May 25, 2007

May 25, 2007

The rangers told us that because of the Memorial Day weekend all the campsites in Sequoia National Park would probably be taken by tomorrow morning. Worried we rise early and make the hour drive to the park’s main area. It is a steep climb thru many switchbacks to the Lodgepole campground at 6700 ft elevation. The campground is pretty empty. We could have taken our time. We pick a nice spot under a large pine tree with a nice unobstructed view of the forest. The area around our spot is littered with beautiful pine cones the size and shape of large ostrich eggs. A ranger later informs us these are Jeffrey Pines.

Settled, we have a leisurely breakfast, and walk to the local visitor center where we watch a very nice movie about black bears. They give us all the normal bear precautions I have heard many times. i.e. don’t leave food out. I am experienced enough to know that our chances of seeing a bear are slim to none. Afterwards we take the park’s new shuttle to the Sherman Tree parking stop. From there we hike into a beautiful open pine forest. The trees are pretty large but not extraordinarily so. There are a bunch of Sugar Pine trees that have an enormous pinecone. Most cones are a foot long; and one is almost 18 inches long.

After a short hike we come to the centerpiece of the park, the General Sherman Tree. It is supposed to be the largest living thing on the earth. It is huge. It measures 36 feet in diameter, 100 feet around, 270 feet tall and is 2200 years old. Giant Sequoias are massive trees. They are not the tallest nor the oldest nor the widest but they are thick and tall and grow to massive diameters. They resemble the trees that in the comics, giant ogres rip out of the ground and use as clubs.

The Sherman Tree is at the edge of this Giant Sequoia grove they call the Giant Forest. We decide to walk the three short miles across it and take another shuttle back. It is a cool hike. This small area abounds in Sequoias. It has more than 2000 sequoias over 10 ft in diameter. Sequoias only grow on the western slopes of the Sierras and then only at a certain high elevations where rainfall is plentiful and the soil is rich and drains well. From what I can gather the reason they are so big is that they have a thick red cork-like bark that protects them from forest fires and disease. This eventually allows them to outlast their pine tree competitors and grow almost forever. More than half of the sequoias have forest-fire scorch marks and their tops look like they have been struck by lightning. Yet they live on.

Halfway thru the hike we stop and have our trail lunch atop a downed sequoia. We end our hike in a large meadow on the opposite side of the Giant Forest. There we see a bunch of hikers sitting on another downed sequoia. I assume they are eating lunch like we did. When we get closer one of them yells that there is a bear on our left. They aren’t eating lunch, they are bear watching! Aimee quickly tosses me the camera so I can take a picture. Aimee is nervous; as we back away a ranger appears and says watch out for the bear with cubs on the right. Now I know Aimee is probably panicking as she is surrounded. Seeing a bear is last on her list but she keeps her cool and we scoot out of the bear’s way. I am thrilled we saw two bears in the wild; plus they were brown colored 'Cinnamon' versions of the normally black bear. Despite the bear encounter, Aimee is happy because it has been a big wildlife day for her. Besides the bears, we saw a marmot, a mule deer, a western tanager, fence lizards, Stellar’s jays and hummingbirds.

After Aimee cools down we continue on with a hike to Moro Rock. Moro rock is a large granite mountain-size monolith rising out of the forest. Once there we climb the 400 steps to its top and we are rewarded with awesome views of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada crests to our east. We finish the day at the Giant Forest Museum. I am surprised how small it is. I am left wanting to know more about the great Sequoia.