Hello Family and Friends. I'm somewhat settled in now... enough to where I've exhausted my exploration of Hanford, CA and the sirens from the distant mountain ranges were too hard to resist. So today, I got up early and drove the 50+ miles out for a day of hiking in the Grand Sequoia National Park.
The hiking consisted of a mix of mountain views, forest walks and a mountain rapids/stream with a little rock climbing mixed in. Had a brown bear encounter in the forest. Luckily, they are not giant sized like the trees here. The first pic shows the mountains and valleys. I didn't get to the snow-capped mountains (those are for a long weekend this summer).
Still working hard to get rid of my childhood fear of heights. This looks like I'm closer to the edge than I really am.
Moro Rock, a granite dome that juts out into for a great view of the western portion of the park.
Me on top of Moro. Not too hard, just about 400 stairs and a couple mile hike to it.
Now on to the trees. Below is a pair of Giant Sequoias. Not so big right?
Little, perspective helps. That's me at the base of one. There are 2,100+ of these in the forest. It is incredible.
Interesting, they grow from a seed the size of a large walnut. It only takes a couple thousand years to reach the size above.
Fun day and I hope to head back for deeper and longer ventures in a couple of weeks.
