Not really know what to expect of this national park we decided to simply drive into it and stop at whatever caught our attention. We were ware of some of the mighty sequoias growing within the boundaries of the park, but beyond that we were fairly unaware of what sites we might see. What we found was heaven. This canyon, much like Yosemite Valley, was formed by glacial movements polishing the granite valley walls. In fact, it reminded me of a much more untouched Yosemite. The visitors here were sparse, unlike the famous valley to our north.
Stopping for one picture after the next, we tired, but couldn’t hope to capture this divine place with a camera. After reaching the bottom of the canyon, we stopped for lunch at he Cedar Grove lodge, which sits alongside a quite piece of the Kings River, responsible for cutting the original canyon long before the glaciers took their artistic brushes to it. Continuing on, we were amazed at the power of the river as we drove beside raging rapids littered with giant granite boulders. The sound of the water crashing over small falls and rapids like this can’t be explained; it must be experienced. It speaks directly to the soul and renews it. Muir said that all people need to get out into the wilderness to recharge themselves. He was right.
Continuing on, we stop at a couple of magnificent waterfalls, including Grizzly Falls, which is a broken fall of a couple of hundred feet. We meet several picnickers at the base of the fall and share in raw beauty of this place.
Unlike many national parks, this one seems to be a celebration of the land. This untamed place is a favorite destination of backpackers and explorers, as it is largely untouched by the “improvements” of the modern age. Only this single road enters the park, but beyond that are hundreds of square miles of wilderness. I hope to return someday to see more of this untouched and untamed land.
As we leave the valley and return to the entrance, we stop for a couple of other noteworthy places. Before heading into Grant’s Grove, we take the jeep up a couple of rugged back roads to visit Stump Meadow and the Chicago Stump. These are painful reminders of what tragedies were affected by our recent ancestors in the quest for greed, with no thought to words preservation for their children or children’s children. These stumps are the remnants of more might sequoias ripped from the ground by the “progress” of man’s civilization. The Chicago Stump in particular tells a sad story. As explorers brought tales of the mighty trees back east, many people refused to believe that any tree so large could exist. As proof, the loggers cut down the General Noble Tree (what remains is known as the Chicago Stump), broke it into pieces, shipped it east, and reassembled it for spectators. Even after seeing the reconstructed tree with their own eyes, many onlookers still thought it was a hoax. The mighty tree had been killed for nothing, but the vanity and ignorance of mankind. It breaks my heart to see a place like this.
Stopping again at Grant’s Grove to see more of the giant sequoia, including the General Grant tree, we realize the hour is getting late and decide to head back to camp. After a visit from our friend the mule deer again, we turn in with thoughts of wild past of this land in our heads.
Explorer and naturalist John Muir worked tirelessly to preserve the wonders of the Sierra for future generations. The Sequoia are but one magnificent example of the rewards of his life’s work. Driving up highway 180 from Fresno, my wife and I began seeing a large forest fire on the slopes we believed to be part of the park, and we feared that some of the mighty Sequoia might be lost as a result. As we checked in, I asked the ranger about it and he put our minds at easy by explaining that it was a prescribed burn, one of many that are done annually by the Park Service in an effort to clean up dry brush on the forest floor and prevent truly damaging fires from threatening the forest. The Park Service has learned that forest fires, while destructive are part of the natural ecosystem and cannot be fully suppressed without terrible consequences to the ecosystem. We learn more every day about how better to live in harmony with the world around us.
Sequoia, the word itself, sounds mighty and rightly so. Some of the trees in this very forest are the largest living things on the face of the Earth, by volume. I have visited other groves of these behemoths. The Mariposa and Calaveras groves to the north are both wonderful islands of Sequoias unto themselves, but don’t even begin to compare to the sheer number of big trees in this park, including the largest tree in the world, General Sherman.
As we arrive late in the afternoon, we content ourselves to get our camp set up and relax through the evening over a warm campfire. What a peaceful night’s rest it is possible to get here in the wilds.
Waking early, but not too early, we head out for our daily adventure, which begins with a trip to the ranger station and then on to the Giant Forest Museum, which is dedicated to educating park visitors on the majesty and fragility of mighty sequoia. The museum is well worth the stop, not only for the Sentinel Tree, which guards the entrance, but to learn about the nature and environment these trees thrive in.
Moving on, we drive down the mountain to Hospital Rock, which contains a number of beautiful Native American pictographs, careful preserved by an awning of limestone. Nearby, we find another example of Miwok presence as there is a small grinding rock overlooking the creek below. While this small sub-section of the park has no obvious connection to the giant trees for which the park is named, it was still a worthwhile stop. Seeing the markers of these little settlements all over California gives one some idea of what life must have been like in the past.
Driving back up the mountain, we arrive at the General Sherman area with just enough time to catch a ranger-led lecture in front of the mighty tree. As Cass's leg has been bothering her, I let her out at the site and drive around the to the backside of the area to park the jeep. I didn’t expect it to be such a hike from the parking lot to the tree, but after a double-timed hike, I made it just in time. The ranger was knowledgeable and gave a wonderful presentation on the history of the park, the General Sherman tree, and the efforts to preserve the sequoia.
After an adventure filled day, we returned to our campsite and began preparing some dinner. Shortly after we began our meal, we were visited by a curious mule deer buck. He seemed to want to say hello to each of the campers in our area as he strolled from one site to the next, making friends all along the way. We turned in pretty early and prepared for the next day in the adjacent Kings Canyon.
Only a couple of miles down the road from Black Chasm Cavern, we arrived at our second stop on this weekend adventure. The Chaw’se Indian Grinding Rock State Park was the ancestral home of a local band of the Miwok people. Here a large slab of marbleized limestone is filled with thousands of mortar holes used by the Miwok to grind acorns from the local oak trees into a paste used in breads and other staple foods of the tribe. This particular site is the home to the largest number of mortar holes in any given location, but is far from the only site of its type.
A small museum at the park is dedicated to the preservation of the Miwok Culture and a nearby village reconstruction shows how the Miwok lived. As I understand it, the local Miwoks still use the ceremonial round house for a few of their annual events. Its good see the effort put into saving this rich history of our land.
A short path from the museum leads out to the limestone slab and then around it in its entirety. It is something to behold the holes themselves range anywhere from 2 to 10 inches deep and must have taken many generations to grind to such depths. I can’t help but visualize tribal life at this site with numerous individuals hard at work making a living from the bounty of the surrounding lands. How peaceful and spiritual it must have been.
My wife and I had decided to take a weekend camping in Central California, specifically in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. There were a couple of sites to see along the way and the underground chambers of Black Chasm Cavern were the first. The drive to Volcano, CA, which is very near the National Natural Landmark, was beautiful, but uneventful. We arrived just in time for the tour. We hurriedly paid our admission fees and headed down to the cavern entrance with the tour guide.
This cave boasts some of the most plentiful and magnificent helictite formations in the world. These crystal formations are thought to form when mineral rich water under immense pressure is forced through microscopic cracks in the surrounding water. The result are amazing crystalline shapes that seem to defy gravity.
The cave tour itself is fairly short and consists of only three chambers, but each has its own character of mysterious beauty. The final chamber, the Landmark Room, contains a wall with thousands of helictite formations and is the major reason for the site’s designation as a natural landmark.
Lassen Volcanic National Park is so close, it's difficult to not go exploring there at least once a year. Last year, Cass and I drove a few miles through the forest to Butte Lake in the Northwestern corner of the park, but didn't have much time to explore. However, an interesting feature of the park caught my interest and I promised myself to revisit it one day the following summer. Today was that day. I woke up early and got on the road around 6:00. With the top down on the jeep, the two-hour drive was rather brisk, but it was nice.
Arriving at the park, I found a place to park and headed for the Cinder Cone trailhead, just past the recently awakened Butte Lake. Mornings over a beautiful forest lake are always refreshing. Looking forward to the trail, I knew to be on the lookout for two other features of the park, the Fantastic Lava Beds and the Painted Dunes. I had read about them in literature on the park, but wasn't exactly sure what to expect to see or when to expect to see it. No problem, surprise is always the best approach and the Fantastic Lava Beds wasted no time in showing me the way. All along the Eastern side of the trail, large boulders of volcanic glass form a sea of dried lava, which according to signage was spewed forth over repeated eruptions from Cinder Cone. The lava bed itself stood approximately 30 feet taller than the ground of the surround forest and appeared as an agitated sea with rolling waves of the dark stone undulating and breaking one over the other.
This continued all the way up until the Cinder Cone volcano itself became visible in the distance. The dark gray cone rises from the barren landscape to a height of about 700 ft. above the surrounding area, with a steep and narrow path winding its way up the Western side. Making my way to the path, I remember how much fun I have in past adventure through landscapes made of volcanic ash. Today will be no different. Deciding to test my resolve, I begin making my way up great beast. With no shade to find, it gets quite hot and I have to stop a couple of times to rest. Eventually though, I reach the summit and look down into the inner cone of the volcano - magnificent.
Making my way around the cone on a worn trail, I am greeted with marvelous views of the entire Fantastic Lava Beds and the Painted Dunes on the East and Southeastern sides. In the distance I can see Butte Lake to the North and Snag Lag to the South East. And to the Southwest, the snow-covered Lassen Peak oversees all the goings-on in its namesake park. Truly a grand view from the top of Cinder Cone.
The pure beauty of the Painted Dunes catches my attention and I'm compelled to seek different angles for my camera. Not having a lot of geologic knowledge of the area, I have to assume that there were mineral deposits in the volcanic ash blasted from Cinder Cone, and as that ash covered the surrounding landscape, the gray ash was decorated by patches rich in these mineral treasures. The end result looks like an artist’s canvas, with base gray polka-dotted with bright yellows and amazing reds and oranges. Nature is the greatest artist.
Making my way around to the backside of the cone, I shuffle down a much steeper path to the base, where I have another grand view of the Painted Dunes. I begin to make my way back to the trailhead and discover the trail actually travels through the dunes on the Southern side of Cinder Cone. Awesome, I get to see and touch them close up. They don't disappoint. A couple of miles further and I'm back at the jeep, but what a terrific day trip this has been. I will definitely have to return.
