Day 1 with the Sequoias

Near our tire blow out, 14 miles from California Hot Springs

We are taking a long weekend to visit the Sequoia forests, just north of Bakersfield, California and east of the agricultural hub of California.  We were passing through some of the fields when our tire blew out over a pothole and there was no cell coverage to call AAA.  Two things happened: good samaritans headed in the opposite direction called AAA for us and Steven managed to change the tire while we waited for service (which we then cancelled).  We never got the name of the couple that made the call for us, but it was another reminder that there are really good people out there.

After buying a new tire at Les Schwab tire center in Porterville, we wound our way into the Sequoia National Forest (not to be confused with the Sequoia National Monument or Sequoia National Park to the north) and after a good hour plus of hairpin turns and several thousand feet gain in elevation, we arrived at the Trail of 100 Giants.  You can camp at the edge of this trail, but we decided to just walk the trail.  Are there really 100 giants on this trail?  Maybe.  Are there a lot of giant giant sequoias on this trail? Most definitely.

Looking up at a giant.  The reddish bark is incredibly soft and spongy. 

Here's a few things I've learned about the giant sequoias, courtesy the U.S. federal government and The Columbia Encyclopedia: they are big, old and rare.  These coniferous evergreen trees, part of the redwood family, probably originated 100 million years ago and once were widespread.  Now they are limited to the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Despite their rather shallow roots, they live thousands of year and in that time they become enormous.  We hope to see the largest tree in the world (by volume) tomorrow.  That would be the General Sherman, which the National Park Service tells me is 275 feet tall with a trunk 36.5 feet in diameter and 109 feet in circumference at the base. I agree that's a big tree.  In fact, the General Sherman contains enough wood to build 120 average sized houses. 

Can you find me a the bottom of the tree? 

The unnamed tree I am standing in front of is actually three trees that grew into each other.  We saw a lot of these conjoined twins and triplets among the trail of giants.  

Samuel straddles the trunk of a downed sequoia. 

If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear it?  If it's a giant sequoia, I think the answer has to be yes. Several giants have toppled in the trail we visited.  The monster Samuel is climbing was actually two trees joined at the base.  The trees fell right on the park service trail, so the trail will be rerouted to accommodate the tree and not vice versa. 

 

Model Citizen

Exhibit A: Loafer

Exhibit B: Model Citizen 

Before and after photos of the college sophomore. Now that Benjamin has returned from his first year of college and gotten seasonal work at Legoland, he has become a Model Citizen (at least that's what his employer-provided water bottle says).  He now works in the Imagination Zone, helping little kids play Xbox games and build minifigs in the Hero Factory.  It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. Benjamin is hoping to rise above minimum wage by applying for the Miniland ambassador position. He's got just a few short weeks to get there before he resumes his college studies.