Next on the road trip was King's Canyon. Sequoia and King's Canyon are really like one big park - they are adjacent. However, based on when the parks were formed and actually brought into the NPS system, they were formed as 2 separate parks and in some ways run as one, in some as two. Either way, lots of pretty scenery protected for the public.
The majority of King's Canyon was actually closed because of the icy roads. As a result, we spent the least time here out of the three parks we visited, but we still enjoyed what we had access to. Funnily enough, this was our favorite of the 3 parks. It was the least crowded, so we could go hiking and not run into anyone and just enjoy being out in the park.
While in King's Canyon, we did indeed hit the trails. We tried cross-country skis first. I can certainly see why they are such a good workout!! Of course, we also got nowhere VERY quickly. After several falls and not much progress, we looked at each other and decided that the cross country skis could wait until we had a chance to take a class with an instructor! Went back to the visitor center and swapped them out for snowshoes and then were off! After the hikes in Sequoia, we found that we really, really liked snowshoeing. No special skills or coordination required, just strap 'em on and walk! Both Zach and I really enjoyed getting out on them, and we agreed that if we get stationed somewhere like Colorado or NY, then we'll probably invest in some pairs for ourselves :)
The majority of King's Canyon was actually closed because of the icy roads. As a result, we spent the least time here out of the three parks we visited, but we still enjoyed what we had access to. Funnily enough, this was our favorite of the 3 parks. It was the least crowded, so we could go hiking and not run into anyone and just enjoy being out in the park.
While in King's Canyon, we did indeed hit the trails. We tried cross-country skis first. I can certainly see why they are such a good workout!! Of course, we also got nowhere VERY quickly. After several falls and not much progress, we looked at each other and decided that the cross country skis could wait until we had a chance to take a class with an instructor! Went back to the visitor center and swapped them out for snowshoes and then were off! After the hikes in Sequoia, we found that we really, really liked snowshoeing. No special skills or coordination required, just strap 'em on and walk! Both Zach and I really enjoyed getting out on them, and we agreed that if we get stationed somewhere like Colorado or NY, then we'll probably invest in some pairs for ourselves :)
Being right next to Sequoia, Kings Canyon was still in the region where sequoia trees can grow. They are incredibly specific on where they can flourish. Only in the Sierras, only above a certain altitude, only on certain sides of the mountains, where they get the right amount of moisture (for example, our side of the mountains gets very little rain, hence the desert)... all in all there are several key factors which limit the sequoia growth. It was one of my favorite exhibits in the visitor centers, showing how the overall range is narrowed down by these factors to show where the groves are actually found. All those ecology classes coming out :)
I'm dwarfed by these trees in these pictures (really, I'm in there for scale!) One of the signs on the trail we hiked talked about a section of a sequoia that was sent back east to an exhibition in Philadelphia in the 1870s. They couldn't ship the whole cross-section, so shipped the bark, which was reassembled at the exhibition hall. The folk in Philadelphia didn't believe it was really from one tree and called it the CA Hoax. The kicker is that the cross-section they sent was 24 feet across - there are much bigger trees, like the General Grant which is 40 feet across! (The tree I'm next to in these pictures isn't the General Grant, but just another Big Tree on the trail - they do come bigger!)
The road into Kings Canyon was long, but SO much easier to drive than the one into Sequoia. MUCH fewer twists and turns. Still had some great views though!
This last picture is just a funny one. To get from the hotel that we were staying at to the Kings Canyon entrance, we had to drive through a good bit of agricultural property. In one of the fields, there was this chimney. Looks like the remains of a farmhouse from some point in time. As we were there the week after Christmas, the decorations were still up. It is a chimney, it must need a stocking :)
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