Trip to Sequoia National Park with Mom

A few weeks ago, my most faithful visitor, my mom, came to visit. Since this was her third trip to California, we decided to go on a road trip to Sequoia National Park rather than hanging about Long Beach. We thought it would be fun.

Unfortunately, we hadn't really considered that it would still be WINTER in Sequoia. When we arrived, we were a bit chagrinned to see 5-foot snow drifts everywhere. Apparently, the area had received unusually large snowfalls throughout the winter.

When we went to the Giant Forest to see the World's Largest Tree, The General Sherman, we were dissapointed to find the trail closed. Luckily, a very nice ranger told us we could still access the tree by taking a shuttle bus to another trailhead.

The problem with these trees is that, while beautiful, they just don't photograph well. Above are a few different angles on the General Sherman Tree. There was a ranger stationed nearby, and we considered asking him if the tree was larger than a whale but then decided that question would surely label us as foolish.

Okay, this is not our best picture but it is the only photo we have of us together all weekend. Yes, we were cold...

The trails were covered with ice and snow and very treacherous.


Later, we did find a little path that was open, so we meandered through the big trees.

This is a view of the very nice little museum at the Giant Forest. At one time, there were almost100 cabins in this area but they were inhibiting the tree growth so they were all torn down in early 1990s.

As you can see, the weather was very gloomy. I kept thinking it would snow but it never did during the day (we did get about an inch overnight).

I thought the lichens on these trees made the forest look enchanted.

Later, we drove back to Grant's Grove (we were staying there) and walked through this downed tree.

Back in the day, the Native Americans used downed Sequoias like this one as living quarters.

Then we saw the Nation's Christmas Tree, The General Grant. It was very beautiful but not enough to keep us in Sequoia another night. After two nights, we decided to head back to Long Beach a day early to enjoy some sunshine and warm up a bit.


So, the next day, rather than sightseeing in Sequoia, Pat and I gave my mom the CSULB tour. Here are mom and Pat in front of the Pyramid where Pat works.