Journeyed to/enjoying Sequoia NP

6/1/24 - We departed home about 2 hours later than we thought...good thing our "flight" departs when WE are ready! We drove toward Las Vegas (NV) and saw lots of Joshua Trees on Arizona's Joshua Tree Forest Highway. We spent the night close to/above the Colorado River in the Lake Mead Recreational Area (Willow Beach, AZ). Around dinner, Pat's Air Force buddy, Scott Bustard, arrived (from Vegas) for the evening and he was our first guest on the pull-out couch.

View of the Colorado from our 1st campsite

We were SW of Las Vegas, Lake Mead, & Boulder City

6/2/24 - After saying goodbye to Scott, we closed up camp and hit the road by 9:30. We drove by Las Vegas and the Mojave Natural Preserve in CA (pretty much desert except for the white-looking dried-up Soda Lake). We saw hikers as the highway crossed under the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (goes from Canada to Mexico) and read about Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks and their geography. After passing through the Tehachapi Mountains, we entered California's fruit country...orchards and vines everywhere!

Lots of fruit on the west side of the Tehachapi Mountains

In the last town with shopping, we stopped at Costco before arriving (via VERY curvy roads) just before sunset to Sequoia Resort & RV Park in the foothills outside of Sequoia National Park. We had a nice spot looking into the surrounding hills. Despite the warnings of no cell service, we were happy to have 1 bar!

This cow was in the middle of the curvy road on the way to our RV park

Our site (for 4 nights) on the edge of a hill

6/3/24 - Thanks to Pat's military service, we have a free lifetime National Parks pass. Pat was thanked for his service as we entered Sequoia after a 1.5 hour drive to the park. We stopped at the Visitor Center where Pat bought a National Parks Passport Book so we can get stamps as we progress through the parks this summer.

Pat starting our National Parks Passport Booklet

After a quick picture by the park's sign, we drove up 6000ft via switchbacks, while listening to an audio tour about the park. We walked around a meadow to see many massive Giant Sequoia trees.

Pictures don't do Giant Sequoias justice!!

We took a shuttle bus up to Moro Rock where we climbed 400 steps to see panoramic views of the park and the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east. On the shuttle ride back, we saw Tunnel Log (you can drive a car through a hole cut in a tree that fell) and a male and female deer.

400 stairs to reach the top of Moro Rock

From the top of Moro Rock: Viewing the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the east of Sequoia NP

Our next stop was to see General Sherman, the WORLD'S largest tree (by volume).

We also hiked 1.7 miles along the beautiful Kawaeh River to/from Tokopah Falls, which were 1200 ft high, powerful, and spectacular.

Tokopah Falls

We saw a few marmots on the way

I dipped my FOOT in the ice-cold snow-melt water

After 9 miles of hiking this day, we treated ourselves to ice cream cones before returning home for dinner and relaxing.