Southwest Journey: Day Eight – Sequoia Nationwide Park
The California leg of our southwest driving journey kicked off with a go to to Sequoia Nationwide Park. Since I’ve by no means been to the park earlier than, I used to be excited in anticipation of dealing with and photographing the forest’s iconic giants.
We awoke earlier than dawn within the jap Sierra and have been able to take the 200km drive to the western slopes of the Sierra Mountains that’s residence to the Sequoia Nationwide Park.
We had two driving choices. We may take the freeway and drive across the mountains by the desert or we may drive smaller roads by the mountains and face a number of excessive mountain passes. You may guess which choice I selected. After all, we took the rollercoaster drive as an alternative of the boring desert highway. However, since my spouse is afraid of heights, I needed to persuade her with the promise of unforgettable views.
It was a wonderful sunny morning and nothing steered hassle forward.
Through the first hour, we drove down the slim, empty roads that took us by a sequence of small valleys the place we noticed California’s well-known and picturesque farmlands.
We stopped for a fast espresso break on the shore of Lake Isabella. The climate was lovely, precisely what you’d count on in California on the finish of Might.
That every one modified after we began climbing up the primary mountain crossing and reached an altitude of 1200m. We realized that hassle was forward of us for the reason that prime of the Sierra Mountains was lined with thick, darkish, and wet clouds.
After we reached the crossing at round 2000m altitude, we have been already driving in a thick, milky substance with zero visibility. It was chilly, moist, and slippery. I stored our velocity at a most of 20km/h to make sure our security.
Associated: Capturing Horseshoe Bend (Arizona)
It was the identical sample for the remainder of the drive. When the highway dipped under 1200m, we loved heat and sunny climate with lovely mountain landscapes surrounding us. However as quickly because the highway climbed to the next altitude, we had a submarine-like expertise the place we may solely see as much as 10 meters forward of us.
The answer was apparent—if we may spend the subsequent two days at a decrease altitude, we’d get pleasure from nice climate and keep away from the chilly and rain. However guess what? The sequoias develop at altitudes between 1500m and 2500m. To see them firsthand, we had no alternative however to take care of the moist milky substance and chilly climate.
Luckily, we had a little bit of luck on our aspect.
It was the week of Memorial Weekend and I couldn’t discover a gap at any of the campgrounds throughout the Sequoia Nationwide Park. I needed to accept a campsite additional away from the park, which occurred to be at a decrease altitude. This meant that we spent our nights in hotter, dryer climate and drove up and into the mountains in the course of the day.
Associated: Large Sur Coastal Street Journey
Had I reserved a campsite within the park’s essential territory, the expertise would have been really depressing.
Despite the fact that my publicity to the Sequoia Nationwide Park was restricted as a result of poor visibility and the alternatives for pictures have been minimal, it was nonetheless an unforgettable journey. I assumed I knew what to anticipate since I’ve learn all about sequoia bushes and seen numerous pictures of them since childhood. However their dimension and grandeur exceeded all my expectations.
I’ll undoubtedly return to the park and hope to have higher luck subsequent time.
Sudden Journey
Whereas discovering the Sequoia Nationwide Park, we discovered ourselves on a distant and abandoned space the place we met two unfortunate hikers. They spent 4 days backpacking within the mountains solely to finish their journey on a foul word once they reached their automobile and couldn’t discover their keys.
Associated: Driving Cottonwood Canyon Grime Street
We supplied them a elevate to the closest telephone the place they might name for assist. After we dropped them off on the customer’s heart, we drove straight to our subsequent vacation spot—the King’s Canyon. In the course of our drive, we realized that one of many unfortunate hikers left his backpack within the backseat of our automobile. We drove all the best way again to the customer’s heart the place the unfortunate hiker was ready patiently for our return.
