25th September 2022

Another long drive today. We headed to Three Rivers where we had booked a motel so we could explore Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park, which was next door. When I say next door it was at least a 2 hour drive depending on how often you stopped to admire the view!

The road up to the top of Sequoia was extremely windy (as in winding, not blowing!) and demanded a lot of concentration. Thankfully there were lots of lay-bys so I could stop and admire the views.

We were very lucky, because as I slowly drove around one of the many hairpin bends………a small bear cub wandered out in front of us and crossed the road. Sadly it was too quick for us to take a photo and I’m sure mother bear wasn’t too far away either!

This was part of the old road and you can still see the marks on the top where motorhomes and lorries must have got stuck!

A giant sequoia……….man these trees are big!

So are the fir cones, you wouldn’t want one of these falling on your head!

I’m not sure if the fashion of wearing one sock up and one down has hit the UK yet but it’s all the rage in the US!

Visitors to Sequoia and Kings Canyon can drive through Sequoia Park’s fallen “Tunnel Log” located along the Crescent Meadow Road in Giant Forest.

The fallen Tunnel Log of Sequoia National Park came into being after an unnamed giant sequoia fell across the Crescent Meadow Road in late 1937 as a result of “natural causes.” The following summer, a tunnel was cut through the fallen log as a visitor attraction. When it fell, the tree stood 275 feet high (83.8 meters) and was 21 feet in diameter at the base (6.4 meters). The tree’s age when it fell has not been determined, but probably exceeded 2,000 years.

After driving through the tunnel log we made our way to the General Sherman tree which is the world’s largest tree by volume. The world’s tallest tree is also in California, in the Redwood National Park, but its exact location is a closely-guarded secret to try and protect it! The name of this tree is Hyperion which was the name of the concert pianist who was there to entertain us later on during the cruise!

And so the sun sets on another great day, great views again, but very tricky to drive down the mountain in the dark!