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Sequoia National Park, Three Rivers, CA

Official website: Sequoia National Park

Visit Details: June 2004, Part of my cross-country roadtrip.

This is a sizable park with a lot to do and see. I did a number of hikes in different areas of the park and took a ton of photos along the way. There's no way to do justice to all you can see and do in this park and I did not include photos from all the areas I visited so I could keep this page to a reasonable length (and it's still a very long page).

Sequoia is right next door to Kings Canyon National Park and if you are planning a visit to one, you should leave time to see the other as well. I think I'd recommend starting with Sequoia and then doing Kings Canyon with whatever time you have left.

Like many of the National Parks the drive in to the featured areas of Sequoia has it's own impressive views.

And then you get to those Majestic trees and forest setting. I kind of expected Yogi Bear to show up at some point. The scale of the trunks is hard to imagine just from photos alone.

As luck would have it, I was able to see some bears in a popular park meadow. While I was there taking photos of some bears feeding, I saw in the corner of my eye a bear come out of the meadow very close to where I was standing - yikes! I kept my eye on the bear and slowly put some distance between us. As the bear lumbered up into the forest I was given the answer to the age old question, "Does a bear sh*t in the woods?" Turns out they do indeed.

In the same location there was also a mother with playful cubs. I was careful to keep my distance, but there were some idiots approaching the cubs for better shots. I had my camera ready just in case I was able to capture a moment of natural selection.

Back into the forest and more of those incredibly big and beautiful trees. Some of the biggest have names!

Mineral King is located in the southern portion of Sequoia National Park and to get there you have to drive on Highway 198 east from Visalia. I can remeber it taking hours to get up there. Portions of the drive are on dirt roads which could be closed during the winter. Always check the NPS park website for advisories!

As remote as the area is, there is actually a populated area called Silver City that I stopped in briefly along the way.

Took an awesome hike up in the Mineral King area of Sequoia. It was worth drive. While parking at the trailhead I bumped into a fellow hiker who was going on a week long backpacking excursion. I walked with him for a while until I turned back for the day. Saw some wildlife along the way.