The Giant Trees
On an impulse I made reservations to visit the national parks in the southern Sierra Nevada of California: Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon. My favorite, by far, was Sequoia. Yosemite is wonderful but I think you really must go into the back country to appreciate it, because the valley itself is so overcrowded, even in the offseason, as to be an obscenity. I chose to stay in Visalia, California, for proximity to the Sequoia and Kings Canyon, but at a lower price than the nearer options. The ascent into the Sierra Nevada. Sequoia National Park isn't like I thought it would be. It's basically on top of a mountain. I had the impression that the giant redwoods grew at "middle elevations," which I thought meant on gradual slopes. This is incorrect. The Sierra Nevada are high mountains and middle elevations means atop ridges and peaks, just not so high as to be barren and craggy. After entering the park through the foothills, I drove up, up, up to get to the monster tree...
