Kings Canyon

We departed Three Rivers, CA this morning for a rather unpleasant trip to Kings Canyon. Never take shortcuts!! You will pay for it in spades! The long and winding road that we chose to take appeared to be shorter; however, there is a good reason why mapmakers illustrate some roads as if they were pretzels. By the time we got to the visitors center we were green around the gills.

Approaching Kings Canyon we began to take note of large Sequoias at about 4,000 ft elevation. Soon we were seeing tree trunks every bit as large as the ones we saw in Sequoia National Forest yesterday. By the time we reached the visitors center we felt like we were in the Groundhog Day movie. Every view was impressive.

In the visitors center we watched movies and viewed illustrations and scale models of the development of Kings Canyon. Earlier canyons that we visited on this trip were the result of volcanic eruptions or the shifting of earth's plates. Kings Canyon, however, was the result of glacial action. For a change we visited a 'green' canyon.

A few hundred yards drive from the visitors center is a trail leading up to General Grant's Tree. Very, very large. It is one of the five largest trees in the world. On this same trail is a sequoia trunk that fell several hundred years ago. It became hollowed out from either rot, fire or a combination of the two. Visitors can walk about a hundred feet inside the length of the trunk. It must be very spooky at night.

Further along this same trail there is the Robert E. Lee Tree. I believe this is a small concession after naming the world's largest tree after General Sherman and an almost equally large tree after General Grant. There are great stories about the early days of Sequoia and Kings Canyon that would make a great research paper for young students. See: Buffalo soldiers, military supervision of the parks during early days, the logging days, local citizens efforts to save and preserve the parks, wildlife in the parks.

Leaving the visitors center behind we began a thirty mile excursion into Kings Canyon. As I mentioned earlier this canyon is green, not like the dusty, brown and red canyons we visited in New Mexico and Arizona. The yuccas are so abundant that there is a scenic view called Yucca Flats. There are pull-offs and overlooks almost every 50-75 yards, so there is ample opportunity for picture taking. I know that we are cave men as far as technology is concerned, but we are beginning to grasp the mechanics of digital photography and the camcorder. It's a long way back to the Kodak Brownie and shooting film for movie projectors. Actually we never mastered that technology either.

We're having the time of our lives and still have almost another month on the road. Again we commend the Forest Rangers and the Forestry Service along with thousands of committed citizens for their dedicated efforts to protect our national treasures. Thank you, thank you!!

Tomorrow we head out to Yosemite and Tuolomna Meadows. Early next week to the California coast and then wine country.