Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park is, of course, known for the giant sequoia trees that can be found there.  Sequoias are the largest living trees.  They are also pretty tall (as high as the Statue of Liberty) and pretty old (more than 2000 years old – try blowing out those candles).  However, California redwoods are taller and bristlecone pines are older (4000 years +), but sequoias are largest by volume (i.e., they have the most wood). 

 

While here, we hiked a lot and did the touristy things – like driving through the tunnel in the tree.  Unfortunately, the tree that had the tunnel cut through it fell down a number of years ago, so they just cut a new tunnel through the side of the tree. 

The biggest trees are spread out across the park in groves, where they huddle together.  Here are some of them.

 

 

To provide a sense of scale, can you see the people walking in front of these trees?

 

 Or can you see me standing in front of this tree? 

 

Here is Tharp’s log, where Mr. Tharp built a cabin into a fallen tree and lived there for about 30 years. You can see the log extending from the back of the cabin.

 

The other thing that was unexpected in the park, about 7000 feet up in the mountains, was the number of flat meadows.

 

 

Bears – bears – bears!  There were bears everywhere we went.  Turns out they are all black bears, even though most of them are brown.  At first, we shot them from quite a distance, but the more we saw, the closer we got. 

 

 

Here’s a momma bear and her three baby bears.

 

 

This would have been a great shot if I hadn't have moved my camera too quickly trying to get it!!!

 

This one was the biggest, oldest, meanest bear we saw. 

 

When he started heading straight for me, I decided I had enough bear pictures.

 

Las Vegas – Valley of Fire

We left Kanab when it was 36 degrees and raining, mixed with wet snow, headed for sunny Las Vegas.  We are not Vegas kind of people but we found a cheap place to stay for a week and planned to log some significant pool time.  Unfortunately, Vegas was mostly cloudy and in the 60s-70s and very windy.  So, we ate at some good places on the strip and did some other typical Vegas stuff.

 

We also visited the Valley of Fire State Park which was about a 45 minute drive.  We hiked several trails and saw some pretty interesting rock formations.

 

 

They also had some arches – although nothing to compare to what we had seen before.

 

 

 The Valley of Fire did have the most interesting petroglyphs we have seen so far date.  This one seems to prove that the practice of ass kissing goes back to our earliest ancestors.

 

I don’t know what to make of this one, but I’m sure there’s a great story behind it.  It depicts a chili pepper, a foot, some blobs and an antelope heading for greener pastures.

 

Here are some of the others that were there.

 

 

Joshua tree National Park

Joshua tree National Park is a great place to go if you like dirt and rocks.  Compared to the other parks, it was not very exciting and it’s more than a five hour drive from any other place you might want to be.  The town outside the park is Twentynine Palms CA, which hosts a Marine base and little else.  When we Googled the ten best restaurants in Twentynine Palms, there were only eight responses – and they included Denny’s and Pizza Hut!

The Joshua tree was named by the early Mormons who settled in the area.  Only God and Joseph Smith know why, but they did.  They are interesting trees though.

 

 

They also have an unusual bark that can look like needles or regular bark.  Here is one that had both.

 

The Park maps that point out the interesting sites had such great names as “Jumbo Rocks” and “Skull Rock.”  The Jumbo rocks reminded me of the rock monster that Tim Allen had to fight in Galaxy Quest. 

Looks like an alien skull to me!

 

The other “interesting” place we visited was the Cholla Cactus garden – the term garden being used loosely.

 

We took several hikes through the park to abandoned gold mines and processing sites and saw some old vehicles that they left behind.

 

We also saw some cactus that were just starting to bloom – would have been a great shot in about a week when all the buds were in bloom.

 

All in all, Joshua Tree and surrounding area was pretty barren.