4/30-5/1
General Sherman's tree was 2 miles this side of the campground we wanted to stay at and since we had plenty of daylight, we decided to stop and hike down to see that first before we went on to the campground. It was 1/2 mile down but asked that you please note it was the coming back part that might be a problem for some people. The tree was huge and you could only get so close to it as they had it roped off. It is the largest tree in the contiguous united states. Not because of the height or even the diameter of the trunk but by the volume. A lot of the other trees have been somewhat hollowed out either by fire or disease so they look bigger but they don't have that giant mass. The hike back up was a workout but our hours at the gym made it a moderate one. Once we got to the campground, the gate was unmanned and after driving in and looking around we went back and read the posted notes over on the side board stating it was a self-registration. The campground was great, all hilly and big rocks everywhere. We crossed over a bridge with some pretty quick flowing clear water, tumbling over more rocks. Every camp site had a bear-proof metal box to store any food in. Or anything else that you'd rather not get handled by a bear. Could I sleep in there please? Setting up went rather smoothly. The campground store/restaurant was closed for the day so we quickly made a couple sandwiches and ate them quickly as we could feel the cold and dark coming fast and I kept looking over my shoulder for bears. The next morning on my way to the restroom I spotted a Stellar's Jay. He was busy gathering twigs for a nest in a tree right there by the ladies room! I went back after and got my camera after and was able to get some shots. We traveled out of the park a different way, going towards 180 to travel through Fresno. Lots of pull-off points and lots of views. Halstead Meadow, a beautiful meadow just laying there in the middle of all those mountains. We pulled into the entrance to Dorst Creek Campground which was closed to snap a picture when we say some snow over that way on the ground. I jumped out and went around to snap the pic and Jeff started motioning to me. There she (he?) was over at a distance of 75 yards or so, a black bear! She had her head down, I think maybe she was eating some bugs or something as she was by a fallen tree. I stayed just long enough to get a few pics. It was neat to get that close to one in the wild. We stopped by restroom at Big Stump and then proceeded through Kings Canyon around the face of the mountain to Dunlap. You had a wall of rock on the right and no guardrail at times on the left. We had a steep drop in elevation and when we got up to 25 mph it felt like we were flying! On the other side of Dunlap there was a place to pull off the road and there was a cluster box of maybe 6 boxes and two parcel lockers! We stopped and got water (mainly for my ears) and then we were in Squaw Valley. Bam! We were flatlanders again! Passed an adopt a highway sign that said it was adopted by Bob, Jim, and Doug. And Bam! Green again. More orange groves like we had seen on the other side. Navels this time, I think. Well, there was a town named Navelincio or something like that. But the smell! Thought I was in Florida again. We passed miles and miles of crops. Like you'd see tobacco, peanuts and corn in SC, here we passed oranges, peaches, grapes, squash, cabbage, peppers. That's the ones we could identify. Passed Indianola Ave, Renee! How do you really know you're in California? Crops, 93 degrees, sunshine, and the sign outside the ladies room at a rest area that stated "Person of the opposite sex may accompany handicapped person" Now in SC....you pull that crap, handicapped or not and your butt is in big trouble! :)