Exploring the Giant Forest Meadows in Sequoia National Park

Well, folks, if you saw the last blog entry, you'll know that "THE END" of that blog was not a pretty sight.  We have good news, however.

Right at the beginning of today's trip back up to Sequoia National Park to hike deeper into the Sequoia grove, we spotted another black bear lounging roadside.  (S)he looked so adorable, Kathy wanted to invite her(him) into the car, but David vetoed that idea.  Here's a photo of the WHOLE bear, not just the bitter end:

We decided to hike around some of the meadows of Giant Forest Sequoia Grove, which is the centerpiece of Sequoia National Park.  Having driven through the park and sampled the highlights, we had the luxury today of being able to drive right to the trailheads at Crescent Meadow.  On the way, we passed the Tunnel Tree where, again today, some intelligent driver had decided to PARK their car smack in the middle of the tunnel and leave it there until they could (1) get out of the car, (2) walk (SLOWLY) across the road, (3) pose all the other occupants of the car outside it under the tree, (4) take at least 17 shots to assure a good photograph, and (5) clamber slowly back into the car before abandoning the spot to the next vehicle.  Thank goodness the NPS provides what it calls a "Bypass" around the road through the Tunnel Tree, because we would still be there this evening, waiting for our turn JUST TO GET THROUGH to get up to our hike.

Sequoias tend to congregate around and upgradient from mountain meadows.  They need to be high enough in elevation to get moisture, but low enough to have enough soil and warmth to thrive.  This section of the Sierra Nevada is actually the only place in the world where the Giant Sequoias actually exist.

So the meadows are key.  The hike we took today toured several meadows and the sequoia trees surrounding them.  Here is a photo of Crescent Meadow, the first and largest on our route:

John Muir, the famous naturalist, called Crescent Meadows the "Gem of the Sierras," probably most notably for its beautiful colors when the wildflowers are in bloom, and its large contingent of Giant Sequoias standing in attendance.

There were so many striking sequoias along our hike that we could only photograph the most striking.  One of the giant trees along our path sported a burl that looked eerily like a Dementor from the Harry Potter movies:

Halfway up Crescent Meadow, we encountered a fallen giant.  To get an idea how large these trees are at their base, look at how this fallen tree dwarfs Kathy:

Snow decorated the trail in the shadier sections.  We saw deer, fox and bear tracks, and some (although not as many as you would think) human shoe prints.  Beyond doubt, the most unusual print was this one:

We thought that, perhaps, we had encountered evidence of the great Yeti in the High Sierras.  But we were soon disabused of that notion when a young couple hiked up past where we were eating our lunch.  The young lady was wearing some brand of skeletoes.  We compared notes about the relative comfort and lightness she felt, with the relative warmth and support our hiking boots provided us.  Needless to say, the jury is out.  But the mystery of the Yeti print was solved.

After leaving Crescent Meadow, we climbed over a shoulder to Log Meadow, so named because of the large sequoia logs that fell in toward the center of the meadow from its fringes, where the sequoias grew.  While sequoias want damp soil, they will not survive in chronically wet soil such as may be found in meadows, because their roots cannot hold their heavy weight in such soft soil.

Around the north side of Log Meadow, we came to Tharpe's Log, which was a fallen sequoia log that was occupied as a summer cabin by Hale Tharp, a miner in the California Gold Rush who is said to have been the first white man to enter the area of Sequoia National Park.

The cabin was built around the hollow log, and he actually lived inside the log.  Here's a photo of David, looking in over an NPS barrier from the front section of the "cabin" into the living area of the hollow log.  Kathy took the photo from an ingenious window Tharp cut into the log.  His dining table is at the right.  He constructed a stone fireplace to David's right in the photo:

This meadow walk featured a number of unique Giant Sequoia trees.  Here are two that bore unusual scars from some fire(s).  The huge size of the trees (and their scars) is vividly shown by the scale they bear to Kathy in this photo:

Another unusual sequoia is Chimney Tree, whose core is hollow.  Looking up from inside the tree, you can see its top:

Many sequoias bear black scars from periodic fires.  Many regrow their bark around the scars.  Others do not.  But often even the deepest scars do not kill the trees.  Here's a shot of one large tree that still towers up beyond the very large fire scar it sports at the base:

We hiked on to Circle Meadow, so called because it looks like a long, curving arc of a circle.  At the center of the arc, along one side of the meadow, is a very large sequoia known as Black Arch.  It bears this name because its fire scar burned through its trunk, leaving an arch through which the trail winds.  Here Kathy stands under the arch:

From one side, the Black Arch shows a very tall, black scar:

From inside, the Black Arch displays a nearly abstract pattern viewed skyward:

Further beyond Black Arch, but still in Circle Meadow, we encountered the Pillars of Hercules, which are two very stout sequoias that straddle the trail:

David, thinking he is Hercules, is determined to bring down the two pillars.  We are not sure he succeeded:

As we wound our way back to the road and our place of beginning, we encountered the Squatter's Cabin, alongside Huckleberry Meadow.  It as built and occupied by a fellow who wanted to settle a claim to the land on which he built the cabin and the ground comprising Huckleberry Meadow, where he hoped to graze his livestock.  However, he learned, after building the cabin, that our inimitable Hale Tharpe (he of the hollow log cabin described above), actually had acquired ownership to all of the land in this area, and the squatter eventually abandoned the cabin:

Our hike today wasn't long - almost 5 miles - but we felt we had really gotten to know Giant Forest and the big trees inhabiting it.  We encountered very few tourists, even though we were only a mile or so off the road at any given time.

Because we fell back to Standard Time last night, the sun was already falling to the horizon as we finished our hike around 4:30.  We headed home, trying to spy more bear along the road as we descended back to the San Joaquin Valley.  We actually encountered another bear, but the poor thing was so scared by all the cars passing by in both directions, that it bolted across the road and down the mountainside before we could snap a photo.

Well, one good bear photo in a day isn't a bad percentage.