Sequoia National Park, California

When the explorers of the American west first told the story of their encounter with the Giant Sequoia trees of California, their eastern seaboard audience did not believe them and dismissed their reports as fancy. This view prevailed even after a Sequoia tree was cut down and reassembled at the Chicago World Fair of 1893. The remarkable Sequoia trees grow in groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas between 5000 and 7500 feet in elevation. Though not the tallest tree in the world (that title goes to the Californian coastal redwoods), the Sequoias are the largest living things on the Earth (by wood volume), with a trunk circumference of 30-odd metres at ground level. Their roots are shallow, but have been known to spread over an acre.

A good way to gain some perspective

Fortunately the uniqueness of the Sequoias were realized early on and Sequoia National Park was created to protect a concentration of groves in 1890. This national park was expanded and merged with the General Grant Groves to create the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.

The Giant Sequoias are truly prehistoric beasts. The fossil record goes back 180 million years, we were told. Interestingly , the ancient relatives of the Sequoias were spread over the Northern Hemisphere and Sequoia fossils have been discovered in Europe and Asia. Today the giant Sequoias are restricted to grove scattered around Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, Yosemite and some California state parks.

Sequoia Grove - note fire scars on trunks

Sequoias are able to live a long time – up to 3,200 years. They have the ability to survive fire because their bark is very thick. Many of the trees we saw in Sequoia National Park bear fire scars up their trunks. The Sequoia is resistant to many plant diseases and also produces massive amounts of sap that repeals insects.

Our main aim when visiting Sequoia National Park was to view the remarkable trees, but the park does offer more. The elevation of Sequoia National Park is remarkable, rising from 1,300 feet to 14,494, from the warm foothills to the cold High Sierra. The weather conditions at the foothills is completely different to the mountain tops and accordingly the vegetation and animal life reflects this. At the top of the mountain we witnessed two days of snowfall during our two-day visit. With at least 4 feet of snow already fallen since the start of the winter season, chains were required on the car's tires at the top. The chains were not required at the bottom. Luckily Alex turned out to be a deft hand at mastering the chain system in trying conditions.

Largest living organism - the General Sherman Tree

The Giant Forest Museum is a good spot to start your exploration of the High Sierra. This informative museum provides a wealth of information on the Sequoia trees and the park. We did a hike around the General Sherman Tree and the Congress Trail, which takes in a number of remarkable individual trees and groves exist along the Congress Trail, including trees called the President, House Group, Senate Group, the McKinley Tree and Chief Sequoia. The General Sherman Tree is 84 meters tall and its trunk's circumference is 31 metres at ground level. We returned the next day to do the same trail with snow shoes. We enjoyed a lovely warm lunch inside the Wuksachi Lodge before the large windows whilst enjoying the view of snow falling on cedars.