On The Road To Visit The Smiths

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.~Joyce Kilmer, "Trees," 1914

Three cheers for grand opportunities!

Our son-in-law, Jedd, has a large work assignment at St. Agnes Medical Center, an affiliate of Trinity Hospitals, his employer, in Fresno, California.  He has been commuting from Boise for months now, and his assignment will be completed in October.  Instead of the company continuing to fly him back and forth each week, they offered for him and his family to stay in a nice, gated community condominium, which the company leases. Missy and Jedd decided that it would be fun for their family to be in Fresno for a little while.  The complex has a nice swimming pool, the library is a couple of blocks away and three national parks are near by.

Roger and I thought this would be a good excuse and it would be fun to visit Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks, as Roger had never been to see them, and stay with the Smiths while they were there.

We determined that we could visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon on our way, as we wouldn't be able to visit all three with the Smiths because Jedd was just off on the weekend.

We left home on Wednesday, July 25, stopped in Vegas for lunch, made a quick stop in Primm (THAT is a small miracle!) and stayed overnight in Visalia.

Next morning we passed through Three Rivers before we entered Sequoia National Park.  

I had read on a website about a little candy shop in Three Rivers that it said to be sure to stop. We arrived twenty minutes before it opened.  Oh, no!

Roger took this pic and I thought it was all I would have to remind me that it had been closed when we passed through.  (Note the dejected look on my face!) But quick thinker that I am when candy is at stake, I talked Roger into going through a little museum up the road so we could go back to Reimer's when they opened.  The rocky road fudge was totally worth it! 

Onward to the parks!  Wow, were we impressed with the trees! Giant sequoias are the largest living plants on earth and are extremely rare.  They only grow along the slope of the Western Sierra Nevada Mountains,  predominantly in Sequoia/King Canyon National Park and there are some in Yosemite National Park, which we also got to see.  They have massive, thick cinnamon-red trunks and branches, with widths of up to 40 feet.  They can grow up to more than 274 feet and live over 2,000 years.

They are virtually immortal, able to withstand most of the natural forces that pose a threat to other tree species.  Their thick bark protects them against disease and insects and they are resistant to fire.  The main cause of death for most sequoia trees -  toppling over!  Their sheer size makes them vulnerable. They have a very shallow root system.  Thankfully, it usually takes thousands of years for this to happen!

Death is a low chemical trick played on everybody except sequoia trees.  ~J.J. Furnas

The groves were God's first temples.  
~William Cullen Bryant

I hear the wind among the trees

Playing the celestial symphonies;

I see the branches downward bent,

Like keys of some great instrument.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.  ~Hal Borland

Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.  ~Rabindranath Tagore, Fireflies, 1928

Trees are your best antiques.  ~Alexander Smith

 For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.  ~Martin Luther

I found lots of wonderful quotes about trees and included some of them above.  I especially love Joyce Kilmer's poem about trees.

When you really think about it, trees are one of God's most impressive creations and visiting this beautiful place made us so much more aware of them.

So amazing to view this gargantuan root system-
 up close!

Next stop in the park was to climb up to the top of Moro Rock, 400 carved-out rock steps, or 1/4 mile up!

Don't let the next pic mislead you - I just climbed 200 feet up to a vista point!

Roger went all of the way up!

There was a haze when viewing the grand vistas, but you could see so far away!  We could see the lake we had driven around earlier.
This viewpoint Roger climbed to is 6,725 feet up!

In the Visitor's Center we saw this comparison scale of the great size of the sequoia.  

I found this post card in the gift shop that shows the sequoia's comparable size to other huge things a little more clearly.
Isn't their size amazing!

On the road to see the General Sherman tree, we got to see this bear.  Her little cub was with her. It's not that common to see the bears in the park, so we felt lucky!

The General Sherman Tree, while neither the tallest nor the widest tree, is considered the largest living tree in the world because of its volume.  It weighs about 2.7 million pounds, and it is believed to be approximately 2,100 years old.  Every year it adds enough wood to make a 60-foot-tall tree measuring one foot in diameter -
 and it's still growing!

 

It truly was an  impressive tree!

s

Kings Canyon was next; first stop - 

Grant Grove and the General Grant Tree, called, 

"The Nation's Christmas tree."

This sequoia was in a big forest fire. Through all of the years, fires actually benefit the sequoia because they burn undergrowth, which gives more room and allows the sunlight to nurture the new sequoia seedlings.  

The thick bark protects the tree from being destroyed by the flames.

Have you seen enough trees yet? 

 Roger took some great pics of them!

We continued through Kings Canyon  for a 30-mile very winding drive that was spectacular scenery.

Kings River 

Spectacular glacial canyons

After we drove out of the park, we could finally drive straight, which was somewhat of a relief after a very winding day.  But it was so worth it!
We zoomed past this restaurant, which was kind of out in the middle of nowhere.  
I said, "Roger, that looked like something cool!"
He turned the car around and we investigated.
This is what we found.
Do you blame us for deciding to eat here? 

We shared this Nicoise fresh tuna salad and a cup of their mushroom soup.

California knows how to do it 
when it comes to good food!

Missy and family didn't think we were ever going to get to Fresno, but we finally arrived and were welcomed by the whole family coming out on the street to greet us!