Since Dave did all the driving yesterday, I treated him by driving into the national park today and where ever else the day took us. Our plan was to go to the visitor's center, see the orientation movie, then find out about the different hiking trails and sites to see. We are lucky we have booked our campground for more than a week, taking advantage of seeing both parks while here.
As a side note: yesterday the owner of the campground asked if we were going to run up to Yosemite National Park while here, he said many people use this campground as a base for all 3. I said no, were going to move up to there when we leave. He warned us that good-luck finding a campground. I spent 2 hours this morning trying to find something and finally got booked into a place about 20 miles from the south entrance to Yosemite. At least we have something!! Yay!!
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| At the Giant Forest Museum |
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| Amazing the comparisons |
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| The Sentinel Tree |
Drove the General Highway we climbed until we came to the Foothills Visitors Center, moving up about 1100 feet in elevation from the campground. We got disappointed that there was no movie - after May 6th the Lodgepole Visitors Center opens and only at that place that show the movie. We were encouraged to drive up into the park and visit the Giant Forest Museum to learn about the trees. Off we went. Oh my goodness!!!!
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| At the top of the tree....... |
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| If you could lie that tree down - it goes on and on! |
Talk about climbing! Wow - we left the campground at 585 feet elevation, drove the switchback road up and to 6409 feet elevation to the museum. Had to drive in either 2nd or 1st gear coming back down. Signs posted that said to use low gear, thank goodness we did or the brakes would have overheated. I think we got a little elevation sickness - we are very exhausted right now and I believe it's from the 6000 feet difference we experienced. Will have to plan our visits accordingly - and, it's 20 degrees cooler 'up there'. We froze - was 47 at the museum.
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| Just a sample of the switchbacks (the white ribbon is the road we drove) |
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| Just love the wildflowers - this one is a bush poppy |
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| Stopped to let the brakes cool down - we were above those clouds at the museum! |
Can't wait to see the rest of the park, and then to Kings Canyon. So much to see, so little time!
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