August 12: Sequoia National Park

Lodging: Tulare, CA

The giant sequoias in Sequoia National Park are magnificent! As big as a car at the base and taller than you can see. They take your breath away. I loved being around these wonderful works of art. They made the air cool, crisp, and fresh smelling and were so pretty to look at. I took highway 180 into the park and had lunch at Hume Lake. The temperature was perfect. The road south from there was littered with HUGE potholes. I didn’t see one that was hidden in the shade and my front tire stalled in the hole. It felt like it was in up to my axle. I have no idea how I got out of it without dumping the bike. I passed another pothole marked off with an orange cone and looked down and couldn’t even see a bottom to it. Then encountered several miles of dirt roads under construction on highway 198. But the reward was worth it - the twin trees and the Giant Sherman tree. The twin trees are two massive trees that survived a fire and grew right next to each other. I took a video starting with me between the two trees and going up to the sky. It’s unbelievable how huge they are! The General Sherman tree is even larger - apparently the largest tree by volume in the world. I took a panoramic shot of that one because it would be impossible otherwise to contain it in one picture. Amazing! The road south out of the park had more hairpin turns than I can count. Beautiful views of the valley. Even managed to make it to the Roadhouse 99 burger joint for homemade onion rings before they closed. All in all a perfect day. 😀