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CJ, Jean, Jennie, Weihaw and I hiked in Sequoia National park.
The trail starts at the crowded General Sherman tree area. After
passing the largest living thing on earth, we continued on the
paved trail which is part of the Congress Trail.
As we took the fork past the Chief Sequoyah Tree, the crowds thinned
out. We could hear the ominous sound of thousands (millions?)
of bugs buzzing in the distance. Fortunately, their sound is bigger
than their bite. The horse flies of the Ventana Wilderness are
much more vicious.
Weihaw on top of a fallen sequoia
From the Chief Sequoyah Tree, the Trail of the Sequoias is 2.5
miles through nondescript sequoia forest to Tharps Log. This is
on the northern end of Log Meadow, part of the Crescent Meadow hike. We stopped here for lunch while enjoying the view of the
meadow. Since it's only a mile away from the nearest parking area,
we had plenty of company. Families with kids gathered around the
log to investigate.
Log Meadow
After lunch we continued past the Chimney Tree, a large, hollow,
still-standing sequoia killed by fire. We passed the northern
edge of Crescent Meadow and continued on toward Huckleberry Meadow.
Here there's a log cabin called Squatters Cabin. Near the cabin
is a wonderful view of the meadow. As Jennie said, it was like
looking at a big movie theater screen. We stood in the shaded
sequoia forest while looking out onto the bright green meadow.
Huckleberry Meadow
Absent from our hike was the presence of morels. When I'd hiked
this just a month earlier their were morels to be found frequently.
But it was much warmer now, and they were nowhere to be found.
The bright red alien-looking flowers were nowhere to be found,
either -- though we'd find some shriveled-up ones later in the
hike.
The trail continues up through sequoia forest dotted with green
meadow patches. But soon the forest thins out noticeably, perhaps
due to fire. Over the ridge, however, it becomes lush with bushes.
Jennie noticed some rustling in the bushes and Weihaw spotted
two bear cubs! We soon spied the mother, as well. The cubs were
cute, small, brown bears. The mother was much black, much larger,
but still only the size of a large dog. We were on the opposite
side of a valley from them, perhaps 200 feet away. They seemed
unconcerned with us, much as deer are while foraging for dinner.
We pointed the bears out to other hikers coming up the trail.
We all watched and took photographs.
Baby Bear
Mama Bear!
Eventually they began to wander further out of sight, and we continued
down the trail. Shortly, a runner passed us from behind; I bet
he could run right by a bear and never notice him.
Crossing a fallen tree to the Washington Tree
We turned right onto the Alta Trail, and continued right at the
junction toward Crescent Meadow. Near the Washington Tree we passed
through one of the nicest sequoia groves I've seen. It's filled
with some of the largest sequoias in the forest, and no other
people in sight. It's less than 2 miles away from the General
Sherman Tree, but seems another world away. After crossing a downed
tree over a creek, we came upon the Washington Tree. Whereas the
General Sherman Tree is fenced off, we can get right up to the
Washington Tree and touch it. It boldly stands out from the other
trees, and is almost as large as the General Sherman Tree -- 250
feet tall and 30 feet in diameter. Visually, because the forest
is sparser here, it appears larger than the General Sherman Tree.
This area is definitely the highlight of this hike.
Looking up at the Sequoias
Washington Tree
Hugging the Washington Tree
We circled around the Circle Meadow, turning left toward the Senate
Group. We shortly found ourselves hiking amongst closely-packed
giants. I couldn't help but stop and look up several times. When
we reached the other side and stepped onto the paved Congress
Trail, we saw that we had just passed right through the Senate
Group sequoias.
Circle Meadow
Then it was less than a mile back to the cars, back to the crowds.
Update: The Washington tree was damaged in a fire
in the summer of 2003. Gone are 16-23 feet of height and
the characteristic branch that made it look like it was waving
at you.
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