Epic Road Trip 2017 - Day #10

Dean made a fantastic breakfast of eggs, bacon, and cheese and we set off for Grant's Village where we explored the King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks Visitor Center. We learned all about Kings Canyon and the High Sierras as well as more about the wildlife that lives in the the area. We were excited to purchase a Sequoia Parks Conservancy Membership while we were there. We got a neat daypack that is now holding all of our souvenirs from this #epicroadtrip.

Our 2nd batch of postcards also made it into the USPS system at Grant's Village. Then we went to Grants Grove to see the General Grant Tree, the 3rd largest tree in the world. The  3/4 mile loop was lovely and included lots of informational signs along the way. There was some definite incline to the trail so don't let the signs fool you!

After walking the short trail, we stopped back at the Grant Grove Restaurant. This brand new facility was lovely and the food was good though the service was a bit slow.

We decided after learning about Kings Canyon that we would try to see some of it. The road goes 32 miles from Grant Grove to Cedar Grove Visitor Center, aka the gateway to the High Sierras. It was a very windy road, but it had some fantastic vistas and overlooks. We also learned a lot about the rough fire that ravaged the area in 2015. We didn't make it to Cedar Grove, but what we saw was super awesome.

We returned to our campsite for a little rest and then set off on a "flat" 4.6 mile hike to Muir Grove.

This hike was wonderful, but it definitely was not flat and most definitely was not 4.6 miles. All told we hiked 7.13 miles from leaving our campsite to sitting back at our picnic table. We also went up and down about 530' over the course of the hike. The grove was absolutely fantastic and I would highly recommend the hike as long as you are prepared. About 2 and half miles in there was an excellent bald rock that had amazing views of the park and the Central Valley. We really enjoyed the hike, but were pretty tired by the time we returned. We went to Lodgepole and got ice cream for dinner because that's what adults do after a 7 mile hike.

When we were hiking back from the grove we heard a helicopter enter the canyon. It was very close to us and we could see it was a large rescue chopper. It flew up and down the canyon for about an hour as we made our way back to camp and then quieted. As we turned toward the campground and joined up with the Forrest Creek trail we heard it come back to life and take off from very near our location. Turns out there was a little girl who had fallen on a rock in the Forrest Creek shortly after we left on our hike. She apparently broke her hip (?).  There were several rescue vehicles and ranger trucks at a parking lot in our campground. It was all very exciting, but seemed to be calming down when we got back.


What We Learned: Today we learned a lot more about sequoia trees.  We did learn some things on our trip in 2010, but had a lot more time today to learn new things.  We learned about the life cycle of the trees, and how they are very long lived because of the decreased insect damage (increased levels of tannins in the outer layers), protection against fire (thick bark and an outer wood layer that is thick with sap that is somewhat fire retardant), and ability to heal after injury (fire, other trees falling against them, etc...).  We also learned about the perfect growing conditions needed for a sequoia.  They need an area that is open that does not block out the light for the small tree initially.  They need a moist climate in a very specific temperature climate, but the soil cannot be so wet that it will not support the gigantic tree.  There were many other things to learn, and the wikipedia link is a good place to start!

For the day we traveled 84.6 miles and saw license plates from 28 states, Sonora, and 2 Canadian provinces.