March 15, and 16, 2011--King Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

Tuesday was a very busy day. We left home at about 10 am and arrived  back home at 8 pm. Bart has been very accustomed to long days of not going out to do his thing. He has done very well but today (Wednesday) we have been home all day to give him some special time with us.  It has been a day of rest and preparation for travel which we will do tomorrow.

Our trip to the mountains and the BIG TREES was very nice. The trees size are mind boggling. I wonder if our ancestors thought the same of the large trees in our area when they settled on the land. I am sure they were not as large as these trees but I am sure they were large enough for them. We have seen pictures of trees which had the base of the tree diameter which was taller than a normal size man.

View of some of the orchards as we drive up into the mountains.

View of the foothills.

View from Kings Canyon National Park

First picture of King trees.

Our first glimpse of real deep snow

A clump of large trees

Tennessee tree--To Survive after severe fire damage is one of the remarkable characteristics of the sequoia.
The living tissue or camblum layer of a tree lies just under its bark. So long as some of this thin, living tissue connects the leaves above with the roots below, the tree will continue to live. If undisturbed by people, or more fire, this living layer will eventually heal the fire scars so evident here.

The General Grant Tree---
     46,608 cubic feet
     1700 years old
     107 feet in circumference
     40 feet in diameter
     4.5 feet is the largest branch in diameter
     129 feet--first branch
     268 feet high
     1254 tons---weight

Other trees in the area

The California Tree

Beauty of the snow covered mountain tops













Walt throwing a snowball in short sleeves





Up above the clouds.

The high snow we saw-----today they had more snow in the mountains. The farmers love the snow in the mountains because it means more melt off and water for the crops.

The General Sherman Tree
The Largest Tree on Earth

275 feet tall
52,500 cubic feet
36.5 feet in diameter
1385 tons--weight
103 feet circumference
2,200 years old
13.7 feet diameter at 180 feet off ground
6.8 feet diameter largest branch

One of the large trees in the growing mist at the top of the mountain.

We drove between these two trees. Note the size of the tree trunks compared to the road we could drive on only one way.

We started to hit some very serious fog and suddenly we saw a car parked on the road in front of us.
There had been a sign about road work and that there may be some delays for 1 to 2 hours. It was about 5 pm and we were hoping the delay would not be to long.
Well, it ended up to be 20 minutes and we followed a large amount of cars down the mountain. The road was made up of many hitch backs and it was very slow going. We finally made it to the bottom without any trouble.

The river which flows from the mountains when the snow melts.

















Tomorrow we travel so look for us in a new town.  Goodnight.