Wasachi Lodge is truly in the wilderness. We saw mountains, huge trees, and lots of deer. This morning, while walking to the car, we saw three different deer very near our walking path.
Today we get to see the world’s largest tree. We are excited to see the place where the Sequoias still grow and flourish.
There is no way to adequately describe the size of this tree. If it was laid down, it would almost reach from end zone to end zone on a football field. It is so wide you would not be able to see the hash marks on most of the field. And that is just talking about the trunk of the tree. The canopy of the tree would reach into the stands in most stadiums.
Standing next to these trees is to feel puny. On the larger trees, it is about 35 to 40 steps to walk around them.
Here is an example of the amount of fire damage a sequoia can take and still survive.
On the Sherman Tree Trail, many of the trees are named for a person. There are some named for parts of our government. This is the President. It is the second largest tree in the world.
This gives you an idea of the width of the tree. One example of the size of these trees is that if the trunk of the tree was a gas tank, a car getting 25 miles per gallon could drive around the world 350,000 times.
One of the trees is named after Chief Sequoia. This tree stands near the President Tree.
We decided to focus just on the named trees in this forest. There are so many huge trees we could not have possibly taken photos of all of them in a single day.
This group of trees is called the Senate. It is typical to see large groups of Sequoias like this throughout the area.
The Group of trees called the House demonstrates how thick the forest is with Sequoias. There are many varieties of trees in this area, but the Sequoias dominate the landscape.
Here is an attempt to get the McKinley tree in a single photo. Notice how clear the ground is compared with most forests. This is part of how the Sequoias dominate the landscape. Their shade is part of their claim on the forest.
It seems to get old showing this type of picture, but it was the only way we could try to show how may big trees there are here.
One last look at the McKinley Tree, but notice the number of huge trees all reaching to the sky are surrounding it.
Our second stop of the day was at Moro Rock. This picture shows both some fire damage and the mountain view from ground level.
It is only a short hike of about 400 steps to reach the top of Moro Rock. Oops, make that a 25 story climb to the top. I wonder who carried all the concrete and metal to make all those steps?
You can get a good view of the area from climbing only part way up.
But if you choose to go to the very top, the view is unbelievable.
It looks like you can see forever into the distance.
Even when you look up into the mountains.
Our final hike of the day was at Big Tree Trail. It is a relatively short hike through a group of Sequoias growing around a meadow and a marsh. It demonstrates the ideal growing environment for Sequoias. There is an adequate source of water from the marsh and the streams that feed the marsh.
Since large Sequoias are estimated to use 400 gallons of water a day, a good and continuous supply is essential.
They also require both a large annual snowfall for the water and a relatively moderate climate that can support the massive growth it takes to survive. The surrounding mountains both supply the snow and protection from harsher weather.
When you stand at the bottom of the grove and look up you can see why these trees put heavy demands on their surroundings.
The density of the Sequoia population around this trail was amazing.
It is interesting that the trees grow along the streams, but not in the marsh. Sequoias also need a solid root base in strong soil to stay standing.
It is also clear that Sequoias can adapt to their surroundings!
The Sentinel is the largest Sequoia in this area.
On our way to the hotel, we got to see many sights. One was this passage on the highway between some Sequoias
We also got a last look at the mountains of eastern California.
We left Sequoia National Park
And then we were on our way to Pinnacles National Park.