137 Miles
We began our day driving through portions of the Sequoia
National Park. We drove for over an hour
straight uphill through extremely tight switchbacks. Much of the time the speed limit was 10 mph with
a maximum of 25 mph. Chuck no sooner
drove out of one turn when he began turning the wheel for the next.
When we finally reached the Giant Forest, the trees were
just amazing. We saw the oldest tree in
the world, General Sherman, which is 103 feet in circumference. You can see from the picture below the
magnitude of the sequoia’s size.
Another highlight of the park is the Tunnel Tree. It fell in 1937 and is large enough to drive
a car through.
We were surprised to discover that controlled burning is an
important part of the forest’s future.
The sequoias rely on the ash that results from the burn to help
germinate their seeds. Many of the sequoias
are scorched at their base as a result, but this is of little concern because
the bark is primarily fire repellent.
The drive from Three Rivers to Oakhurst was through miles
and miles of groves of oranges, lemons, and pecans. The success of the groves is from irrigation
systems, which line the rows of trees.
Being so arid here, it is hard to believe there is enough water to
support them, even below ground. As we
got closer to Oakhurst, much of the land turned into ranches and rolling hills.
What would a day be without an ice cream cone?
Tomorrow, we are off to discover Yosemite National
Park. We plan to take a tour for the day
to maximize our time in the park. Alysa
will be flying out in the evening for her friend’s wedding in Charleston, South
Carolina.
I will do my best to maintain the blog postings!
J
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