Just about everything in these two parks is HUGE. The trees, the mountains, the views. Walking through these giants is a humbling experience that makes you feel very small and insignificant. The drive through these parks takes you through ancient forests of sequoia trees some of which are over 3,000 years old. Some of these trees were mere saplings when Rome was first settled, Ramses XI was pharaoh in Egypt, and Solomon was ruling Israel. Think about that!
These two parks are side by side so it only made sense to visit both of them. Each park contains one of the two largest sequoias in the world.
Kings Canyon National Park serves up the General Grant Tree, 268 feet tall, with 107-foot circumference at the base, and 29 feet in diameter. That's as tall as a 14-story building, the Statue of Liberty, and taller than the space shuttle! This youngster is only 1,650 years old and around time of its birth, Constantine was Emperor of Rome. In another 800 years it could very well be the largest tree in the world.
General Grant Tree
Here's a few shots from King's Canyon. As always, you can click on any picture to enlarge it.
These little piles of rocks are called cairns. When hiking, cairns help to point the way and keep you on the correct trail or path. They are also a mound of rough stones built as a memorial or landmark. There were hundreds of them on this mountain top, more than we could fit into the picture frame. Unsure if they were memorializing someone in particular or just the builders of the cairns themselves.
Sequoia National Park boasts the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world by volume. It rises 275 feet, 102 feet circumference at the base with a 36-foot diameter. This big guy is estimated to be 2,200 years old. Around the time it sprouted, Archemides was determining the value of pi and the building of the Great Wall began.
We didn't get any pictures of the General Sherman Tree because it was over a mile hike into the woods, the trail was very crowded, and we were already short on time. While the drive into the parks via Route 180 was beautiful, the drive out of the park via State Route 198 was an Acrophobic's worst nightmare. 18 miles of hairpins and a 4,400' elevation change, and very short on guardrails.
As for Romin, well he was being a little shy on this drive, but we managed to sneak a couple pictures anyway.
I wish we had more time to spend in these 2 beautiful parks, but they were a last minute add-on that we mistakenly thought we could get done in a few hours. Next time we'll plan better!
Peace, my friends
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