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Published: April 27th 2024
Me
Sequoia National Park SignDear All
Wahey! My California Road Trip 2024 has officially begun! On a Wednesday morning, I said goodbye to my cosy Lawndale motel and picked up a hire car near LAX Airport - a black Nissan SUV. I faced the dreaded LA freeway system, and found that despite a bit of slower moving traffic, it wasn't all that bad. After around 30 minutes of urban sprawl, driving north through Hollywood and Burbank, the surrounding landscape turned to curvaceous and sparsely vegetated mountains, as the highway passed through Angeles National Park. While I loved the places I visited in LA, the city as a whole wasn't my favourite, and I was glad to be leaving. I think it was a combination of unfriendly people and massive urban concrete sprawl that just didn't do it for me, and as I headed deeper into the State of California I started to note, and hopefully realise, that the rest of the state is quite different - friendly people, and an unhurried pace.
I first filled up with petrol, as the previous renter only left her 20% full, and also bought some USB converters as the car only came with USB Type C sockets,
Me, General Sherman Tree
Giant Forest, Sequoia National Park meaning that I couldn't otherwise charge my phone which is essential when driving with a Satnav app. While the converters I bought were able to charge up my phones, I still couldn't listen to my own MP3 Player as it needed a different kind of converter which I found it hard to buy, which was disappointing as I'd created a whole new playlist for this California trip. I initially tuned into the local radio stations, mostly those playing soft rock music, until I was able to find the converter I needed a few days later near Santa Barbara. After all this faff, it was getting on for midday when I began my journey.
Three hours of driving from LA took me into the Central Californian Valley, through Bakersfield, and onto the town of Porterville at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains which run through the eastern side of California. Here I stocked up on my self-catering supplies for my next few days. From there it was another hour up to the Sequoia National Park entrance, and I was really excited to be there! Both Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park were created in 1890, and they
Local Deer
Sequoia National Park have since been jointly administered as the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks since 1943. They are famous for their mountain landscapes, the deep canyon giving its name to the Kings section, and their giant sequoia redwood trees. Less visited than their cousin Yosemite to the north, I thought it was a perfect place to begin my explorations of the Californian mountains, and get to know the world's largest trees. I was planning to visit the southern Sequoia section this day, and then the northern Kings section the next.
By the time I'd arrived, they'd only just lifted the snow chain requirement which was put in place earlier that day due to icy conditions. Not knowing how to put snow chains on, and not knowing if my rental agreement included this, I was happy to be able to visit without needing them. It just goes to show that although winter was officially over, the wintry conditions in these upper altitudes were certainly not. This was a far cry from sunny and warm Los Angeles. Not far from the entrance, I stopped for some photos at its famous sign with a Native American Indian, and later Tunnel Rock, in which
Me
Tunnel Rock, Sequoia National Park the road used to pass through a spot where a large granite boulder had come to rest while still allowing passage below it. The road now circles around it, but you can still walk under it and take some great photos. Whilst there, I got talking to a really friendly guy from Louisiana who was there with his girlfriend. The road then climbed steeper and steeper, winding around the hillsides for pretty awesome views, particularly at a place called Amphitheatre Point. There was also the stunning valley created by the flow of the Kaweah River to the east. This was pure, unadulterated, US National Park beauty - the American National Parks are truly awesome, and I do hope to visit more in the future.
The road climbed over the 2000m above sea level mark, whereupon the snow line was reached. It was quite something to then be driving and walking in this part of the park, surrounded by giant Californian redwood trees, with deep snow still on the forest floor. I was heading for the most famous sequoia tree of all, the General Sherman Tree in the Giant Forest area, named after American Civil War hero William Tecumseh Sherman.
My Wheels
Nissan Rogue SUV It is officially the world's largest tree, measured in the amount of wood, at 1,487 cubic metres!! For comparison's sake, a regular 20m tall tree with a 40cm diameter measures just 2.5 cubic metres! That is a serious amount of wood, and I was in awe in its presence - it was just spectacular, and very beautiful. The tree stands amongst many other sequoias, in one of around 70 such groves found throughout the state - 40 can be found here in Sequoia and Kings Canyon, 3 in Yosemite, and the rest spread further along the Sierra Nevada. Whilst there, there is also a fallen tree called the Sequoia Tunnel that you could walk through as they had dug a little tunnel through it, so you can appreciate just how massive these trunks are. There is also a fallen tree nearby which you can even drive your car through a hole they have also made through it, the Tunnel Log, but unfortunately the road there at this time was snow-bound so I didn't visit it this time. Driving back down the mountains was equally spectacular, and I drank in the sheer beauty of this gorgeous mountain and forest scenery, with
Kaweah River
Sequoia National Park lofty views over the valleys and hilltops below.
I was heading back the way I came, a few miles beyond the National Park's boundaries, to a village called Lemon Cove, where I checked into a gorgeous AirBnB property. It was a self-contained little unit in a larger house, which was really very comfortable. I went to sleep that night with the sound of cicadas chirrupping outside, while the birds sang the next morning - it was a perfect antidote to the urban, concrete sprawl of Los Angeles. The next morning upon checking out, I got into a nice conversation with a lady in the house next door whose brother was staying in one of the downstairs units. He was visiting from Baltimore, so we spoke about the terrible bridge collapse that had recently happened there, as well as the Royal Family. I just love being British in America 😁 Conversations there often focus on the Royals, and I mentioned the Americans were more than welcome to keep Ginger and the Whinger. I filled up at a local petrol station, the Lemon Cove Market, and had another nice conversation with a chap in the Post Office across the road -
Lemon Cove was really a nice place, and I would very much have liked to have stayed longer. But alas, my Road Trip was continuing, and I was starting the next leg of my journey up north towards the Kings Canyon section of the National Parks.
As mentioned, conditions there were still quite wintry, and snow had apparently fallen in the park overnight. If so, my car would certainly be needing snow chains attached to the wheels. I made the correct decision, as it turns out, to skirt the outside of the park, rather than going straight through it back the way I had partially gone the previous day. Snow had indeed fallen on this route as I found out later, and I wouldn't have been able to drive it.
This alternative route was just spectacular though, and it wound its way through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, through beautiful orange groves, and past out-of-the-way ranches and homesteads. I only encountered one UPS driver on this hour-long route, it was peaceful. It was also on this route that I experienced my magical "wow, I'm travelling again" moment, a bit delayed this time, possibly due to grungy Los
Beautiful View
Sequoia National Park Angeles, and also possibly due to the jet-lag. It happened as U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" came on the radio. I realised while listening to it, that it is really quite a traveller's song, although I can personally say I have indeed found what I'm looking for, in the looking for it, if that makes sense.
There was still a road blocked along the way, presumably due to the snow fall, so after a slight detour later, I arrived at the beautiful Kings Canyon section of the National Parks. Much of it was closed due to the snow, and unfortunately this included its spectacular 1,600m deep canyon for which the Park is named, as well as the Panoramic Point view over it. You could still walk there if you hired snow shoes from the Visitors' Centre however, though I wasn't really keen on doing this. Still, the famous Grant Grove Area, with it similarly famous General Grant Sequoia Tree, was still open to traffic and walking. While they had cleared these roads and paths, all other routes were seriously piled with snow. I thus limited myself to the brilliant Visitors Centre there, and the nearby
Beautiful View
Sequoia National Park Grant Grove Area. As mentioned, I just love American National Parks! The Park Rangers are always so positive and passionate, treating every visitor as an individual, and the Centre had a great video introduction to the area. A short drive downhill took me to the Grant Grove Area, for another awe-filled walk amongst these beautiful and awesome giant trees. In this grove stands the General Grant Tree. This is the second largest tree in the world after the formerly mentioned General Sherman Tree, at 1,320 cubic metres. It is particularly honoured as a representation of the sacrifice and resilience of the country's armed forces in striving for the nation, just as the tree has weathered and survived countless forest fires, and is named after another US Civil War hero, and subsequent president, Ulysses S. Grant. It is also known as "The Nation's Christmas Tree", similarly for its national spiritual significance.
These sequoia groves have also been really special for the Native American peoples for centuries, and I can see why - you can really feel the spirituality and wonder of these ancient giants, many of them over 2000 years old and thus pre-dating even Jesus! When the US settlers
Giant Forest
Sequoia National Park arrived in the late 19th century, the area was initially logged. But thankfully this was only very brief, as the nation, including Scottish naturalist John Muir himself, came to raise awareness of the significance of these special trees and their surroundings. Apparently when a comparatively short five-metre section of the outside of one of these giants was shipped over to Philadelphia for an exhibition in the late 19th century, the viewers didn't believe that there could be trees with such diameters of 10m or more, and called it "The Californian Hoax". Here, there was also a fallen tree, called the Fallen Monarch, and this time you could walk all the way through its 38m length! A photo next to it showed early settlers bunking up inside it, over 100 years ago! The trees and the grove were really very special, and I was awed by their beauty, their size, and their age. They kind of put quite a bit of our lives into perspective!
Well, this was it for my time in the beautiful Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. I was heading that afternoon further north, onto the nearby, and slightly more famous, Yosemite National Park. But of
General Sherman Tree
Sequoia National Park course, more on that in my next one.
Until then, thanks for reading, and all the best for now!
Alex
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
U.S. National Parks are a wonder to behold
As Teddy Roosevelt said, "There is nothing so American as our national parks.... The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us." When many people think of California they picture LA, SF and the other cities... mainly due to Hollywood movies. Until one digs into exploring California they do not realize the amount of farmland and small towns. Our parks are a great source of pride. I'm glad they gave you a nice set of wheels. Words of a true traveler, "I've found what I'm looking for, in looking for it". Marvelous! I'm glad you found joy in the serene mountain highways. We are eager for your return to this great land.