I Need What, To Go Where?

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Geo: 36.7213, -118.968

When we went to bed the night before, the rain was pouring down, and the sound of the water hitting and running off the metal roof was both deafening and soothing. During the night, I noted that the sound had stopped, so I presumed the rain had ceased. When we did wake up on Wednesday morning, I happened to peek outside and was shocked to see several inches of fresh snow, with heavy flakes still falling. This was the last thing we had expected to see.

After putting on every layer of clothing we had available, we trudged over to breakfast, getting ready mentally for our travel south to Kings Canyon National Park. While K and A finished eating, I went to settle our bill. I heard the counter clerk mention that the road to Mariposa Grove was closed due to deep snow, and I was doubly glad we had visited there on the afternoon of our arrival. In passing, I asked the condition of the road south, and was told an "R2" was in effect. I quickly learned that meant cars had to have four-wheel drive or chains installed to be on the road. Having never used or owned tire chains in my life, I innocently asked, "what if I don't have them." Her quick reply, "Would you like me to check you back into your room, as you can't leave?" I remembered from the night before that the only place in all of Yosemite where you can buy gas just happens to be next door to our hotel. I asked if they might have chains, and she said "perhaps," and that they were opening in a few minutes. I jumped in the car and drove next door. There was one man on duty -- an elderly man, with an impaired right arm. He was already installing chains on the rental car of an Italian couple, who spoke next to no English. As I watched this, cars started to line up behind me -- obviously all hoping for the same assistance. Working at the speed of molasses, I was fortunate and there were chains available for our car, and we got them installed. By the time I left, almost an hour later, there were at least eight cars lined up and the man's assistant had called in saying he couldn't get into work, so the poor man was going to have a VERY long day ahead of him.

I retrieved K and A and we started driving out of the park. Chains limited our speed to no more than 30 miles an hour, but to be honest, the deep snow kept us down closer to 15-20 mph. We crawled our way our, passing several cars off -- literally -- the road. The snow worsened and my nerves were raw, shall we say, but after about an hour and half, we finally drove out of the snow, as we'd descended below 3000 ft. I got the chains off, and then we worried about the snow which assuredly awaited us at Kings Canyon. We also were questioning whether we wanted to put ourselves through the stress of another snowy, high-altitude roller coaster ride. We called the Park Service, and found out the road into Kings Canyon was open for cars with chains, so we decided to at least try it. If it was too rough, we'd turn around and retreat. We drove south, eventually reaching essentially sea level in Fresno, and it was a different world. It was in the high 70's, and we were driving through mile after mile of orange, almond, grape, and olive orchards and groves. It was truly surreal. We left lunch sweating, and an hour later, after we'd climbed up again, we hit snow...and lots of it. As the snow deepened, I kept looking for a place to install the chains. We noted when leaving Yosemite that the Highway Patrol had set up an inspection station near the snow line, to ensure cars did not proceed without chains. We never hit such a station on this end, but there were also no other cars (not comforting), and several times we drove by points where there were rotatable signs to warn motorists that chains were required, but none of them were deployed. Just as I was about to give up and install the chains anyway, we hit the mountain top and arrived at the Visitors' Center. As you can see from the pictures, the snow was very deep, but the sun had just come out. Evidently we must have been behind a ranger, who had taken down the chain signs ahead of us as we drove.

The sun did come out, as we got keys to our room at the John Muir Lodge. The visitors' center area was quite small, especially compared to Yosemite, but most of the places to visit are scattered around the humongous park. Kings Canyon and Sequoia Parks are administered jointly, given their size and concatenated geography with one another. We did go down the just-opened road to the General Grant Tree, and grove of giant Sequoias. As you can see -- they truly are giant. The Grant Tree is the largest living tree in the world. With the snow....oh, and the fence...we couldn't right up to it, so the scale is hard to tell from the photos. We had a great time, as the three of us were all alone as we hiked through deep snow in the grove area.

After supper, we settled down in the lodge's common room, around a stubborn fire that refused to stay lit, and played a couple rounds of Clue. A lot of fun, but we were all exhausted -- again -- and turned in early.

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Photos

The General Grant Tree, in the Middle
Largest Living Tree in the World

Inside a Downed Tree
This tree has been down for over 100 years, and has served as everything from a boarding house, to a bar, to a restaurant over the years.