Sequoia & Kings Canyon

 

Welcome to Horse Creek Campground, an Army Core of Engineers Park, just outside of Sequoia National Park. The plus is that these parks are usually located by water and are very scenic. The negative is there are no hook ups. Given we are still in the upper 80s/low 90s that means heavy generator use. Thank goodness it gets cooler at night so we can go for a walk, with Noodle in his backpack, of course.

So, Sequoia wasn't exactly what I was expecting. We came in from the south side and drove for over an hour before seeing a sequoia tree. It was very hilly and crazy winding roads with lots of rocks and bushes. Check out the handsome guy that keeps showing up in all my photos!

 

 

You no longer can drive thru tunnel rock, but at least we got a good photo op and it's pretty cool to see.

 

You wouldn't want to miss a turn on these roads...

 

 

Another interesting reminder of the fires. Someone left this sitting on the wall at a pull off. After this peak we finally got into the tall trees again. Our first hike was to the General Sherman, the world's largest tree. Check out Dave's response to the beginning of the trail!

 

 

 

He liked the one at the bottom of the trail better that said to slow down and enjoy the trail.

 

I think it looks like we were enjoying it. The views were pretty spectacular!

Then we went into Kings Canyon to hike and see the General Grant, the world's second largest tree. Now maybe I'm just getting a bit satiated by all these big trees but the extra 3 hours to drive to see the world's second largest tree seemed a bit of overkill. But when you're married to a former timber buyer he just can't seem to get enough of these trees..."do you know how many board feet of lumber I could get from one of those?" :)

 

 

Back to the campground and it's lovely view and interesting rock formations. Looks like someone took a slice out of the middle!

If you were wondering about wildlife, we didn't see much in the park but we did see those two guys on the road (the turkey for sure was a guy, the tarantula we didn't get close enough to check!). Speaking of on the road, we're off again tomorrow headed to Death Valley. Wonder if it will be any cooler there? :)