Backpacking In California - June 2006, Part 5

(continued from "Backpacking in California - June 2006, Part 4")

We left Yosemite and went to Giant Sequoia National Monument. The pace was much slower there. It's amazing how many people go to Yosemite, but how few go to Giant Sequoia NM, Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon NP.

Giant Sequoia National Monument is a new national monument that was established in 2000 from US Forest Service land. USFS still manages it - which I find strange that a multiple-use resource agency is in charge of protecting and preserving sequoia groves which are so precious and endangered. I think Giant Sequoia National Monument might be safer from logging & other natural resource extractions if it were managed by the National Park Service!

The lack of crowds is really nice and peaceful. We set up our tents in a very quiet campground in Kings Canyon National Park and then went to check out General Grant.

Notice in the picture the fire scar. Because the bark is so thick, fire usually doesn't harm an older sequoia. I took this picture because in the forefront, the new generation of General Grants are establishing themselves! They'll eventually be thinned out due to fire, but at least one will survive to replace General Grant when "he" is gone. Nature has a way of taking care of things!

As is the case at most of the sequoia groves, a railing has been built to keep people away from the trees. The main reason to stay away from the trees is because of their shallow roots. If everyone walked up to the base of the trees, then the soil would get compacted, which inhibits oxygen intake, and the roots would be damaged. Even though seqouias are huge, they are only being held in place by a shallow root system! So remember to stay on the designated trails.

There are some interesting things that you are allowed to touch and get near. For example, you can walk into the burned-out center of the Fallen Monarch. This tree fell long before the area was discovered. But once found, settlers used it for housing, a hotel, and a saloon! And the US Calvary housed 32 mules - inside the tree! You can walk through it and see what it must have been like to live under the shelter of the Fallen Monarch.

The Centennial Stump is a sad piece of sequoia history. The tree was chopped down in 1875 to prove to the masses in the eastern US that such large trees actually did exist in the West. The tree was cut into pieces, shipped back east to be displayed at America's Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. You can still see the stump from the General Grant trail.

Take a virtual photo tour of the General Grant trail: www.nps.gov/seki/grantwlk/gg1.htm

We finished our General Grant exploration just as it was getting dark. Back at the campsite, we relaxed in the solitude. There was plenty of downed wood to make a good fire. The low was somewhere around the upper 30s so the fire was much appreciated. I read through my Sierra field guide, while Vince read a book and Scott put the final touches on some of his sketches.

(continued on "Backpacking in California - June 2006, Part 6")