Sequoia National Park

The next day, driving east from Fresno again, this time to the adjacent Sequoia National Park.  It's amazing how it goes from pancake flat Fresno to these first set of hills.....

....and then into the mountains themselves.

Looking down into this set of trees, you wouldn't know it, but this is the Giant's Grove of Sequoia's.  The largest concentration of giant Sequoia's in the world.

There it is!  The General Sherman tree.  The largest tree, by volume in the world.

The General Sherman Tree is actually dead at the top, but the trunk is still growing each year.

I include this photo only because I'm looking more and more like Dad every day.

The highlight of our day in Sequoia was climbing Moro Rock.  It's like a mini Half Dome.

Looking back onto the Giant's Grove, one can see the tops of all the giant Sequoia's.

Kings Canyon National Park

Kings Canyon is located south of Yosemite.  Here we are at the entrance into the canyon portion of the park.

Entering the park from the west (driving east from Fresno), you first enter what I'll call the "tree portion" of the park, it's where there are the Giant Sequoia groves. Driving east, one actually enters the Sequoia National Forest to get to the main portion of Kings Canyon, which is the area between those two ridges.

As one drives east, one gets to an overlook where you can see where the two forks of the Kings River meet.  You can see the road entering Kings Canyon there on the right.

Rounding the corner into Kings Canyon.  At first I was unimpressed because I was expecting a view as spectacular as Yosemite. But I soon was able to let go of comparison and appreciate Kings Canyon for what it is.

Looking east into Kings Canyon, with the South Fork of the Kings River leading the way.

Onions put it best..."the river looks angry"

It was more than five continuous miles of raging water.  I just tried to imagine what it would be like to raft this river....

And then the trees appeared again the the canyon opened up and we could see the high Sierra to the east.

Looking at the east "end" of Kings Canyon.

Here, at the eastern end, around "Road's End" where the road literally ends, it looks a bit like Yosemite.  I have to stop trying to make comparisons.....

Zumwalt Meadow.

Roaring River Falls

So much mist.  A great place to take a nap, which is exactly what I did right there on the rocks along the river.

Heading back out west through the canyon, we drove back through the tree portion of Kings Canyon National Park.

The General Grant Tree, the third largest tree by volume of wood in the world.  Turns out Giant Sequoias grow only in a small zone here on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada's between 5,000 to 7,000 feet.

Last stop of the day, Panoramic Point. 

Sierra Vista Scenic Byway

Memorial Day Weekend 2017!  Road trip!  First stop, In-N-Out burger (Onions new favorite, although he goes regular burger no onions).  Here's my attempt at eating healthy.  Protein style burger, no friends, a hard-boiled egg, blueberries and water.  The last three brought from home.

Having seen Yosemite last year, we decided to head back to the Sierra Nevada's and go south of Yosemite to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.  However, on the first day, we drove up into the mountains between Yosemite and Kings Canyon.  We drove up the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway starting in the town of North Fork, the geographic center of California.

The first part of the drive up into the mountains is nothing special, but you round a corner and the Sierra's are laid out all in front of you.  The first thing we see is Mammoth Lake and dam.

Mile High Vista is spectacular and as you see, we had fantastic weather.

Looking east into the Sierra Nevada, there are also lots of granite domes.  None as famous as Half Dome, but still, amazing.

Flowers EVERYWHERE.  White, red, yellow, orange....

The Sierra Vista Scenic Byway is a loop and we just kept driving up into the mountains. 

However, near the top, there was snow, so we turned around.  In addition, part of the road is unpaved.  Alas, we apparently missed out on two amazing sites along the drive.  Next time....