Where to even begin? The last few days have been so packed with experiences I can’t keep my head on straight. I reckon I’ll do things the Julie Andrews way and start from the very beginning.#
After we arrived in Fresno, we met with our friends and got our car. For dinner we had In-N-Out, which for most of us was our first time. The way they chop those gigantic potatoes is comical and hilarious. After dinner we made our way to the grocery then the AirBnb and crashed.#
The next morning we all got up extra early for our long drive to Yosemite National Park. We got to see most of the big hitters, El Capitan, the Half Dome, a grove of giant sequoias, meadows and waterfalls. We got so wet at the falls, everyone was grinning like a dead pig and had the giggles. At the Yosemite Post Office, why yes, there is a post office in the park, I got my notebook stamped with the special note they have for mail coming out of the park. The drive back was more outrageous than the drive in, because at least when you’re driving in, you get to see some sights. At night it’s pitch black in them hills.#
Yesterday we made our way to Sequoia National Park, that much I know. Today and yesterday are kinda running together for me because were getting started at the crack of dawn and crashing at 11PM. We went through the foothills of the park and saw Tunnel Rock and Hospital Rock then made our way up to higher altitude where we climbed to the top of the mountain and saw some really neat sequoias. We hiked back down so we could then visit the worlds largest tree, General Sherman. A monument to say the least, however we were all quite tired at that point and had some more places in mind. We ended the day by watching the sunset from the side of the mountain where we met some deer.#
Today we fortunately didn’t have to wait on a road closure to clear up for us to get into the main area of Sequoia National Park. But… we did have eminent road closures due to a winter advisory and possible snow. We took the main road that traverses through Sequoia and into formerly known as Grant Park. This area, now part of Kings Canyon, has another one of the largest trees in the world, the second, to be more specific. The General Grant tree is a lot more impressive in my opinion than the Sherman tree. A guide explained that Grant grows at a much more rapid pace than Sherman, so if all goes well, it’ll be the largest in some hundred years. We made a stop on the way out of Kings Canyon, but hustled out to be sure the road didn’t close on us, lest we wanted to drive out around our elbow to get to our ass. Our last stop was Tokopah Falls. The hike followed Marble Fork of Kaweah River, and it is just stunning. The trail is likely one of my personal favorites. As we approached the falls, it slowly began to snow on us. The closer we got, the more it snowed. We made it right up to a great view of the falls, when we decided to turn around. It kept snowing. It kept snowing more. Joshua and our friends were getting a little nervous, I was still awestruck beyond worries. The snow was beautiful, the trees were beautiful, the rapids, the flurries, the wet soggy soil, the fog, the clouds, the wall of rock scaling your whole view. All so beautiful. We made it back safe and sound, no tire chains needed, and no snow on the roads.#
The land here has an energy that is hard to describe with words. It’s serene and spiritual, monumental and cleansing, pure and sacred. There’s a feeling about the air that feels like a spirit of some kind, maybe the mountain, maybe the river, or the trees. It’s hard to wrap your head around a place that took millions of years to develop, and organisms that took hundreds, or even thousands of years to grow to where they are now. When I blink, I see flashes of the seminal landscape that we were so fortunate to see this week. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude in this moment but also inspired to make and inspired to do. I’m eager to see what come of this experience.#