Summer '22 Trip - Part 4

Dates: 7/15/23 - 7/17/23

Crew: Monica Mah, Yisha Ng

Locations: Sequoia National Park and National Forest

The Big Trees

Overview

"Sequoia is a genus of redwood coniferous trees in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. The only extant species of the genus is Sequoia sempervirens in the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion of Northern California and Southwestern Oregon in the United States. The two other genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae, Sequoiadendron and Metasequoia, are closely related to Sequoia. It includes the tallest trees, as well as the heaviest, in the world."

There's your overview of Sequoias. Thanks Wikipedia!

The wildfires in California the last few years have been devastating to the Sierra forests, including Sequoia. The massive fire scars we drove through were a stark reminder of this, and really sad. Vast swaths of scorched trunks with no foliage, opening up the view to see how many of them have died, which just amplifies the sense of how many there are. 

Our campsite for the duration of the stay was Lodgepole, the largest site and a hub of constant activity. On our way there we saw 95% tall lodgepole pines, but our first pass by a Sequoia was like a breath of fresh air. The bark is so vivid orange, the size is so ridiculous, you can't believe it's a real living being you're looking at. Anyways, we got to Lodgepole and I was annoyed to find our considerate neighbors had lit the smokiest campfire in the universe and filled dozens of sites with their smoke. At least it made for cool pictures with sunbeams streaming through.

After setting up camp we drove to Moro rock to do the short steep hike up and watch the sunset over the mountains. Moro rock is a huge rock perched precariously over the canyon, with handrails guarding the slick little path built by the CCC long ago. At the top, a fenced-in pen is meant to keep everyone in the nice safe confines where there's no risk of falling off, but that's more an issue if it's stormy or wet up there. Everyone else had the same idea and was packed into that space, so we saw where the true nature lovers had ducked the rail and set up shop in a talus pile, and went to join them. The haze over the valley made the sun seem huge and enveloping as it went down and became rich gold, then red.

Perched on a nice crack comfortably far back from the edge, I lay back and tried to take everything in with all my senses. In the group of friends off to our left, someone started playing folk songs on an acoustic guitar. Birds circled overhead, then as dusk set in, bats replaced them with their erratic motion. The colors of the sunset diffused over everything, making the scrub plants glow, and the crystals in the granite glittered. The warmth from the day's sun lived on in the rock, even as the air cooled. Finally, stars began appearing and we lay back to watch them poke through the blanket of early night. It was exactly the introduction to summer in the high Sierra that you can imagine and then look fondly back on forever.

Basking in the sunset at Moro rock.

From the top of the rock we could see the Milky way stretching across the sky from horizon to horizon. My widest low-aperture lens with me was only 22mm, so there was no way to capture the grandeur and I resigned myself to lay back and just appreciate it. Once we got mauled by mosquitoes bad enough to call it quits, I pulled out the camera to at least get a few pictures. As usual, I had no tripod or remote so I balanced it on my backpack on a stump and shot from the hip. A few turned out ok!

Astrophotography from the base of Moro rock. Faced down bats and monster mosquitoes for these!

Day 2: Hikes among the giants

Waking up to a beautiful day in the Lodgepole campground, we tried to get an early start out to the main visitor center area to get parking. We started near Beetle rock, a bare sloping patch of stone that looks down into the valley. It was already hot being exposed on the rock so we went to find some trees for shade. Fortunately, the biggest trees can provide the biggest shade!

Beetle rock and valley views

Stands of Sequoias began appearing on the short walk to the General Sherman tree, visitor center, and trailhead for the big trees trail/Congress trail. General Sherman is the largest tree in the world by volume - thanks to the Sequoia's cylindrical shape, barely tapering with height. Sherman towers over all, and standing at the base you can trace your eyes up and up, seemingly forever. Truly amazing. We set off on the Congress trail, seeing all the iconic named trees we could find. This included Chief Sequoyah, the Senate, the House, the President, Lincoln, Adams, Washington, Robert E Lee, and Sentinel.

Some of the trees have chambers inside of them large enough to swallow people whole (see evidence below). It was a blast walking from stand to stand and seeing what makes each sequoia unique. After making short work of the General Sherman/Congress trails, we went off-piste to a more rugged trail and found a bit more hilly terrain to tackle. We just followed trails as they came, occasionally bumping into a burn area boundary and having to turn around. It was crazy to be miles into the woods and see a firehose snaking by you, off to parts unknown. The hose length and water pressure required to make use of them is impressive.

Newly-discovered Sequoia Carnivorous, consuming its first victims.

All the iconic trees in the park have nametags on them.

The fire scars crossed these areas too, including one burnt-out acre where nothing but charred stumps and ash remained. It even felt like remnants of the fire were making themselves felt, since the sun beat down so viciously the second we left the safe shade of the forest. We ate lunch out at the remote Washington tree, having a new appreciation for the shade and mosses thriving within it.

After the hike we attempted to hike up past Tokopah falls to do some bouldering. Unfortunately after hiking a significant amount of the elevation with the unwieldy bouldering pad on my back, thunder and lightning moved into the mountain saddle directly in front of our hike. I decided trying to climb in the high exposed part of the mountain in a thunderstorm was *not* a smart idea, and we doubled back to sit out the rain. Finally, we explored the falls themselves, a cascading series that comes 1000 feet down the mountain and terminates at a cold swimming hole that the Lodgepole community was enjoying a lot on this hot day.

Tokopah falls and their popular swimming hole.

To end the day I taught Monica and Yisha how to play that most holy of midwestern games - CRIBBAGE! I love spreading the good word of this sacred ritual. The westerners shall know the pain of being skunked, and the joy of getting a twoby-doober. IYKYK.

Day 3: Fire watch fever

Seriously, it can't be emphasized enough how much Sequoias and fire are linked. I've talked on and on about the burn scars, stumps, ashes, and devastation we've witnessed so far. But that was just a taste of the larger thing. At the King's canyon visitor center, I saw a map of the KNP complex fire that had destroyed 1300-2400 giant sequoias, a significant chunk of the world's remaining population. We thought it would be fitting to hike to a fire watch hut, so after a short hike to panoramic point overlook of Kings Canyon, we continued along the park ridge trail to the park ridge fire lookout. It was a somewhat grueling 3 miles along the ridge, with shelter from the sun being pretty thin, and a lot of dusty rocky trail to cover.

Looking a bit worn down while cooking breakfast (experimental coffee pancakes!) and then cheerful after the coffee pancake hit the bloodstream.

The blue skies and cumulonimbus clouds peppering the horizon made panoramic point a real treat. We stumbled across a cairn field where Monica had to make her contribution. Then we were just in time to get a ranger talk on the geologic history of the Sierra Nevada, and the sad fate of the range's glaciers. This was extra sad for me with my newfound love of glaciers cultivated in Washington the week before.

View inside the firewatch and from the outer deck. Modern amenities!

When we finally reached the firewatch, we were invited inside by a lovely elderly couple voluntarily manning the post. They told us how they live up there for a week at a time, scanning the horizon and enjoying the immersion in nature. Aside from a midcentury stove and sink, they were roughing it up there in the little hut. They even have stools with feet made of glass to act as total insulators in case they are stuck up there during a mountain thunderstorm. It was beautiful, a little haunting and lonely, and a little inspiring to think about sitting watch in modern day just like Jack Kerouac did in his station in the North Cascades alone for an entire summer in the late '50s (yes, I just finished reading his book The Dharma Bums, can you tell?).

After we thanked them for their hospitality (including a much needed water refill) we set back off on the dusty fire road back to our car, entertaining ourselves all the way back somehow with a game about guessing fruits and vegetables. The human mind will gladly use anything as a distraction when faced with scuffling down a dry road in a 90 degree day for hours!

Lush green alpine meadows hidden in the dense forest. Magical little places.

And because it's simply impossible to get oversaturated by sequioas, we made one last stop on our way out at Grant Grove in King's Canyon. This grove is centered around (you guessed it) the General Grant tree, second largest in the world by volume only behind General Sherman. Union power! The path to Grant includes a walk through a completely hollow fallen sequoia that was once used as a camp by loggers - you can see the soot from their campfires painting the "ceiling" black still. Another history injection for the day - Gamlin cabin, built by brothers in the late 1800s to live in while ranching here. But the sequoias continue to steal the show.

The last of the big trees behind us, we continued on to the adjacent Kings Canyon National Park to do some canyon carving. See you there!