King's Canyon and Sequoia National Park, CA

"I never saw a Big Tree that had died a natural death," John Muir wrote of the giant sequoia. "Barring accidents they seem to be immortal, being exempt from all diseases that afflict and kill other trees. Unless destroyed by man, they live on indefinitely until burned, smashed by lightning, or cast down by storms, or by the giving way of the ground on which they stand."

Giant sequoias can live for over 3,000 years, outlasting all of their mixed conifer forest neighbors. A major factor in in the longevity of giant sequoias is a chemical called tannin. The tannin, present in high concentrations in sequoia bark, gives the sequoia resistance to rot, boring insects, and fire. Though seemingly unlikely, forest fires play a key role in survival and reproduction of the Sequoias. Fires prepare the soil by burning the undergrowth and allowing sunlight to penetrate the ground. Also, sequoia cones retain their seeds for up to 20 years. When a forest fire rolls through, the hot air dries out the older cones. They open up and when the next rain comes down the seeds are planted in the newly readied soil. Native Americans in Yosemite used to set the whole valley on fire each year. When Yosemite was preserved as park, people stopped the burning. It wasn't until they realized that the burning was essential in the reproduction did they start lighting controlled fires. 

As we left Yosemite and headed south, we were alerted of a winter storm in the Sierras stretching from Yosemite down to King's Canyon. We opted to camp outside of King's Canyon because it was much lower in elevation and heavy rain falling on the camper is nothing compared to the heavy snow we would have received a few thousand feet up in elevation in the Park. We also had guests! Laney and her boyfriend, Eric, who is from Juneau, Alaska, came to spend the weekend with us. Even with crumby weather, we had a great time! They came in late on Friday night so we went into the park on Saturday. The weather wasn't too bad but the Park was socked in with fog, which was quite beautiful actually. Again, visiting the Parks in the winter is phenomenal but a lot of the access roads are closed. So we drove where we could, which was up to Hume Junction and down to Montecito Sequoia Lodge. We encountered a large herd of deer, we counted 14, and watched them all cross the road. We also enjoyed a picnic (inside the truck) of cheese and crackers, beers, chocolate chips, nuts, hummus, raspberries and an apple. 

On our way in, we had noticed a billboard advertisement for a cat park. We stopped to check it out on our way back to the campground. Cat Haven was awesome! We caught the last guided tour of the day and were able to see almost all of the animals. Lions, tigers, jaguars, cougars, lynx, a snow leopard and even a cheetah! These cats are ambassadors to their wild relatives and this non-profit organization donates a percentage of their proceeds to wild cat survival projects around the world. The rest goes to taking care of their cats. It was very cool.

There's not much else in town so we stayed in on Saturday night and played all kinds of games. Laney is, to put it mildly, a connoisseur of games. We played Bananagrams, Kodiak Kings, and Cranium. On Sunday we did pretty much the same, we went out for breakfast and stayed well through lunch, sipping on coffee and playing card games. Laney and Eric headed back to Santa Cruz in the mid afternoon. Brian and I packed up and headed out early the next morning. Once again, we would love to come back to King's Canyon and Sequoia to see the majestic trees in warm weather and do some more hiking and camping in the park. 

Next Stop: Death Valley National Park, CA