Day 6...
This morning we are up and out early and headed to a Ranger program at Grant Grove a cluster of Sequoia trees. It was unbelievable... by far one of the best Ranger talks we’ve ever been to. It had history of the park, info about the Sequoia trees and it was an hour long stroll through the grove with us oohing and aahing at each tree. Love these couple of pictures... hard to believe the scale until you add a Daddy and kiddo..
I think I took a picture of every Sequoia in the park…just loved them, the size, the smell and the interesting story associated with them.
These trees are fire resistant, pest resistant, the bark is light like Styrofoam and when you tap on them they are hollow sounding but solid on the inside.
You’d think that big trees produce big cones…right?
Nope this is a picture of a sugar pinecone a tree that is also plenty in the park.
The cone of a Sequoia is this cute thing…
These are the seeds... about the size of oats. Crazy how mother nature works.
We walked through a downed Sequoia that was once a cabin that a couple of brothers turned into a hotel and saloon.
We ended up doing 1 more hike and a really good one... it was very raw, it hadn’t been cleaned up by the park service yet since the snow had just started to melt. We were the only ones on the trail and we felt like we were explorers climbing over downed trees to keep going along the trail. This hike showed the devastation that occurred when the loggers clearcutted the Sequoias in the hopes of using it for wood. The Sequoia tress actually “explode” when they are cut and hit the ground. The loggers tried and tried to cut them without the product ending up to be unuseable but it just couldn’t happen. The devastation just makes you feel sick as you walk through the “graveyard”.
We were able to walk up onto the Mark Twain tree...
And to think, these aren't even the "big Sequoias" we will see those on Day 7.
