August 15-Sequoia National Park Stuns

Peering up General Sherman Tree’s massive reddish-brown trunk through its huge sweeping limbs and clusters of dense blue-green foliage to the patches of blue sky above, it was breath taking to realize that this 2,200-year-old giant sequoia is the largest living tree in the world by volume. The scenery on the way to this national treasure and back was its own stunning treat.

Climbing up Sierra Drive past the town of Three Rivers, California, I wound my way through the Kaweah River Canyon past rolling oak woodlands filled with scrub brushes and rocky outcroppings. Gaining in elevation, I peered down at the striking silver blue waters of Lake Kaweah contrasting beautifully with the dry gnarled tree branches, golden brown hills, and green grass in the foreground.

Continuing upward the surroundings became woodsier. As I peeked down the ravine beside me, I could see the road below snaking back and forth through more densely covered foothills and in the distance, the sparsely covered sides of massive mountain ranges reaching out into the horizon.

Entering Sequoia National Park, the road turned to Generals Highway, a steep, narrow, switchback filled route leading through a more forested landscape chock full of ponderosa pines, incense cedars, Douglas firs, and then the distinctive reddish-brown trunks of the giant sequoias.

Stopping at the General Sherman Tree Parking area, I walked past fallen branches and twigs scattered on the ground, downed logs decomposing into the soil, and dry pine needles and pine cones beautifully arrayed on the forest floor to stand in front of all 52,500 cubic feet of the General Sherman Tree, reaching 225 feet up into the heavens and sporting a circumference of 103 feet. What an amazing day on the road!