Ashley and Karen woke early to go for a morning water aerobics class. I saw them off (giving me one last chance to see Jim) and then started packing up.

It’s always sad to leave family behind, but it’s so exciting to head off and visit new places. And it’s so nice to be back in our home. Fortunately, the trip over to Sequoia National Park wasn’t a long one and the camp ground was pretty empty when we arrived. Took a couple of tries to find a campsite level enough for us to stay in. After a late lunch we unloaded the motorcycle and stopped at the visitors center. Then on into the Sierras!

Pictures just don’t do the Sequoia’s justice! We walked around the largest tree in the world, by volume, the General Sherman. You could make yourself dizzy looking up at the top of it.

General Sherman’s footprint

Just an average Sequoia

On the way back down the mountain to the campground we stopped at a nature trail we spotted on the way up. We walked through a tree. The path went right through the trunk of a fallen giant and a tunnel was cut through it. I could walk through without ducking and there were still a few feet of wood above me. We continued on the trail and found another fallen giant, fire blackened roots sticking up from the ground. How amazing! We had the trail to ourselves and wandered among the giant, ancient forest in awe of our surroundings and feet muffled by the needles littering the ground.

Walking through a tree

at the roots of a giant

The clouds caught up with us in the form of mist and it was time to head down to beat the rain.