July 13th – Monterey to Kings Canyon National Park
Because we stayed up late the night before to update the blog, we had a late start this morning out of Monterey. We had a fairly uneventful drive to Fresno; the only thing of note was that the air temperature kept increasing until it was over 100F. We managed to get confused by the triangle of highways intersecting around the city of Fresno, and had to drive in the hottest part of the day in this smoggy, muggy valley for way longer than necessary. On the upside, we got to see some Sunkist orange groves, which were very pretty!
Kings Canyon National Park actually has two sections: the east and west parts are separated by National Forest, and abuts Sequoia National Park. We had a brief stop at a picnic area just inside the east gate (known as “Big Stump Entrance”) of Kings Canyon, and headed through to Giant Sequoia National Monument where we were able to camp for free. Even though the elevation was over 7000ft (which in Jasper would be frigid and above the treeline), it was still quite warm in the early evening. It also seemed to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Ick!
The exposed granite landscape here is fantastic! Toby mentioned it felt like camping on the moon! I had actually experienced the hills of granite just outside of Atlanta, Georgia several years ago. Anyway, it was really neat to climb the hill across the road from our campsite and get a close-up view of sequoia trees.
Sequoias are the largest tree by volume, and these two National Parks and the surrounding National Forests were incorporated to preserve stands of large sequoias. They have lovely red bark which seem to grow in vertical stripes. The needles are similar to cedar, and the cones are only about egg-sized. These trees have very thick bark and their their living parts in the outer few inches of wood; the inner core is composed of by-products, one of which is tannins. These tannins prevent decay by insects and fungi, so sequoia logs seem to last forever. Indeed, park staff have compared photos of some famous fallen logs in the park from over 100 years ago and could not observe any change due to decay! The cores also seem to burn easily, and many giant sequoias bear the scars from forest fires, and many logs are actually completely hollow!
Kings Canyon National Park actually has two sections: the east and west parts are separated by National Forest, and abuts Sequoia National Park. We had a brief stop at a picnic area just inside the east gate (known as “Big Stump Entrance”) of Kings Canyon, and headed through to Giant Sequoia National Monument where we were able to camp for free. Even though the elevation was over 7000ft (which in Jasper would be frigid and above the treeline), it was still quite warm in the early evening. It also seemed to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Ick!
The exposed granite landscape here is fantastic! Toby mentioned it felt like camping on the moon! I had actually experienced the hills of granite just outside of Atlanta, Georgia several years ago. Anyway, it was really neat to climb the hill across the road from our campsite and get a close-up view of sequoia trees.
Sequoias are the largest tree by volume, and these two National Parks and the surrounding National Forests were incorporated to preserve stands of large sequoias. They have lovely red bark which seem to grow in vertical stripes. The needles are similar to cedar, and the cones are only about egg-sized. These trees have very thick bark and their their living parts in the outer few inches of wood; the inner core is composed of by-products, one of which is tannins. These tannins prevent decay by insects and fungi, so sequoia logs seem to last forever. Indeed, park staff have compared photos of some famous fallen logs in the park from over 100 years ago and could not observe any change due to decay! The cores also seem to burn easily, and many giant sequoias bear the scars from forest fires, and many logs are actually completely hollow!
posted by blumaroo at 9:43 PM
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