US-50 West 2022:
Day 12 - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park

	Wednesday, October 12, 2022: We were up before sunrise and had the van loaded just as the sun was coming up. Tom went down to the main building to check out, and just happened to notice the ice machine hidden away on the rear of left side of the main building.
	We said farewell to the Moore Cottage, ...
	... and headed to the parking lot for the Mariposa Grove where we spotted another Escape campervan.
	It was only a little after 7 AM, so the shuttle service and information center for Mariposa Grove was not yet open.
	We checked out the various exhibits, including this slice from a Giant Sequoia that started growing in the Mariposa Grove in 1149. The tree was almost 200 feet tall when it fell in 1954. This slice was cut 80 feet above the roots and is still more than seven feet in diameter.
	The tree was more than 800 years old, ...
	... and had survived a drought and a fire from 1580, ...
	... and insect damage from 1728.
	We headed south, out of the park toward Fresno, stopping for breakfast at a McDonald's in Oakhurst along the way.
	There were vineyards along the way, ...
	... and vines heavy with grapes.
	East of Fresno, we stopped for gas for the van and ice for our cooler, ...
	... before heading into the dry landscape ...
	... and up into the Sierra Nevada mountains.
	We were up in the hills when we reached Giant Sequoia National Monument, which is part of Sequoia National Forest.
	There was haze off toward the coast, but we could see mountains and forest for quite a distance thanks to the elevation we had gained.
	We arrived at Kings Canyon National Park right at 10 AM, ...
	... and waited in a very short line to enter the park.
	We headed immediately to the parking at Grant Grove. The trees were enormous, ...
	... as you can see from this wider picture. Our van is parked third from the right.
	We set out on the half-mile hike around the Grant Tree Trail, ...
	... and were immediately impressed with the size of the giant sequoias.
	This tree is known as the Fallen Monarch. It is hollow and so large that they made a shortcut in the path through it.
	Let's take a quick look!
	The tree opens up toward the other side, and it is large enough to be a picnic shelter. We'll see this tree again when we come around the other side of the trail.
	Check out this adorable chipmunk. They were all over the grounds and were just the cutest things.
	There were information signs to educate about the giant sequoias, including this one about how their shape changes as they get larger.
	We got our first glimpse of the General Grant Tree from a distance, ...
	... before getting right up to it. The tree has a giant fire scar that covers about a quarter of its base.
	The tree is enormous, standing 40 feet in diameter and 268 feet tall. It is the third largest tree (by volume) in the world, and if it was hollow, it could hold 159,000 basketballs. It is so tall, that this picture cut off the top of tree.
	Here's the rest of the General Grant Tree.
	Debbie was kind enough to take a photo of some fellow tourists who wanted a "we were here" photo with the tree.
	In 1926, then-President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed that the General Grant Tree would be the National Christmas Tree.
	We continued around the trail, reaching the Gamlin Cabin at about the halfway point.
	The cabin was built in 1872 by the Gamlin brothers, who lived here while grazing sheep in the area. After this area was designated as a national park, the US Cavalry used the cabin for storage while they were garrisoned here to protect the trees. From 1902 until 1909, this was the park ranger's residence.
	We continued along the path, looking at all of the unnamed but majestic trees along route.
	This is the other end of the Fallen Monarch. There was an information sign nearby ...
	... that really gave a sense of scale to the tree. Early construction crews in the park used the fallen tree as housing, and the cavalry stationed here kept their horses inside it.
	When we came back to the van, there was a Winnebago Solis parked next to it, which was outwardly very similar to the Thor Sequence that we owned last year. The side-by-side comparison really shows you how much bigger the Class B RV is.
	We drove back up to the village and spent some time trying to find where exactly the Grant Grove was, only to realize it was where we had been parked.
	Once we realized that, we returned to where we had been, and went off in search of the Mather plaque mounting stone. We found it not far from the parking lot, on the trail from the parking lot back toward the village. It was quite a way off the path, ...
	... but we could tell by the weathering on the stone that we had the right location. The Mather plaque that used to be here was removed and placed in storage around 1946, only to be lost for almost 70 years before being rediscovered in 2014 by a museum curator looking through the Park's museum storage at Ash Mountain.
	We walked around the trail for a little while, ...
	... looking at the hugely tall live trees, ...
	... and the immense trunks of the fallen trees.
	There were carvings on the trunk dating back to 1938.
	There was an Escape campervan in the lot when we got back from our short hike.
	As we were leaving the park, there was more evidence of recent wildfires. It seemed like this whole area was on fire in recent years.
	We took Generals Highway south out of Kings Canyon National Park to Sequoia National Park, ...
	... and stopped briefly at the Kings Canyon Overlook to look out at some of the notable mountain peaks in the distance.
	When Debbie got out the potato chips that we had bought in Yosemite the previous day, the bag on the right had inflated to a tremendous degree due to the elevation change. The barbeque flavored chips, on the left, must have had a hole in the bag somewhere, because it was unchanged from the previous day.
	We were really enjoying the tree-lined highway. It was very peaceful.
	Just after 11:30 AM, we entered Sequoia National Park, ...
	... where the mountain views were as breathtaking as the trees.
	We made a very brief stop at the Lodgepole Visitor Center. It was very brief because the visitor center was closed for the season, ...
	... but luckily an Escape campervan pulled up near us. This one featured mushrooms on the design.
	Ten minutes later, we saw this Escape campervan, featuring a spooky eye design, at the parking lot for the General Sherman Tree.
	There was a nice covered structure at the top of the trail, ...
	... and the trail started its descent toward the General Sherman Tree.
	The trail was very wide, paved, and had stopping points for breaks along the way.
	In only six or seven minutes, we had made it to the viewing platform, which was a beautifully bricked area that resembled the outline of a giant sequoia.
	As the sign says, there it is! The tree you are looking for is the one just to the left of center in this photo, ...
	... and dead center in this photo. That's the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world by volume. It is 275 feet tall, has a diameter of 25 feet, and an estimated volume of more than 52,000 cubic feet. It is estimated to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years old.
	We started back up the trail, stopping along the way at the convenient benches to catch our breath.
	There was a marker on the trail to let us known when we had climbed half the height of the General Sherman Tree, which wasn't as helpful as they might think.
	It took a little longer to climb back up than it did to walk down, but soon enough we were back at the parking lot, ...
	... where Debbie's sharp eyes spotted this little cutie.
	We continued south on the Generals Highway, ...
	... amazed at how close the road was to some of the giant trees. We wondered if someone hit the tree, how would an automobile impact be interpreted in the tree's rings if they made a slice from it?
	At the entrance to the Giant Forest, we turned onto Crescent Meadow Road, ...
	... and took the narrow road up the mountain side.
	There were more reminders about the danger and destruction of forest fires ...
	... along with some optimism about the regrowth that takes place afterward.
	Some of these trees make it seem like fire is only an irritant rather than a destructive force.
	We passed the Booker T. Washington Tree, ...
	... and the Auto Log, a fallen giant sequoia which you used to be able to drive your car on. Note the guy in the lower left of the picture giving a sense of scale.
	This is the Parker Group, named for the eight members of the family of Captain James Parker, ...
	... who was Acting Superintendent of Sequoia National Park from 1893 to 1894.
	We waited for some people to take their picture under the Tunnel Log, and then we drove the van under it, ...
	... and around the bend in the road to this glade.
	The Mather plaque was mounted on a huge stone and was easily visible from the road, ...
	... but we walked to it for a closer look. This one is one of the original 28 plaques from the 1930 casting, and was placed here in a dedication ceremony in July 1932.
	We just can't get over how big these trees are. Huge!
	We headed back out, getting a better picture of the Auto Log along the way, ...
	... and back out to Generals Highway.
	The road to the southern exit of Sequoia National Park contained a large number of switchbacks. You can just make out the road going down the mountain in the center of this picture, ...
	... and it continues way down there in this one, too.
	It was hairpin turn ...
	... after hairpin turn, never going more than 35 miles per hour, ...
	... which was a good thing, since it allowed us to stop in time to see this deer right on the side of the road.
	What seemed like an eternity later, but was really only about 30 minutes, we were out of the mountains ...
	... and a short time later we were at the Ash Mountain entrance to the park.
	The bear in this crossing sign looks very well fed.
	We drove along the Kaweah River, ...
	... and its green valley, ...
	... until we reached Lake Kaweah.
	Tom would be embarrassed to admit it, but he wondered out loud what kind of these trees these were, even though we were in the town of Lemon Cove. He eventually figured it out from the bright yellow fruit on the trees.
	We passed a vintage Standard Oil service station, ...
	... followed by a vintage Richfield service station.
	There were more orchards, ...
	... and then this palatial house built onto a terraced hillside.
	Just before 3 PM, we arrived at Lake Success near Porterville, California.
	We made our way to our reserved site, which was away from all of the other occupied sites. Sometimes you just get lucky.
	We had not only a picnic table with a shelter, but a perfectly placed tree that was providing much needed shade in the heat. With a light breeze and shade, it was quite pleasant.
	We sat at the picnic table and watched the many, many squirrels that nested under the slab for the bathrooms.
	Here's the view zoomed in. You can see three squirrels just chillin' in the shade.
	This one was obviously the lookout.
	Around 5 PM, the sun had sunk far enough that we felt pretty good about setting up the tent.
	As were were making dinner, we heard a scraping noise on the side of the tent. We could see a squirrel pawing at the tent door trying to get in. We scared it off inadvertently before we got the camera out, so use your imagination here.
	It must have smelled our recently completed dinner, spaghetti with meat sauce from Mountain House Adventure Meals. This is without a doubt our favorite freeze-dried dinner.
	The sun went down just after 6 PM, ...
	... and we decided to treat ourselves to some hot chocolate with plenty of dried mini marshmallows.
	The best time of day is when we are in the tent, just after dinner, relaxing together after a good day's drive. Day 13 >