Places Visited: Saturday, June 4: 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 was our day to do Sequoia National Park from A to Z. That meant we had to get an early start and stay late. Sequoia NP is high on the western edge of the Sierras and contains several groves of giant sequoia trees the largest living things on this planet. These trees grow naturally only in a narrow belt here on the western side of the Sierras that is only about 15-miles wide and 120-miles long.
We entered Sequoia from the northern gate on CA-180. Starting at an elevation of 275' in the San Joaquin Valley and traveling to over 7,000' in several places within the National Park. CA-180 into the park is a spectacular and fun drive. Snow is still on the ground above 7,000' and is exciting for us to see.
Snow in June, ya gotta love it.
This is an alpine lake that was near some lodges in Sequoia National Park.
We stopped and viewed huge sequoia trees in several groves until we finally reached Giant Grove on the southern side of the Park.
Giant Grove is where the General Sherman Tree is. The General Sherman is the world's largest living thing. In the same grove with the General Sherman tree are three more of the 4 largest trees in the world. We saw the other one yesterday in Kings Canyon National Park.
Pic to the left gives statistics on the General Sherman Tree while the pic on the right is a cross section cut to show the growth rings. A plaque nearby has markers that show the rings & significant world events that occurred. All the way from Egyptian Pharos building the pyramids, birth of Christ, Roman Empire, and on and on. It is interesting to locate those rings and contimplate just how long this tree has been living.
Fire has damage all of the ancient giants. They just can not survive for thousands of years without experiencing forest fires.
More fire damage.
Now that is one BIG sequoia Joyce is standing beside.
That is the Booker T. Washington Tree to the left, it is another VIG tree. To the right is a pic of the small sequoia cones on the ground.
Above is Mike holding a sequoia cone while the pic on the right is our Saturn driving through a tunnel in a fallen sequoia.
Joyce couldn't resist climbing on one of those unique sequoia benches carved out of a single log.
Once at the bottom and in the valley we had to make our way back to the motorhome through the San Joaquin Valley's fruit basket. The majority of acreage was in citrus but peach, plum, apricot, pomegranate, grape and olive groves filled available acreage. All this is possible because of irrigation. Rivers of snow melt are captured in large reservoirs for watering this vast agricultural region.
Until next week just remember how good life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike &
Joyce HendrixPlaces Visited: Saturday, June 4: 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 was our day to do Sequoia National Park from A to Z. That meant we had to get an early start and stay late. Sequoia NP is high on the western edge of the Sierras and contains several groves of giant sequoia trees the largest living things on this planet. These trees grow naturally only in a narrow belt here on the western side of the Sierras that is only about 15-miles wide and 120-miles long.
We entered Sequoia from the northern gate on CA-180. Starting at an elevation of 275' in the San Joaquin Valley and traveling to over 7,000' in several places within the National Park. CA-180 into the park is a spectacular and fun drive. Snow is still on the ground above 7,000' and is exciting for us to see.
Snow in June, ya gotta love it.
This is an alpine lake that was near some lodges in Sequoia National Park.
We stopped and viewed huge sequoia trees in several groves until we finally reached Giant Grove on the southern side of the Park.
Giant Grove is where the General Sherman Tree is. The General Sherman is the world's largest living thing. In the same grove with the General Sherman tree are three more of the 4 largest trees in the world. We saw the other one yesterday in Kings Canyon National Park.
Pic to the left gives statistics on the General Sherman Tree while the pic on the right is a cross section cut to show the growth rings. A plaque nearby has markers that show the rings & significant world events that occurred. All the way from Egyptian Pharos building the pyramids, birth of Christ, Roman Empire, and on and on. It is interesting to locate those rings and contimplate just how long this tree has been living.
Fire has damage all of the ancient giants. They just can not survive for thousands of years without experiencing forest fires.
More fire damage.
Now that is one BIG sequoia Joyce is standing beside.
That is the Booker T. Washington Tree to the left, it is another VIG tree. To the right is a pic of the small sequoia cones on the ground.
Above is Mike holding a sequoia cone while the pic on the right is our Saturn driving through a tunnel in a fallen sequoia.
Joyce couldn't resist climbing on one of those unique sequoia benches carved out of a single log.
Once at the bottom and in the valley we had to make our way back to the motorhome through the San Joaquin Valley's fruit basket. The majority of acreage was in citrus but peach, plum, apricot, pomegranate, grape and olive groves filled available acreage. All this is possible because of irrigation. Rivers of snow melt are captured in large reservoirs for watering this vast agricultural region.
Until next week just remember how good life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike &
Joyce HendrixPlaces Visited: Saturday, June 4: 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 was our day to do Sequoia National Park from A to Z. That meant we had to get an early start and stay late. Sequoia NP is high on the western edge of the Sierras and contains several groves of giant sequoia trees the largest living things on this planet. These trees grow naturally only in a narrow belt here on the western side of the Sierras that is only about 15-miles wide and 120-miles long.
We entered Sequoia from the northern gate on CA-180. Starting at an elevation of 275' in the San Joaquin Valley and traveling to over 7,000' in several places within the National Park. CA-180 into the park is a spectacular and fun drive. Snow is still on the ground above 7,000' and is exciting for us to see.
Snow in June, ya gotta love it.
This is an alpine lake that was near some lodges in Sequoia National Park.
We stopped and viewed huge sequoia trees in several groves until we finally reached Giant Grove on the southern side of the Park.
Giant Grove is where the General Sherman Tree is. The General Sherman is the world's largest living thing. In the same grove with the General Sherman tree are three more of the 4 largest trees in the world. We saw the other one yesterday in Kings Canyon National Park.
Pic to the left gives statistics on the General Sherman Tree while the pic on the right is a cross section cut to show the growth rings. A plaque nearby has markers that show the rings & significant world events that occurred. All the way from Egyptian Pharos building the pyramids, birth of Christ, Roman Empire, and on and on. It is interesting to locate those rings and contimplate just how long this tree has been living.
Fire has damage all of the ancient giants. They just can not survive for thousands of years without experiencing forest fires.
More fire damage.
Now that is one BIG sequoia Joyce is standing beside.
That is the Booker T. Washington Tree to the left, it is another VIG tree. To the right is a pic of the small sequoia cones on the ground.
Above is Mike holding a sequoia cone while the pic on the right is our Saturn driving through a tunnel in a fallen sequoia.
Joyce couldn't resist climbing on one of those unique sequoia benches carved out of a single log.
Once at the bottom and in the valley we had to make our way back to the motorhome through the San Joaquin Valley's fruit basket. The majority of acreage was in citrus but peach, plum, apricot, pomegranate, grape and olive groves filled available acreage. All this is possible because of irrigation. Rivers of snow melt are captured in large reservoirs for watering this vast agricultural region.
Until next week just remember how good life is. Mike & Joyce Hendrix
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The
beauty and scenery in Sequoia is unsurpassed. The drive out of Sequoia via the
south gate on CA-198 is one wild and exciting drive. It is 16-miles of 6 to 9%
grades with 26 switchbacks and roughly 200 other sharp curves. Twenty-six awesome
switchbacks in 16-miles dropping 7,000 feet in elevation what more can you ask
for? If you are planning to take an RV into either Sequoia or Kings Canyon do
it on CA-180 not CA-198.