California Day #5- Sequoia National Park

Hello blog readers! (I appreciate all of you SO much by the way!)

Today I am heading to Sequoia National Park to see some of the biggest trees in the WORLD! One of them (General Sherman) is the largest tree in the world by volume! I cannot wait to explore. Here is the plan for today! Today’s adventure is also dependent upon weather and road conditions so hopefully I can see what I am planning on visiting!

I am only an hour away from the park which is nice! I fuelled up my car (which is super good on gas by the way!) and began the gorgeous drive back into the mountains. I’m going to warn you right now- I got car sick today. It was rough! My arms are literally sore from turning my steering wheel back and forth a million times. I can’t even imagine driving this road in the winter! On the way to Sequoia, I stopped at Lake Kaweah and the view was fantastic with the Sierras in the distance.

Once I reached the actual National Park, there was a long wait at the gate. I don’t know why but I figured this park wouldn’t be very popular…maybe because it was one of the lowest on my list for this week. Also I did the least amount of research on this park out of all of them. The views though. It’s right up in the Sierras and the roads were right around the mountains and winding every which way. It was not at all what I expected. And then all of a sudden you’re up 6000 feet in elevation and these gigantic trees are towering over you. It’s wild!

Everything is so lush and green!! And it was absolutely gorgeous outside. I’m so glad I didn’t believe the weather forecast!

The trees were so unbelievably neat. It makes you feel so tiny standing beside a huge redwood. I’ve never felt so small! I did the Big Tree Trail and went and saw General Sherman- the LARGEST tree in the WORLD by volume. It was massive. It took forever to find parking to see it but I squeezed my way into a spot and finally was able to walk the trail up to it. All of the trails right now are covered in snow and are soft so wear waterproof hiking boots if you are coming in the spring!

Honestly I was shocked with Sequoia National Park! If you can stomach the drive, I highly recommend it. Between the rapid increase in elevation and also the insane 180 degree turns in the road, I felt so gross by the time I saw everything. This is a screenshot of my GPS at one point to prove how nuts it is.

No wonder I felt sick! I missed out on a few other trails and hikes due to all the snow still in the park. There was a waterfall I really wanted to see but the road literally wasn’t there when I passed it. I drove all the way back down to the entrance to the park and stopped in Three Rivers for a hoppy beer at their brewery. It helped a bit with the nausea. I turned on a podcast and began the three hour drive to my Airbnb for the night. I didn’t pay much attention to my map that was the fastest route for me but I was shortly back up at 6000 feet elevation! My poor stomach! After today I am only driving straight roads for awhile! I found myself in the Sequoia National Forest and the views were incredible.

Tomorrow I am headed back to the desert which is a long stretch of driving so I decided to drive a bit farther tonight to break it up a bit. I found a cute Airbnb in Wofford Heights that’s right by Lake Isabella with a view of the mountains. I splurged a bit on this one- $89 CAD but I figured it was worth it for one last taste of the Sierras! It turned out to be underwhelming besides the view. I definitely paid way too much for it. The road to get to it was all washed away and I’m 99% sure my car is going to have a flat tire in the morning! Fingers crossed that does not happen.

Tomorrow I am going to Death Valley National Park! It is the lowest elevation in all of North America…crazy how I go from 7000 ft up to that low in less than 24 hours. California is nuts!!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo

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