We took a day trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on Sunday and it was the highlight of our Labor Day weekend. I often forget how close these natural beauties are to Fresno, and don't enjoy them enough. The air was clean and no one was using a cell phone (thanks to most of their phones not being able to get service.)
We went to Grant Grove, home of the General Grant Tree, the nation's Christmas tree, and strolled the Grant Tree Trail.
The best part of the day was hiking to the Buck Rock Lookout (pictured above), which is in the Big Meadows area in the Seqouia National Forest. It overlooks Hume Lake, Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. It's a moderately strenuous walk -- not really a hike -- to get to the lookout, which is on a granite dome at an elevation of 8,502 feet. The final ascent is via 172 steps of a flight of stairs, which are connected to the side of Buck Rock.
This is a piece of cake for serious hikers, which I am not. But you should have seen my co-pilot quickly bound up to the top of the lookout. Don't be frightened away from this breathtaking view when you look at the stairs from below. It's easy to get to the top, thanks to the stairs, and you can take your time. In fact, there are several places on the stairway that are worth stopping and taking photos of the scenery.
Buck Rock is an active fire lookout, which is staffed seven days a week during the fire season. You can see the Great Western Divide, the Hume Lake Christian Camp, and several other spectacular sites in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Buck Rock Foundation says this lookout is one of the most popular sites within the Giant Sequoia National Monument. It wasn't crowded when we went up, but coming down they were holding people back to allow some of the crowd to clear from the tiny lookout building.
The lookout on duty was very helpful, even lending us her binoculars for a better viewof what surrounded us.
The next time you can't think of anything to do, take a drive to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The entry fee is $20 a car and that's good for seven days. If you think that's expensive, consider what you'd pay to take four people to the movies.
It's out in the open....Jim Boren is a mensch. And what a sweet break in the
beehive's often sour tasting products. This family camped many times in
Kings Canyon Park, less so in Sequoia Park because of too many people.
We always found a flat spot to pitch the tent. A spot that overlooked the
flatlands down below, especially at night. In 1952, our sight had to wander
a goodly distance northwest to find a concentration of lights in the night
air free of solid and gaseous muck. One day, the lights were one solid line
without a break in it. And some day later, a blanket of gray covered
the down below; just as nasty as the one looking down onto Bakersfield
driving home to Clovis from Los Angeles.
During one of our tenting stints in Kings Canyon, about noon, two trailers
arrived and parked about three feet from the tent. They hooked themselves up to electricity, and then commenced with a spectacle worthy of buying a ticket to watch it. But it was for free. They were oblivious of us. We must have blended in with the rocks and the trees.
They set up a portable table with its matching chairs. Then came the table
cloth. The music too was thrown in for free. The two couples retreated into
their respective trailers. After a while they came out wearing different clothing.
Between the four of them they had a bucket full of ice and various bottles of liquor.Glasses appeared on the tablecloth, and the four of them set down to a formal cocktail hour. Since our daughter was with us, we decided to forego catty remarks or laugh out loud.
I don't know what I evolved from, and I don't care, but I know that I can live most
happily without the ocean, but the forest, the trees, must be part of my primordial
DNA.
Who ever said that going into the wild had to be done without class?
MOI adores going into the forest, but also likes his creature comfort, was much like the folks mentioned, and allowed folks to give grief. One must not take tree-hugging too seriously.
Jim is a right lovely chap so will ignore the jab at him..........let us see if we can find a tree for the lovely lady to sit in for a spell, it might take the sting out of her comments.
Now where did MOI leave the wine opener and the candles????? OI, must not leave out the Edith Piaf filling the campsite...........
Jim Boren, do you feel jabbed by given the ultimate praise of being a mensch?
I took it as a compliment, and was quite flattered.
My husband and I took the kids to the annual Christmas program at the "Nation's Christmas Tree". I thought my kids would be bored with all the grown up type speeches but they were told they had to "take one for the team". It surprised all of us. Even with all of the folks there, it was still pure serenity sitting there in front of that majestic tree with the snow falling. The snow seemed to suck up any noise leaving only a peace. It gave all of us a chance to sit and reflect. I'd recommend it to everyone.
Thank you Kim Tanksley.
I drafted this up in the park just before the terrible Cherry Gap fire
which we saw glow from our house in Clovis.
IN THE GIANT TREES
It's like an organ that no mortal could have built.
Pianissimo is done by zephyr; Boreas plays forte.
Listen to the other sounds of joy and life,
A glockenspiel in perfect harmony.
And above it all, an arch of blue and gold
To echo the silent longing of the spirit.
Up! And Up! And ever higher
On the hallowed wings of sursum corda.
I am silent lest my voice disturbs the sound of silence.
I am looking for HIS face but cannot find it,
But I can feel it, that HE smiles at me
And touches my heart.
Return I must to a world that is loud and brash,
But I have taken strength anew
From this moment of solitude
In this cathedral of the giant trees.
As a former NPS relief lookout I can say without hesitation that days and nights at Milk Ranch on top of Ash Mountain, and Park Ridge above Grant Grove were among the most rewarding moments of solitude I have been provided.