Kings Canyon/Sequoia NP

We made our move today to Paso Robles so I have connectivity and can finish Kings Canyon/Sequoia NPs!   We so enjoyed our stay there and with all the warm weather it really was amazing but cool enough up in the mountains to enjoy the hikes.

We stayed at the Kaweah RV Park in Three Rivers and had our very own nightly visits from a bear;)  A pretty little park next to the Kaweah River, very scenic area.

there were are in the shade of a giant maple tree

Just a bit further down the hill are the Slick Rock and Horse Creek Recreation Areas where we hiked when we weren't driving up to the park.  It is so beautiful in theses parks but a very long and winding drive, we did it 3 times in the 6 days we were there.

Slick Rock Rec Area had the bonus of Native American metates, or grinding holes,
 in 2 places we came across while exploring there

Our regular in the Kaweah River right outside our motorhome

 We spent a day in Kings Canyon starting with the General Grant tree of course, the sequoia with the largest diameter at 40 feet! After checking out the General Grant Grove, we did a lovely 8 mile hike, the Hart Tree and Fallen Goliath Loop.  An amazing day!!!!!!

General Grant tree

an Incense  Pine grows out of a granite rock dome

 Our next trip up the hill we spent the day back on the Sequoia side and started at the General Sherman tree, the biggest tree in the world, and put in another 8 miles walking trails in that area.

General Sherman Tree, largest tree, by volume, in the world

just loved the sun shining through the sequoias

the limbs on this tree are massive and a little unusual 

a view, no clouds today but always a little hazy

a convenient crack in the fallen tree made a nice little tunnel on the trail

Mike is just right of lower center in this pic, I'm trying to give some idea of size here!!!!

this is Tharp's Log, note the the cabin built onto the left end of this fallen giant

Tharp was a rancher here a hundred years ago.  Looks like he might of been kinda cozy in his log cabin!

two fallen giants, one much more recent than the other, in Crescent Meadow

fall colors peek through the roots of a fallen giant

more beauty in the charred wood

there is a huge "room" inside this very healthy sequoia. burnt out but very much alive

Mike thought the folks back then might have been a little shorter

Mike in the Founders Grove

from inside another very healthy tree

by the side of the road

I am standing on Auto Log, a sequoia that fell in 1917.  When I came here as a child,
you could drive your car onto the tree for kicks

view of Moro Rock from below

Note the pictographs on Hospital Rock in the foothills area of the park

for bears in the wrong place there is special transportation

an evening at our camp looking up the Kaweah River

These nutcracker woodpeckers are very busy storing acorns in the top of an old telephone pole at our park