My sister, our parents and I ventured out to visit the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park and see some family members at a family owned cabin close by the park. It’s about a seven hour drive and our parents where thankful that we where willing to make the trip and do the driving.
Over the years they have been to the Park and the cabin many times but my sister and I have not been. It was exciting for us to be able to enjoy the beauty of the Park at last and visit with our distant cousins that we have only seen 3 or 4 times over our life time.
Before our stop at the cabin we visited the near by Grant Grove. This area of about 90 acres has many very large sequoia trees grouped together. These trees range from 10 to 20 feet in diameter. It’s also the home of General Grant Tree which is the third largest tree in the world by volume. And at 40 feet in diameter at ground level makes it the world’s widest sequoia. But it is not the oldest. It is 1500 years younger than the oldest know sequoia at 5,000 years old. These trees can live up to 3,000 years!
Sequoia trees resist fungal rot, beetles and they are flame resistant. That was evident with a downed tree that provided a tunnel to walk through and beautiful colors on the wood. I’m not sure how long this one had been down but it has been a long time.
It was nice to have a paved path meandering through the giant sequoia’s which made it easy for all ability levels to enjoy the park. As we strolled along we noticed some beautiful vegetation along the way.
After spending an hour or so among these majestic giants we found our way to the family cabins, a placed called Azalea Glen. A creek runs in front of the cabins that provides water to a grove of beautiful wild, white azaleas.
We had a wonderful visit, reminiscing about the old times and learning of the history of the cabins which have
been in the family since the 1800’s.
Everyone pitched in for the potluck lunch and dinner with songs around the camp fire as it grew dark.
This trip brought back memories, when my sister and I were young, and the four of us would go on camping/road trips.