(September 14 – written by Dave)

Kings Canyon is massive and so are its trees.  We have a grove of ancient sequoia trees right near our campsite – they were the highlight of the day.  The biggest of them was the General Grant tree.  The Grant tree was named in 1867 after Ulysses S. Grant (civil war general and president of the US).  It was declared the “Nation’s Christmas Tree” by President Coolidge in 1927.

It was thought to be the world’s largest tree in the 1920s – that was until the discovery of another bigger sequoia tree further south in the park and a bigger spruce tree in Washington state.  This made Grant third biggest.  In 2005 the spruce tree lost half of its’ top due to a wind storm, moving Grant back into second spot on the list.  Who gets the job of measuring big trees anyway???

Based on my amateur calculations, there is enough wood in Grant to build about 40, 3 bedroom houses.  So, second or third place, it is a really big tree.  Below are a few photos from the grove – it is really hard to capture just how bit these trees are.

Plans going forward are up in the air.  We are not sure about a stay in Sequoia NP (the park next door, connected to this park) as there is limited camping this time of year.  We may have to shoot down the mountain to Three Rivers.  Three Rivers is the last stop we have planned – so we need a fast internet to do more planning further south.  And we need a laundry.  And a grocery store.  The route we are following is a bit remote – great for traffic and scenery but not great for infrastructure.

It’s cool here today – high of only 65 or so, and tomorrow is supposed to be about the same.  That should help the remaining 10 miles or so of climbing we have when we leave the park tomorrow morning – before the 40 miles or so of downhill to Three Rivers!

I’ll stop there because we spotted two touring cyclists headed for camp.  We’ll see if we can’t find them and make up some more stories.

That is not Grant’s Tree – but still a big one

5 Sequoias hanging out – for thousands of years

General Grant Tree – too big to capture in one picture!

Old cabin that served as the lodging for first park ranger for 7 years.