Sequoia National Park

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So, today we’re off to see some forest for a change. We left the hotel in Bakersfield and went on our way to Sequoia National Park. It took a couple of hours, but then we’re used to two-hour drives first thing in the morning by now.

Our first stop was as we were driving up into the foothills up to the national park. We stopped for a rest and a snack at Slick Rock Recreation Area. There’s plenty of parking and a short walk down to the river’s edge. We explored the rocks and boulders in the river, enjoying the quiet, cool air and the spectacular view. Seeing green all around is a welcome change.

Tamar took off her shoes and waded into the river to explore a little more. She says the water is wonderful!

We opened up our snacks and breakfasted on sandwiches and cherry tomatoes while enjoying the place.

After we relaxed enough we got back to the car and continued the drive up the mountain. We passed lots of lodges and homes along the way, and some small shops. It’s like a village stretched out along the road. We finally reached the entrance to the park. We were told that there was road work going on further up the road, so to expect some delays. No worries, we’re in no hurry.

As we climbed higher the road got windier and more and more hairpin turns came up. We stopped a few times on the way up to see Tunnel Rock, some fantastic views and even a visit to the river below the road, which was absolutely stunning! Water rushing over the jagged, angled colorful layers of rock, trees and plants on either side, beautiful!

We stopped again at Hospital Rock, which is a huge boulder just above the banks of a stream. The local Native American tribes revered the rock and left paintings on it. This spot was once a village. On a flat rock overlooking the stream there are several round, cone-shaped pits of varying depth. These were pestles where the local women would sit and gossip while they crushed acorn seeds into flour with stone mortars. Over time and use the pestles got deeper, until the deepest ones ere about 30 cm deep! A park ranger there explained a bit about how the villagers would get all they needed from the forest around them. She’d made a brush from the fibers of an onion-like plant called soapweed. Such brushes were used as brooms and even hairbrushes.

Soon after Hospital Rock we stopped at a good lookout spot where we could see over the trees and up at the jagged spires of rock towering above. We could see how the road above hugs the steep mountainside, each loop in the road almost directly above the previous one. We had a quick snack while enjoying the view.

Soon after that reached the roadwork, where the narrow road was narrowed even further into a single lane. Luckily it was our turn to use the road, and cars going in the opposite direction had to wait their turn. I can imagine it’s quite a challenge to work on the road here, right on the edge of a very high cliff, hardly a railing. I’m glad I’m not the one doing the work!

Further up the road, at heights of about 2,000 meters the forest got thicker and the unmistakable sequoias appeared. Now, I believe the technical term is ‘Big-ass trees’. And they certainly live up to the reputation! We drove past trees whose trunk was wider than the length of our car, and it isn’t a small car! In some places the road squeezed between two or three trees, making us feel like ants at the feet of giants.

We stopped next to a huge fallen tree called the Auto Log. According to the sign posted there the tree had fallen in 1917 and a driveway cut onto its trunk. Since then decades of car models were photographed on it, but alas, no longer.

The root system at the base of the fallen trunk now towers above, probably nearing 10 meters high! You can climb onto the trunk and the root system to appreciate it. The scale is amazing! It dwarfs all the giant SUVs, suburbans and even campers driving by.

Our next stop was the tunnel tree, another fallen sequoia where the road goes through the trunk – a tunnel was cut across the trunk, high enough for our car to easily drive under! And a Ford Explorer is not small! There is a bypass for larger vehicles but anything smaller than a camper can probably pass the tunnel with no problem.

Further along the road we finally reached the parking lot for the General Sherman tree, near the top of the mountain. It’s so high here that the air is thin. There are signs on the path to the tree advising people to take it slow on the walk down to the tree (a walk of about 700 meters, not long), and especially back up to your car. There are also several benches for people to stop and rest. Tamar was feeling the effects of the height, mostly feeling very tired.

Now, if you look I the dictionary under the term ‘big’, there’s a picture of General Sherman. The base of the trunk is 11 meters across! There’s a balcony overlooking the tree and on the floor is a paved shape of the base of the tree, life-sized. It’s huge! There’s a railing around the tree itself so people don’t try to climb or damage it. A good thing since there were certainly lots of people there.

General Sherman is apparently the biggest tree in the world by volume and weight. It’s about 2,200 years old and still alive. The top of the tree is dead, so it isn’t getting any taller, but it is still growing wider, adding enough wood to it’s volume to make up a good-sized tree every year! I mean, Wow!

We took our time walking back to the car, as advised. By now we were getting hungry so we found a picnic area (there are several around the park with restrooms, picnic tables and bear-proof garbage cans). There was a sign bolted to the center of the picnic table warning about bears – if one approaches, back away to your car but don’t leave food behind. Right! If a bear comes near that’s what I’ll be thinking about!

No bears approached while we had our sandwiches, but that may have been because of the noise – park workers were clearing trees nearby and the chainsaws were pretty loud.

The drive down the mountain was uneventful, we had to wait a few minutes at the roadwork area but again, no rush. Driving down all those twists and hairpin turns required no less concentration than driving up, but we made it ok.

Once out of the foothills the scenery is totally flat. Long, seemingly endless straight roads between orchard and wheat. After a couple of hours drive we reached our Motel 6 in Coalinga East and signed it. There is no town here, just a big truck stop by the freeway with a few motels, service stations and a couple of restaurants. The sign on the door of our room said something like ‘For your own safety, close the latch and lock the deadbolt while you are in your room’. No exactly providing a sense of security… The room was ok though, a little bigger than yesterday and clean.

We went to Denny’s for supper and were pleasantly surprised! Besides the fact that they freeze the place with too much air conditioning, it was pleasant, clean and comfortable, and the food was good.

Tomorrow we’re off to LA!

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