“In every walk with Nature
one receives far more than he seeks”
John Muir
Another day down, another
park added to the list. I did not expect much beyond seeing the giant Sequoia
trees, but was surprised to see how mountainous this park was. It did not have same knock your socks off
scenery as Zion, but I did lose my underwear so still pretty memorable (more on
that later).
We arrived at Sequoia Friday night as the sun
was setting. This added a challenge to
our drive in the park, because our campsite was in the center of the park at an
elevation of 6000 ft. This meant going
up winding narrow roads that had 180 degree turns with nothing more than a 1
foot tall stone wall to “prevent” us from plummeting down the mountain. When we reached the higher elevation we got a
few glimpses of the mighty sequoias, as the headlights illuminated the ones
along the road. These suckers are
big. After an hour and going only 20
miles into the park we arrived at the Lodgepole Campground which we nicknamed
the New York City of campgrounds. It
seemed no one ever slept and it was ridiculously crowded with sites on top of
sites. We set up camp in the dark and
cooked up some sausage and asparagus for dinner before heading to bed to the
sounds of RVs and kids.
The next morning we woke
early and headed to the visitor center.
We had some hikes in mind and asked a ranger about them. He told us they were all lame choices and
instead suggested an 11 mile round trip hike that ended at a mountain
lake. Knowing rangers rarely get this
wrong we took his advice. However, first
we had to make the obligatory stop at General Sherman, the parks most famous
resident. This tree is huge, at 275 feet
tall and a base of 103 feet in diameter.
It is currently 2200 years old.
Though not the tallest trees in the world (that would be the redwoods)
they are the most massive weighing up to 2.7 million pounds. We did the short 1 mile loop around the grove
and headed to the next trailhead.
We packed up some peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches and began the strenuous hike to the lake. The trail started at 7000 ft with a steep
2000 ft climb to the highest point of the trail. My legs fortunately are getting use to these
types of hikes so we were able to walk at a 4 mile an hour pace. The hike had a mix of nice views, mountains
meadows with colorful wild flowers, streams (which we drank from using my
Steripen and the water tasted awesome). The
first view point was at Watchtower a lookout overlooking the 11,000+ peak of Mt
Silliman and its cliff like drop of 5000 feet to the river and valley
below. There was an area of the mountain
our side that had a narrow jut out into the opening with cliffs on both
sides. Having rid myself of acrophobia,
I was determined to get out on that. That would stay for later. We continued along the hike and eventually
made it to the first of 3 lakes along the hike.
There were some loud kids there so we decided to skip that and push
towards the last lake. After 5.5 miles
of hiking we arrived to Emerald Lake.
The lake sat at 9000 ft and
we were the only ones there. We had our
sandwiches and then it was swim time.
Now we did not prepare very well and did not have bathing suits. Walking back in wet shorts would be a bad
idea and going in nude would risk getting a sunburn on a place that would make
sitting in car for 5000 more miles extremely unpleasant. So I figured, go in in my boxer briefs
(that’s your answer to boxer’s or brief’s if anyone was wondering) and then go
commando for the hike back. The water felt great, a perfect way to cool off
after a strenuous climb. When we were
ready I hung my underwear on my backpack and continued back to the Watchtower.
 |
| Taking a dip in Emerald Lake |
Still filled with energy I decided
to make a go at the area that jutted out into the valley. Shriver stayed behind with my stuff. After successfully completing my extra credit
for the hike I found an easier way down and told Shriver just to meet me about
300 feet below. When we met up he gave
me backpack back but the underwear was gone, with impending rain and our legs and feet feeling the mileage we decided not to go back.
So I finished the day without underwear and must say I may have found a
better way to hike. Exhausted from the
hike we headed north in the park to find another campsite, because I had
screwed up and did not book a second night.
Fortunately we found another one in the National Forest. We snagged the last site, secluded, giant and
right along side a mountain creek. It
was the perfect reward to a tough hike.
 |
| Running up the Watchtower commando style |
Overall, this was another
great day. We woke this morning (Day 16)
and continued our venture north. I’m posting
from a Starbucks in Frensno and again will not know when I'll have internet again. We have 110 more
miles to go until we reach Yosemite where we will stay until the 24th.
Miles Driven: 4452
Highest Elevation: 9400 feet
Number of Miles Hiked So Far: 25
Number of Marmots Seen: 3
Pairs of underwear lost on a trail:
1
Number of days without a shower: 2
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