Day 9

Day 9

Today we got up at 4:30 for our long day of driving. It was neat to see the landscape as it changed becoming less desert looking to softer golden colors with more mountain ranges in the distance. We passed a community that had hundreds of windmills lining the barren mountains, providing them with power. I drove for the first time half way there, and Joe drove the rest. With stops, we made it to Kings Canyon Park in 8 hours.

When we arrived, we were told it would be a two hour wait for our room. So, we got some lunch then went to the visitor center. The Park Ranger gave us good ideas of how to spend our time for the next day and a half we would be there. While we were there we looked over the exhibits and when the information video started we went in and sat down to check that out. Not 2 minutes in to the video, a bat started flying around the room! Swear to God! At first, I thought it was part of the video! Sort of like when you are at Disney sitting watching a show in 3D and they spray water on you! Of course, I went running out of there! Two women beat me out and Joe followed me. I think I was yelling something! I feel like a magnet for these encounters be they Canadian Geese, alligators, sting rays, or bats!

So, at that point we went and check in. Our room is pretty neat. Actually, it is in a lodge. The lobby is a big sitting area with fire place, etc. You can get wi-fi there, read, play games, etc. We ran into a couple from Florida and talked to them about visiting Death Valley. In fact, after talking to them, we changed our plans to include an over night stay there on the 18th! Joe has never been there. I have been twice. It is just way cool, and not really out of our way. The room has no TV! We can mooch off the wi-fi in our room and be online, thank goodness! No cell phone reception either. Just like pioneer days for us!

We took a short hike/trip to see the General Grant Sequoia. Our first view of these magnificent trees. Of course, it is pretty cold here like it was in the GC. Still, a nice walk in the woods. We took lots of pics and our camera battery died. We first came upon a sequoia that was hollow at the base. Some young children came along and I cautioned them to be careful of bears if they were to go into the hollow of this tree. They took this as a challenge and went it one side and came out the other. How brave these children were!

We continued through a well marked path to see many more of these giant trees in a grove of sorts. It is hard to put into words how magnificent they are. Our pictures cannot capture how majestic they are. We tried taking panorama shots to capture these giant trees. Not sure how they came out. We saw numerous fallen giants, numerous fire damaged sequoias, and the third largest tree in the world! During our walk, we also enjoyed listening to the birds. Two robins seemed to become attached to us on this walk, following us around a bit. We saw chipmunks and other delicate birds that I cannot identify right now, but hope to later know what they were.

Joe went deep into a fallen tree from the root end. I got two good shots of that. At the end of this trail, was a sequoia that was fallen and completely hollow. There was a path that led us the entire length of this tree. The inside had been eaten by insects, and later suffered a fire that hollowed it out, which created this cool path! Imagine a tree so large you could walk inside it, standing upright!

We are a bit tired. Not much motivation for getting up early for me when the over night lows will be a cold 38 degrees! So, we hope to sleep in till maybe 6:00 PST tomorrow! We have our agenda for tomorrow planned, and are so looking forward to seeing even more giant sequoias, flowers, and birds. The bears are more active than usual this spring, and I am hoping not to add a bear encounter to my list of nature mishaps for this spring! I make sure I take my walking stick when we are out in the woods. We have met several people who can tell you a story about the bears they have seen!