In Search of Giants - The Destination

Smoke filled the park from fires in Northern California and a
prescribed fire within Sequoia National Park.

Even the smoke
could not daunt my enthusiasm
to finally meet
The Giants that have beckoned me since childhood.

This is the story of a journey and a destination.




To read about The Journey, please go to my other blog, www.WhimsyCalls.blogspot.com.  

To read about The Giant Sequoias, please read on.

We entered Sequoia National Park through the Tree Rivers Entrance
and soon began our steep ascent high into the mountains.

Growing up in Wyoming where trees are scarce on the High Plains, the pictures I saw of the Giant Sequoias seemed impossible to be true.

How could any tree reach over 300 feet tall?  Or live longer than 3,000 years? And, how could it start from a seed the size of an oat flake??

[Giant Sequoias differ from California Coast Redwoods in many ways, including  that Redwoods are taller but Sequoias are older and denser.  For example, a Redwood might weigh 1.6 million pounds and be 22 feet in diameter.  A Sequoia might weigh 2.7 million pounds and be 40 feet in diameter.]

Once inside the park, the 16 miles of road from the entrance
to Giant Forest includes 130 curves and 12 switchbacks!

The Giant Sequoias only grow naturally on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada.

Getting there is a beautiful, awe-inspiring trip--especially if one is the passenger and not the driver focusing on navigating tight switchback curves.

Do you see the squiggly route from Ash Mountain
Entrance to Lodgepole Visitor's Center?  Hold tight!

I was filled with anxious anticipation as we drove up Generals Highway, through areas with huge granite rocks, deep shade from the cover of thick trees and lingering vibrant fall colors.

And, THEN!  

HERE THEY ARE!!!

We entered the Giant Forest and stopped in the first vacant pull-off.  I leaped out of the car and then felt surprisingly shy in the presence of trees so magnificent and awe-inspiring!

I felt honored to be there, to finally BE THERE, in that space with these GENTLE GIANTS.

Quietly I made my way to the first tree and silently introduced myself.  In that magical space it seemed the right thing to do. Once my silent introductions were made I felt comfortable to reach out to touch the rough spongy bark (so thick--up to two feet--it is virtually impervious to brush fires and insect invasions.)  

At 11:42 PST I finally achieved a childhood dream and touched the fibrous red-brown bark of a Giant.

Sunlight filters through the smoke and halos my first meeting!!

Ken greets another Giant Sequoia.

"This is their temple,
vaulted high, and 
where we pause with
reverent eye."
                                              
                                       ---Joseph B. Strauss



These trees are the stuff of dreams and throughout the day I kept laughing with joy just to be here on such a magnificent fall day!!

Trunks group together like friends for life.

The Giant Forest was named by explorer and conservationist John Muir in 1875.  

This beautiful grove of big trees remain as Muir found them--

"Giants grouped in pure temple groves, or arranged in colonnades along the sides of meadows."

The northern fringe of the grove is guarded by THE GENERAL SHERMAN TREE, the largest tree in the world, and that is where we headed next.

The beginning of the steep main trail to see GENERAL SHERMAN TREE,
that is actually only about a half-mile down but seems like two miles up!

Once down the main trail, we wandered through groves of GIANTS on a looping two-mile Congress Trail.

We shared the trail with fellow visitors from all over the world with so many languages overheard that we lost count!

Despite the throngs of people, there was a sense of awe and wonder as we gazed from gnarled twisted trunks up to the tip of the trees so high that often the tips were more imagined than seen.

A natural space in the trunk of
GENERAL SHERMAN TREE invites one to step inside.

We wandered the trail, pausing to take photos of massive fallen trees, so large and long that sometimes they were cut into sections just to make room for them on the ground.

We stopped inside trees that had been carved away and tucked ourselves inside spaces in trunks that seemed natural shelters.

GENERAL SHERMAN TREE is considered the largest living tree in the world not because of its height but because of its volume.  

It weights about 2.7 million pounds and is somewhere around 2,200 years old.  It reaches 275 feet into the air and its circumference at ground level is 102.6 feet.  

Ken stands in a carved tunnel of one fallen GIANT along the path.

I accept the invitation to step inside the space of one GIANT.

GIANTS reaching so high that one photograph does not do justice!

Late afternoon sunlight filters onto the trunks of
GIANTS at Grant Grove in King's Canyon National Park.

After a reviving and delicious al fresco lunch at Lodgepole, we continued north into Kings Canyon National Park to Grant Grove to take the trail to the GENERAL GRANT TREE, which is considered "a youngster" at 1,800-2,000 years old.  

It reaches 268.1 feet into the sky and is 107.5 feet around, making it the world's third largest tree.  

It is often called "The Nation's Christmas Tree," and the town of Sanger, CA, hosts a special Yuletide celebration under its snow-laden branches each year.

THE GENERAL GRANT TREE is as tall as a 27-story building and wider at its base
than a three-lane freeway.  It weighs more than 700 large cars.

The Fallen Monarch is fun to explore from the inside!

One of our favorite GIANTS is the FALLEN MONARCH.  

It is thought that the tree was probably hollowed by fire long before it fell centuries ago.

But, rather than shattering, as sequoias usually do when they fall, it remained intact and served as lodging, a hotel, a saloon and a stable!

I loved the smoothness of the wood inside and the worn floor area where thousands of visitors/inhabitants have tread.

Based on photographs taken in the late 1800s, FALLEN MONARCH has decayed very little in the more than 100 years since.

The entrance to FALLEN MONARCH beckons one to step inside this GIANT tree.

All too soon this day was closing. 

As we headed south on Generals Highway, we departed this incredible sacred area with a deep appreciation that it still remains, conserved with the goal of preserving it as a vital living entity for children yet to be born.

As for me, my dream to meet THE GIANTS may have been a persuasive wind to carry me to this place--but, MEETING THE GIANTS surpassed my wildest and most creative expectations!

"The big tree is Nature's forest  masterpiece...the greatest of living things."
                      --John Muir