California, Where We've Been

Sequoia National Park

by Olivia
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Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park is the home of the largest tree in the world (by volume), the General Sherman Tree. It also contains one of the world’s largest groves of the world’s largest trees. Within the park’s boundaries is an area that covers five square miles with more than 2,100 giant sequoias that are larger than 10 feet in diameter. That’s an impressive amount of redwood!

As we were driving through the park, we noticed a lot of scorched trees lining the road. While fires can be devastating to the landscape, they can also help these giants grow. After a small fire, the forest floor is cleared and is ripe for planting. The fire causes the Sequoia seeds to be released from the tree. These seeds are then able to take root in the burned forest clearing. 

If these small, occasional fires were not allowed to happen, the undergrowth would choke the forest floor and the giant sequoias would not be able to thrive.

 

 

 

 

 

The General Sherman Tree

The General Sherman Tree is the largest tree in the world. It is not the tallest or the widest, but it is the largest by volume. Each year the tree’s trunk grows wider with enough wood to equal another tree.

The trail down to the tree is about a half mile long, fully paved, downhill, and surrounded by other gigantic tree trunks. Dogs aren’t allowed on the trail, so Ben and I took turns with the dog while the other went down to see it.

It is impressive! The famed tree rises into the sky 275 feet, while its girth measures 36.5 feet in diameter. It no longer grows upward as the top of the tree is dead, but it continues growing outward.

 

 

Other Trees Around the Park

In additional to the famed General Sherman, Sequoia is home to many other famous trees, both living and fallen.

There was a fallen tree on the General Sherman Tree Trail that was fun to walk through. 

We also spotted the Sentinel tree by the museum. We arrived just as the museum was closing, so we weren’t able to tour the inside, but the Sentinel was an impressively large tree by itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the entrance of Kings Canyon, there’s a grove of sequoia stumps. One is so large that you can dance across it, known as the Mark Twain stump. There is a set of stairs attached to the stump to allow you onto its surface. The tree was cut down in 1891 and a section of it was taken back east for exhibition. It’s still on display in New York, so perhaps we will see it when we are there. Due to its size, it took the lumbermen 13 days to chop it down!

The Giant Sequoia Sapling

This is also a Giant Sequoia… sapling.

This sapling came from a seed of the Giant Sequoias currently growing in the forest. A part of me did want to buy one, but where would I put it?

If you plant this sapling in your yard, water for 2,200 years, you can also have a Giant Sequoia as large as the General Sherman that will bring people from miles around to see it!

I’m sure the HOA won’t have a problem with that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sequoia RV Park

The campground was quiet and sites were spacious. There was plenty of room for our 40′ fifth wheel. We checked a few electrical boxes before parking and found wiring issues. We chose site 53 because it looked the best and after parking and setting up, found the 50 amp was arcing. It shut down the power in our rig. We switched over to 30 amp until we could get ahold of the camp host the next day. He came out and fixed the issue without a problem and was very friendly.

On Starlink we received 3 down and 0.2 up in the evening. During the day it was 15 down and 3 up. There was a clear view of the north sky without any trees. I’m not sure why we were having problems. My only guess is with Fresno being so close that others were using it at home. We switched to Verizon with our cell antenna and it worked much better. 5 bars on Verizon and AT&T with it cell antenna. (3 bars on Verizon with cell phones).

Be aware, there is not a grocery store close to here. Sanger is probably the closest at about 30 minutes. Also, get gas in Fresno. It’s cheaper.