Scenes of Heading Home...

We had a timing issue arise so our trip had to take a turn towards home (Yosemite will have to wait). I just had to share our view. Spectacular.

“The moon is a loyal companion. It never leaves.
It’s always there, watching, steadfast,
knowing us in our light and dark moments,
changing forever just as we do.
Every day it’s a different version of itself.
Sometimes weak and wan,
sometimes strong and full of light.
The moon understands what it means to be human.
Uncertain. Alone. Cratered by imperfections.”
– Tahereh Mafi

“The moon will guide you through the night with her brightness,
but she will always dwell in the darkness, in order to be seen.”
– Shannon L. Alder

“I’d rather live in a world
where I get to love the moon
than in one where I don’t,
even if the moon won’t return the feeling.”
– Alex London


"The sky, a perfect empty canvas,
offers clouds nonetheless.
They shift and drift and beg interpretation…
such is the nature of art."
-Jeb Dickerson

“What we find in a soul mate
is not something wild to tame,
but something wild to run with.”
– Robert Brault

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Grant Grove: Our Last Sequoias

Our final stop on our Big Tree Trail was the General Grant Grove, a section of the greater Kings Canyon National Park, established by the US Congress in 1890. 


The star here is the General Grant Tree, which is 267 feet tall and the third largest known tree in the world. Estimated to be over 1,500 years old, it has been known as the United States' National Christmas Tree, since 1925.
President Eisenhower declared the General Grant Tree to be a National Shrine in 1956. It was dedicated "in memory of the men an women of the Armed Forces who have served and fought and died to keep this Nation free..." It is the only example of a living shrine in the United States. During the dedication ceremony, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz mentioned its "equal stature with that other great shrine in Arlington Cemetery -- the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier."
Probably our most unique find was the Fallen Monarch.
This fire hollowed fallen sequoia was used for temporary housing by the Gamlin brothers, early settlers whose homestead cabin stands near by (more about that to come below). 
Later, the U. S. Cavalry used it as a stable while patrolling the parks (1890-1914). Wild.
It is hard to see but there is a huge stump behind this sign. The Centennial Tree was cut, sectioned, and reassembled at the 1876 World's Fair in Philadelphia, where it became known as a California Hoax, by dubious easterners, not believing a tree could be so huge. Sad.
These two images illustrate, for me, the need for National Parks.

This is the cabin the Israel and Thomas Gamlin built in 1872, while living in the Fallen Monarch.
With a timber claim of 160 acres, they quartered here until 1878, while grazing cattle in the mountains. After the National Park was established, in 1890, the cabin was used as a storehouse by the patrolling U.S. Calvary until 1913. Later it became the home of the first park ranger stationed here.


While exploring, the weather went from rainy to snowy. It was time to head home.
The road we drove in, a few days prior, was now inaccessible due to snow. Wow, timing really is everything! It was the ideal way to end our Sequoia Sojourn.
"A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept 
just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral."
-Theodore Roosevelt

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Hume Lake & Cedar Grove: More AWESOMENESS

 A brief explore happened at Hume Lake, a cool man-made (historic) reservoir.

To create this reservoir, John S. Eastwood was hired in 1908 to construct a dam at Long Meadow. Eastwood proposed constructing the world's first reinforced concrete multiple arch dam. Although unprecedented, at a cost of approximately $46,000, the dam's design was a less expensive alternative to a conventional rock fill dam that would have cost about twice as much to construct. The dam was completed in only 114 days, by the end of 1909, along with a mill immediately adjacent to the dam.

Hume-Bennett, the local lumber company, thoroughly harvested the forests surrounding Hume Lake following completion of the dam, but paltry profits and a devastating fire in 1917 led to the end of logging operations. The fire completely destroyed the mill and surrounding facilities, with all logging ceasing by 1924. On April 8, 1935, the United States Forest Service purchased the entire operation and its holdings, including the dam and forest surrounding Hume Lake, incorporating it into the Sequoia National Forest.
Ten years later, Hume Lake Christian Camps, the largest facility at the lake, began. Over 300 acres of lake shore property were purchased to create the camp, including the Hume Lake Hotel, store, service station, post office, 22 cottages, and 22 boats.
Soon thereafter, in the summer of 1946, 670 campers and 15 volunteer staff attended conferences at Hume Lake. Since that first summer in 1946, more than 1,000,000 young people and adults have attended the camp for worship, religious studies, and recreation.

Everything was closed up tight but I would have loved to have a cup of coffee here at Hume & Beans (hysterical name).



Our destination, for the day, was Cedar Grove, described as "Quiet and remote, Cedar Grove sits deep in Kings Canyon, surrounded by sheer granite cliffs."


The geology was breathtaking.
At times it was slow going due to the gains in elevation. I appreciated this CCC constructed traveler's aid station.

Waterfall sightings were common, and admired.
The pattern in this mountainside made us pause to appreciate the forces that created it.
And the wildflowers along the road and trails were stunning.






We are continuously surprised by all nature has to offer. John Muir was right, “When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world.”

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Our 2nd Day in the Big Trees...

On September 25, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation establishing America's second national park. Created to protect the giant sequoia trees from logging, Sequoia National Park was the first national park formed to protect a living organism: Sequoiadendron giganteum.

Our learning began immediately upon entering the park. History emanates from some objects. Sequoia National Park's entrance sign, with its powerful presence at the boundary, is one such antique. Carved more than 80 years ago, the mammoth 4-foot by 10-foot sign emerged from a slab of sequoia wood from a fallen tree that might have seen two thousand years come and go.
The carver, George Muno, served in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a remarkable program that put penniless young men to work here and in other parks during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Muno based the sign on the Native American profile on the old "buffalo" nickel, first minted in 1913. The idea of using such a profile on the park sign came from an earlier, smaller sign that also featured an American Indian man. Both signs were intended to honor Sequoyah, the Cherokee scholar whose invention of an alphabet for his language brought advances in literacy. Many believe that the giant sequoia trees were named for this historic figure.
The growing popularity of automobile travel led to the building of the Generals Highway in 1926, opening up the Giant Forest to increased visitation. Originally, all tourists had to drive through this Tunnel Rock to get to the park (until the road was rerouted). Scary.

The scenery along Generals Highway was spectacular. Driving between the Big Trees was wild.
Big trees, high peaks, and deep canyons in North America’s longest single continuous mountain range: superlatives abound amidst glorious scenery. Pioneering conservationist John Muir explored and named the Giant Forest. “When I entered this sublime wilderness the day was nearly done,” he observed, “the trees with rosy, glowing countenances seemed to be hushed and thoughtful, as if waiting in conscious religious dependence on the sun, and one naturally walked softly and awestricken among them.”
Our first stop today was in the Giant Forest and an ogle of the Sentinel, the 43rd largest giant sequoia in the world (yes, they are ranked).



We then ventured to the Big Trees Trail to marvel at yet more big trees.



"The big tree is Nature's forest masterpiece...
the greatest of living things."
-John Muir
At 7,300', visiting the Monarchs was breathtaking in more ways than one!
Our final stop of the day was to see the General Sherman Tree, the world's largest tree, measured by volume. It stands 275 feet tall, and is over 36 feet in diameter at the base. Sequoia trunks remain wide high up. Sixty feet above the base, the Sherman Tree is 17.5 feet in diameter.
The General Sherman Tree is an estimated 2,200 years old. Its largest branch is almost seven feet in diameter. Every year the General Sherman grows enough new wood to make a 60-foot-tall tree of usual proportions.

Are there taller trees? Yes, but size of a tree isn't just measured that way. In volume of total wood the giant sequoia stands alone as the largest living tree on Earth. Its nearly conical trunk—like a club, not a walking stick—shows why. At least one tree species lives longer, one has a greater diameter, three grow taller, but none is larger. 
After being awed, we strolled the Congress Trail, a paved two-mile loop that begins near the Sherman Tree, and offered excellent opportunities to see even more notable trees. Wow.
And this is another sweet campsite Steve found, nestled in the pines. Boondocking in the forest is best! We are happy campers.

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