Sequoia National Park

We packed up the cars and with more than a little sadness, we left Mariposa, gateway to Yosemite National Park.  The predicted storm had passed through overnight and we awoke to blue skies.  Our journey took us over a pass with a dusting of snow and down to the plains, bypassing Fresno.  Apparently Fresno was known for the fact that it had the highest number of gunshot deaths in the country.  We managed to escape unscathed!

From there we drove through miles of citrus orchards and the occasional dairy farm.  It was tempting to stop and pick oranges straight off the trees, but we thought that the farmer may have a gun.

Next stop was at Three Rivers, at the base the mountains and the entrance to Sequoia National Park.  The storm had left enough snow for us to require chains on the access road.  We left Craig and Annette’s car at Three Rivers and began our winding journey in to visit the giant sequoias.  We were very surprised at how far you have to travel to reach the forest, 6,400 feet on an incredibly windy road.  Unfortunately my stomach did not cope well and it wasn’t pretty!  For those of you who have travelled over the Crown Range with me, you will get the picture.  We had to fit chains, even with AWD, as there was quite a bit of snow on the road.

Even though the snow made the trip slower, the effect of it made for an absolute fairy wonderland.  The giant trees, with their red bark, surrounded by snow was spectacular.  We did a short walk to General Sherman, the largest (by mass) tree in the world and were thankful for our snow spikes attached to our shoes.

As we left, the snow started falling again but, being the eternal optimists, decided to stop on the way down and do another giant trees walk.  By the time we had parked and checked out the distances, the snow was falling steadily and starting to settle on the road.  Back into the car and off down the windy road where, by now, the snow was starting to settle.  Thankfully we made it back to Three Rivers without incident and boy was I glad to get off that road.  

We had planned to stay at Three Rivers but there wasn’t much happening, so we decided to continue south.  We ended up in Porterville, as small town of 60,000 people with agriculture as its main industry.  We are staying in a Motel 6, beside the freeway, just like you see in the movies!