounts in the restaurant were interesting as was the operating gas station.
Deep in the canyon we started seeing metamorphic rock (sedimentary rocks that have been transformed via extreme temperatures and pressures. A cave created by acidic water eroding marble is open to tourist traffic. Marble is ordinary limestone that has been transformed into a metamorphic rock by extreme pressure and heat.
The pic on the left shows the walkway to the cave while the pic on the right is of sedimentary rocks that once lay in flat beds. Extreme pressures deep within the earth have distorted those once parallel beds of sediment. I suspect that this rock was transformed into marble. The pic to the right is showing a 100' by 100' section of the canyon wall.
Before dropping into the canyon we stopped to admire the beautiful meadows and inspect giant ponderosa pines.
And as if we had not seen enough there was snow at and above 7,000'.
Until next week just remember how good life is. Mike and Joyce Hendrix
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