King's Canyon and Sequoia National Park 6/8/18

Salamander
Mon 6 Aug 2018 18:42

Another great walk, although the guide said 9.4 miles and it was actually 10.6. More fun with trees, a fallen sequoia with steps cut out made a great bridge. Another with the middle gone made a people sized tunnel. Giants everywhere, anything under 700 tonnes is just a baby.

These trees are the biggest in the world: not the tallest, or the widest, or the oldest, but the most massive.
We did both sides of the Redwood canyon with the sugar bowl loop first as recommended and then the Hart Tree loop. The trail guide we had was adequate, but because of the distance discrepancy we thought we must have gone wrong at the end. Woodpeckers, blue birds are everywhere, we even saw our first snake. We binned the rest of the tourist stuff for the day, just too many people after a wonderful walk with no-one around. Perhaps fewer people like a 2 mile dirt road to the start of the trailhead. The RV had no problem with this at all. At the end of our walk we found scientists who had climbed up to the top of a couple of sequoias to take dendrochronology core samples.

usa

Amazing small rings

usa

This tree tunnel is big enough to stand up in until the far end

usa

usa

usa

Finally to a campsite where the wildlife gets up to close and personal. We had a major inspection from 17 squirrels on arrival including inside the RV and more worryingly under the van and inside something there. Blue Jays abound and a mother mule deer with her foal licked the charcoal from a campsite fire grill.

usa

usa