We decided since I was getting off work early on Thursday and had Friday off, that we should do something fun for our anniversary. We were trying to come up with ideas and realized that we only live 4 hours away from Sequoia and Kings National Park. We headed north right after I got off work on Thursday and were lucky enough to get a campsite even though we knew the park would be pretty packed for the holiday. We got there just in time because there were no campsites open by Friday morning.
We ended up camping further north than we had planned, but we were able to see so much more that we wouldn't have otherwise. Friday we saw the General Grant tree, the Nations Christmas tree (and second largest tree) and hiked around the North Trail Loop. We saw some beautiful, huge trees and were pleasantly surprised when we only saw a few other hikers once we left the main area where General Grant was. Then we headed down to Big Stump, which is a loop that passes by a bunch of big stumps that you can climb. We also passed some beautiful meadows. Later that day, we drove to the Lost Grove where we were able to walk right inside a giant Sequoia because the inside had been burned by fire and was hollow. All I have to say is these trees are awesome! We were loving all the huge Sequoias.
Saturday we headed south to the sites we had planned on visiting. We saw General Sherman, the world's largest tree, and hiked a 2 mile loop called the Congress Trail. Here is a picture of McKinley Tree. If you look close, you can see a little dot at the bottom of the tree by the text. That's me. These pictures just don't do these giant trees justice, but hopefully this picture gives you some perspective of how huge these trees are.
McKinley Tree
On the Congress Trail
After leaving the Congress Trail, we hiked Moro Rock. There is a very narrow, man-made steep path up the side of this huge rock. It was a little tricky maneuvering up the path with all the other people, but we made it to the top and it was amazing.
We ended up camping further north than we had planned, but we were able to see so much more that we wouldn't have otherwise. Friday we saw the General Grant tree, the Nations Christmas tree (and second largest tree) and hiked around the North Trail Loop. We saw some beautiful, huge trees and were pleasantly surprised when we only saw a few other hikers once we left the main area where General Grant was. Then we headed down to Big Stump, which is a loop that passes by a bunch of big stumps that you can climb. We also passed some beautiful meadows. Later that day, we drove to the Lost Grove where we were able to walk right inside a giant Sequoia because the inside had been burned by fire and was hollow. All I have to say is these trees are awesome! We were loving all the huge Sequoias.
Saturday we headed south to the sites we had planned on visiting. We saw General Sherman, the world's largest tree, and hiked a 2 mile loop called the Congress Trail. Here is a picture of McKinley Tree. If you look close, you can see a little dot at the bottom of the tree by the text. That's me. These pictures just don't do these giant trees justice, but hopefully this picture gives you some perspective of how huge these trees are.
McKinley Tree
On the Congress Trail
On top of Moro Rock
There was so much to see and we were sad we didn't have more time at the park. Hopefully we'll be able to make another trip this summer to visit a few other places we wanted to go. We had so many great pictures so enjoy a little slide show of our trip.
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Miss you!!
Hope all is going well.
--Barb