Third Grade Dreams Realized
When I was in third grade, Scholastic Book Orders had a special sale where for several months they gave National Geographic trading cards with the purchase of any book. There’s one card I vividly remember.
It was a picture of a car driving through a Giant Sequoia in Sequoia National Park. As I sat in my third grade classroom I knew that I wanted to visit a place that had trees so large an entire car could drive through them with room to spare.
As an adult I realize just how touristy this dream was, but my third grade dream came true last week.
This year we’ve decided to break our fall camping trip into three smaller outings, the first of which would be to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. So last week we packed up, headed six hours north, drove across the Central Valley, and climbed up the 6,000 feet of elevation to enter the Sierra Nevada mountains.
We were greeted with cool mountain air, a steady, slight eastern breeze, crystal clear nights to view thousands of stars and the Milky Way, groves of giant sequoia trees, spectacular mountain sunsets, and a campsite nestled among the pines.
It is hard to put into words just how large a giant sequoia tree is. I am not even sure that pictures do it justice. We all agreed that it felt like we were walking in a fairy tale forest or a fantasy themed video game. I think the The American conservationist John Muir said it well: "Do behold the king sequoia. Behold! Behold! Seems all I can say."
Just behold. I tend to agree.
Snippets of My Week
Looking up at the General Sherman tree. It is truly hard to grasp how large these trees are.
Hiking up the Moro Rock Trail with the Great Western Divide in the background.
The kids perched on The Fallen Monarch. This tree fell and was naturally hollowed out. You can walk the length of it - in it!
The General Sherman tree: world’s largest tree by volume and estimated to be 2,200 years old.
The General’s Highway as seen from Moro Rock. We drove all the way down and back up. The switchbacks were intense!
The General Grant Tree in Kings Canyon NP. This grove was so close to our campsite we walked to it.
We did a sunset hike on the Park View Trail. The views were fantastic!
Thanks for reading! Are you a lover of National Parks, too? I'd love to hear which park is on your bucket list. Just hit reply if you'd like to respond. (When you hit reply, your message goes directly to my email. It’s a private conversation between just us.) I read all your messages and try to respond, but not always in a timely manner. Sorry! And if you enjoyed this email, you’d be doing me a favor by forwarding it to someone else who might like it.