Sequoia National Park

We had originally wanted to visit Sequoia National Park during our return trip from my leave, but ran out of time. So, it warranted another trip!

2017.09.24

We had a leisurely drive through King's Canyon, as directed by Waze (in order to avoid the construction near the southern entrance to Sequoia). There were many granite spires and faces all around, easily multiple lifetimes worth of climbing, but a lot of it looked very difficult to access.

It took me this long to realize that I didn't need to car camp in a backpacking tent.

2017.09.25

The plan for today was Alta Peak, rising up to 11204 feet.

Deer were quite common all over the park.

The first part of the trail goes through a gently sloping forest, never getting too steep or rough. As we started to get close to treeline, the altitude started affected both of us. We had obviously lost all acclimatization gained from being back in Canmore a month earlier.

Final push to the summit.

Above treeline, snow was plentiful enough that it hid the trail, but not so much that it made the terrain treacherous.

The summit itself was a bit exposed and icy, so we were happy to take a photo here.

The summit was quite peaceful, but we both had headaches from the altitude, so went back down a bit before taking our lunch break.

Geological survey marker near the summit.

The views on the way down were fabulous. There is something about snow covered peaks that always inspires me.

Heading back down, with the eastern Sierras off in the distance.

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2017.09.26

This was an easier day, doing the touristy thing and visiting the sequoias along the Congress Trail.

Leaning Tree (for obvious reasons).

We did branch off at one point, getting off the paved trail to head towards Circle Meadow, which had almost no people, in contrast to the Congress Trail which was very busy.

Chief Sequoyah

After a while, you become numb to the fact that these trees are ridiculously massive, and it is curious that they tend to have very shallow root systems, which explains the fact that they usually die from being knocked over (e.g. by the wind), as opposed to things like fires.

Washington?

General Sherman

I would like to spend some more time in Sequoia National Park, as it is more than just big trees. The terrain is really interesting, there are granite spires all over the place, and the elevation makes for my kind of weather.

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