Friday, April 26, 2013

2013-04-26

Yesterday, the 25th, I woke up not feeling like walking very far.  I think it was because we had driven the day before from a 500 foot elevation to over 7,000 feet.  Marilyn’s right ear was hurting.  So, we drove to Paul Evert’s RV in Fresno to get a new black water valve.  Ours leaks a little.  I will do the replacement next time we are at a full hook-up site.  After lunch we went to a Doc-In-the-Box to have Marilyn’s ear looked at.  After a cleaning, the doctor said there was a fluid buildup and gave her a nasal spray prescription.

Today, the 26th, Marilyn’s ear felt better (reduced fluid) so we headed up to King’s Canyon National Park.  DSC06696

Our day started with Big Trees after we entered the park, followed by a drive to the bottom of King’s Canyon where we saw Waterfalls, and the effects of glaciers.

Next stop after the Visitor’s Center is the General Grant Grove and Tree.  One has to marvel at all of the trees in the grove.  They are magnificent at the bottom as well as at the top.  DSC06632DSC06633DSC06634DSC06635

The fallen trees have been used as shelter.  DSC06636DSC06639

The General Grant Tree takes three horizontal pictures from base to top.  DSC06652DSC06653DSC06654  By using the phone’s panorama function, the whole tree can be seen from bottom to top.  IMG_20130426_115155_022 The General Grant Tree is the third largest tree in the world.  It was named after General Grant because it was US Grant National Park before it became Kings Canyon National Park.

This tree was interesting because part of its trunk was separated due to fire.  DSC06663

After lunch, we took Subway, we drove from 6800 feet to the bottom of Kings Canyon at 3100 feet to drive along the Kings River. 

Along the way we could see beautiful mountain scenery.  DSC06675DSC06677DSC06678DSC06681

The first falls we came to was Grizzly Falls.  DSC06689DSC06690DSC06691

The next falls was Roaring River Falls.  DSC06702DSC06705DSC06706

This canyon is surrounded by some of the most spectacular rocks.  DSC06698DSC06699DSC06701

We did finally find some wildlife at the bottom of the canyon.  DSC06715

We continued along the river to the end of the road.  DSC02547 

After having reached the bottom of the canyon at 3000 feet, and then driving to the end of the road at 4800 feet, we then had to retrace out route back down to 3000 feet, and then back up to 6800 feet before we could drive out of the park and down to Visalia at about 400 feet.

The day had its ups and downs as well as around many a curve, but it was a beautiful day with great weather and scenery.

Type at you later.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

2013-04-22, 23, 24

On the 22nd, we moved from the Lodi Elks Lodge south to the Visalia Elks Lodge.

On the 23rd, we walked in the area for 2 plus miles.  After lunch, we got the Jeep an oil change, and then drove to the convention center followed by the chamber of commerce to obtain brochures for our drive in to Sequoia National Park tomorrow.

Today is the 24th, and we had a wonderful day in Sequoia National Park.  We spent the whole day in the park trying to stop at all of the wonderful tourist locations.  DSC06570  Upon entering the park with my free entry Old Folks Card, we followed the Gate Ranger’s advice and stopped at the first visitors center.  He said it is always a good pit stop.  (Later on the road we saw a sign that said “Last Restroom Before the Half'-hour Road Construction Stop).  Sequoia National Park is amazing, and we had an absolutely wonderful day starting with our leaving the house at 9am, and getting back at about 6:45pm.

Early  sights were a creek, Moro Rock from the road, and snow covered mountains.  DSC06571DSC06573DSC06575

We continued on to Tunnel Log, which fell in 1937.  The CCC thought it would be a good idea to cut a tunnel for cars to drive through.  DSC06579DSC06581

Our next stop was a hike around Crescent Meadow to get out to Tharp Log, which was a log turned in to a summer cabin for use while his cows had been moved to these mountain meadows.  We saw snow on the north side of the meadow.  DSC06584  Of course the Sequoia’s and the lodge pole pines were all too tall to get in one picture.  DSC06586DSC06590DSC06591  But we did get to see a duck (our only wildlife other than insects.  DSC06588

The Tharp log cabin has been partially restored.  Of course it was very rustic even when in use.  DSC06597DSC06598DSC06599

Next stop was to see the trail to and views from Moro Rock.  Needless to say, we did not climb all the way to the top.  DSC06601DSC06607DSC06609

But, even though the stairs were intimidating for us, at  our age and health, the views were amazing, even as far as we decided to go.  DSC06605DSC06606DSC06607

We thought it interesting to see the growth on the north side of the trees.  DSC06610

Next stop was to see the General Sherman Tree.  It is not the oldest, nor the tallest, but is is the largest tree in the world by volume.  It is even still growing even though its top is dead, sort of like us old folks that keep growing around the middle.  DSC06624DSC06625DSC06630

Marilyn found this Buttress Tree stump interesting, just in the shapes of the tree roots.  DSC02542DSC02543DSC02544

Last but not least, I took panorama pictures of trees with my phone.  The last one is General Sherman.  (Note:  at the visitor center, I asked the Ranger if they were just partial to Union Generals, but he assured me that we could find General Lee in the Forest also.  IMG_20130424_151613_070IMG_20130424_152719_385IMG_20130424_152835_588

Type at you later.