Day 21: Generals and Trees

Today Alie and I went to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We saw HUGE trees and beautiful cliffs. The story of this park is all about conservation, but unlike Petrified Forrest its not about people destroying the park before it became a park or even people taking things from the park. Instead the damage was done by the National Park Service.

Sequoia National Park is our nations 2nd National Park after Yellowstone. As it be came more accessible thanks to a WPA group called the CCC, the park became more popular. In the 1950s at the beginning of the Giant Forrest there was a little village set with cabins, a gas station a gift shop and many other buildings. These buildings were built upon the shallow roots of the giant trees, cutting them so electric lines and plumbing could be run where needed. As time marched on the damage this caused be came apparent. Today only one building remains and has been turn into a museum, telling you about the Red Woods and the flora that populate the grove. Adding prescribed burns that were picked up again in 1969 enabled the trees to be rejuvenated and be restored to their former glory as John Muir first saw them.

The biggest tree in the park is titled General Sherman. Its not the tallest or the widest but is in fact the biggest thanks to its volume. 4 tractor trailers can fit inside it. Its biggest branch can hide a VW Bug completely. And if it were chopped down it could make billions and billions of tooth picks. (I'll try to find and exact number that was quoted to me today.)

What was most interesting about the park is the visual damage that fire does. The smaller trees leaves are brown and its branches white where the fire licked up and burned them. On the Giant Sequoias you can see where the hairy red bark has burned away and left the tree almost hollow. Apparently these trees can be so strong that a fire can burn at the base virtually hollowing it out and it will still grow. But as mentioned above their frailty is always present, when one of these trees falls it is felt through out the entire park. First the is the cracking of the roots, which there are many, then there is the crashing through the branches of the other trees and then the thud thud of a 270' tall tree hitting the forrest floor. It is intense.

Kings Canyon is our nations 3rd National Park and is right next to Giant Sequoia. Kings Canyon has a lot of the same features, but is more geared to the camping and hiking kind of group. There is only one main road and it only covers a VERY small section once it ends you need a permit to go further into the park and do low impact camping along its trails to further explore it.

Again the story of this park is of conservation. John Muir lectured and pushed for the canyon to be protected. The area was thought to be a great developmental opportunity. First hydroelectric damns were considered there, then logging, then tourism, and so forth. So many different interests laid claim to the area that is now the park that they kept each other at bay just long enough for congress to protect it. But when they did they did not include the canyon floor. It took another act of congress 20 years or so later to protect it.

So that covers our first two National Parks in California. Tomorrow we cover what many consider to be the greatest National Park Yosemite. But first our daily stats.

Still 35% Of the nation.
Distance: 265.8 miles
Moving Average: 43.1mph Very twisty turning roads in the High Sierra.
Overall Average: 31.8mph
Moving Time: 6h 10m
Stopped: 2h 10m Including lunch and dinner.
Total Time: 8h 21mIncluding parts of the parks.
Distance to go: Seems to be getting longer...hmmmm