Road Trip Chronicles: Day 5- Part I
Hume, CA ➡️ Bend, CA (Approx. 5 hours of driving)
Destination: Sequoia National Park
Unceded land of: The Mono (Monache), Yokuts, Tübatulabal, Paiute, & Western Shoshone
Stayed: Hanning Flat Dispersed Area
After my early morning adventure (see Day 4) at the General Grant tree, I set out for Sequoia National Park (50 min. drive). My first stop was to see the largest tree in the world, General Sherman. (Side Note*- I greatly wish they would rename these trees to reflect their names from the Native American tribes whose land this truly is).
This tree is the largest by volume (52,500 cubic ft or 1486.6 cubic m). Also, this 2,200 year old tree has a base that keeps growing wider (measured at 102.6 ft. or 31.3 m. around).
Since I had left so early from the campground, I arrived with minimal people there. I'm sure an hour or so later it would have been just as saturated as the General Grant trail.
The General Sherman trail starts up on top of hill and you hike down into the redwood grove. Along the way it has signs letting you know about how much the elevation is dropping as you go down and basically warning you how much of trek it will be back up.
After my time in this grove, I headed over to the Moro Rock Trail. This was my main 'to do' of the day. I knew it was going to be a lot of climbing up stairs (350 to be exact), but I also knew it was going to have a killer view of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
It can be close quarters passing people on this hike and there were several times where I had to step to side and wait for folks to pass by. There are a lot of rails and spots to stop along the way to take breaks without being in anyone's way as they pass. At the top it is one narrow pathway with a rail going all the way around and placards with historical information.
Before coming to Sequoia Nat'l Pk, I had heard of a tree that people could drive through. Of course, this was a "I must experience this" type of situation. As I headed down to this area, I saw that plenty of people were on the same page as me. There was a bit of wait time before I could have my moment to memorialize my time with this ancient tree intersecting with modernity.
Because of my early start it meant that I actually had unexpected time to do more exploring. I decided to set out and see a waterfall, hoping that it wouldn't be dried up like Yosemite Falls. The Tokopah Falls hike trailhead started in the middle of a campground. Because of that I ended up getting creative with parking within the campground and had no idea if it was permitted or not.
This was a peaceful hike that followed a stream with huge rocks. As I approached the would be waterfall, it was, as feared, nothing but a slight stream of water. From here on out if it is August in California, I believe I will reevaluate whether or not I will go on a hike based on a waterfall destination.
And, unfortunately for me, I had also decided to wear a new pair of hiking sandals that gave me pretty substantial blisters. So, I ended up listening to my audiobook (The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern) for the majority of my hike to distract me from my discomfort.
I ended up finding a great place to lounge on rocks in the beautifully flowing creek that had several signs stipulating that people should not, in fact, rest there. Perhaps the water levels are usually higher in other seasons, making it actually very risky to be recreating in the stream.
My feet were toast after this last hiking experience and I went straight on to where I was staying for the night. This was a blisteringly hot day. Reminder, I had no A/C available in my car and was just relying on a spray water bottle and a fan to cool down when I needed it. As I descended south to the desert, I came upon a burst of businesses, gas stations, food, clothing stores, and lucky for me, they had a frozen yogurt place. I parked my car so fast. It was wonderful treat in the heat 😁
Being among such giant ancient trees was a highlight for me. I'm glad I spent two whole days among these iconic groves that only exist on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.
Below: Scroll to see more photos.
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