Misspent dotage: Big Sequoias (18

As mentioned in the last post, our first night in California was with Boondockers Welcome hosts. Their assistance extended to directing us to a vendor of LPG (liquified petroleum gas), which we used for cooking and heating. The labelling on the vehicle says “LPG”, but throughout North America it is generally called “propane”. In Canada it is sold by most gas stations, but in the United States they rarely do the same. On this occasion it was a hardware store that had a large propane tank in the yard. The store also had a U-Haul franchise and we had to wait a long time while a couple went through the intricacies of renting a small truck.

Never mind, we were not in a tearing hurry. We aimed to spend the night near the Sequoia National Park and see the big trees the following morning. We scorned Google Maps' quickest route and followed highways 178, 155 and 65 instead.

Some of the mountains were washed with the colour of desert daisies.

A closer view.

A single plant.

The Yuccas looked green from a distance, but they were in full bloom, displaying their cream-coloured flower clusters.

The first section of our route skirting the Sierra Nevada was very hilly, and Gregory's steering wheel began to judder on the downhill stretches. The brakes still slowed us down as effectively as usual, but it was a bit uncomfortable.

There were no shakes as we drove along the flat land through Porterville and Exeter, where we turned right onto highway 198. The countryside was mostly orchards and, although it was not really harvest season there were occasional roadside stalls offering fresh produce. Annoyingly, they seldom gave advance notice of their presence and generally had insufficient space for us to pull off the road. We bought no local delicacies that day.

The last settlement before Sequoia National Park is Three Rivers, where we squashed into a nearly full campground. No cooking for Eve that evening, though. We dined out. Well, it was our 7^thwedding anniversary and we were celebrating.

The next morning we presented our pass to the ranger at the park entrance. She had important news for us. We could access a little of the park, but the road to the biggest trees was not advised for vehicles over 22 feet. As the ranger described the road, we quickly became convinced that we didn't want to drive it even if Gregory wasn't 6 feet beyond the maximum. “But you'll see big sequoias today.” She gave us directions back towards Exeter and around to a more northerly entrance to the park.

Near the Three Rivers entrance, after we had turned around.

If you know what this costume is advertising, please leave a comment. Pity the poor 'actor'. It must be fiendishly hot in that suit.

Although it was very warm at low altitudes, there was plenty of snow still on the ground as we went higher.

The most accessible of the really big trees was the General Grant Grove. There wasn't much parking for RVs, but we found sufficient space and so did the tour bus that arrived a few minutes later. There is a pleasant loop trail that takes the visitor past General Grant and several other huge trees.

You don't have to leave the parking lot to see big trees.

The General Grant tree is estimated to be 1,650 years old.

A sequoia cone.

They all started off as seedlings.

A fallen tree can lie there for hundreds of years as it gradually becomes compost for succeeding generations.

Hard by the General Grant tree itself we saw movement in the undergrowth. A few Black-tailed (or Mule) Deer were looking for food. They must be used to humans because they came close and seemed quite unconcerned. As we watched the deer the tour group advanced noisily. It was a school outing, with a particularly raucous youth marching beside the leading teacher. (There's always one, isn't there?) Eve caught the hooligan's eye, placed one finger against her lips and pointed to the deer with her other hand. The effect was magical. The entire group became silent and watched the wildlife in happy wonder. The teacher beamed.

The nearer deer was only about 10 feet away. You may have to look carefully to see the one in the background.

Further round the loop trail, with the school party nowhere to be seen, we came upon a larger herd, equally casual about our presence.

Probably one of last year's fawns with its mother. Awwww. :-)

We explored what we could of the park before it got too late.

Our campsites app drew us to a free campsite just outside the park, with excellent reviews. It was called, “Behind the Rocks”. Not being an organised, formal campground it was not signposted and was actually quite difficult to locate. Bill got out and walked in when we found the rocks, because it looked a bit tight. It wasn't spacious, but behind the rocks there were level places to park. Between them, mind you, the ground was very uneven. It was out of sight from the road and very quiet. The one RV already there had naturally grabbed the easiest site.