At the end of 2015, Warren and I visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park over a weekend. We always enjoy getting away from the city for a little bit to refresh ourselves. We enjoyed the views while driving through the winding roads, spotted wild animals, and hiked as many trails as we could over the snowy weekend. Although the trails were lined with snow and the temperatures ranged from low-20s to mid-30s, there was very little wind chill, making the hikes very comfortable and pleasant.
We eased our way into the hikes by stopping by the Lodgepole/Wolverton area, where the grounds were blanketed with snow. It was early in the day so we had the entire grounds to ourselves for crowd-free picture-taking!
Then we headed to Giant Forest where we hiked the Congress Trail.
I so enjoyed the snowy paths along the trails.
As the day progressed, the sun lit the trees, revealing all the beautiful colors.
These magnificent trees are so resilient. That dark area is a “scar” caused by a forest fire. And that itty bitty speck at the bottom is my husband :)
We saw The President, which as of 2012, is the 2nd biggest tree in the world and is over 3,200 years in age!
Then we trekked on…
And arrived at General Sherman, the world’s largest tree, by volume.
On our way out of Giant Forest, we stopped by the Giant Forest Museum area to hike Big Trees Trail and visit Beetle Rock.
Big Trees Trail is a loop that circles Round Meadow with many post descriptions along the way to learn more about the trees.
For example, I learned that the reason why there aren’t any trees growing in the foreground of the images above is because the ground in the meadow is too wet and does not provide optimal growing conditions.
This is a fallen tree, with it’s root system exposed.
My favorite spot of the entire trip was the view at Beetle Rock. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
As we were leaving and calling it a day, so was the sky overlooking Beetle Rock.
Make sure to come back later this week for my recap of the second day of our trip!
