Day #5 Sequoia National Park

We started the day off with a nice little drive through fruit stands and amazing fields and we could see the mountains looming ahead of us. Rob decided his car wasn't going to make it and thought it was best to go back and rip the radiator out and replace it. They insisted we go on ahead and they would come behind. We didn't want to leave them but we didn't want to make them feel bad with us waiting around so off we went so they could get going with their little project. As we were climbing straight up the mountains we were glad they decided to turn around. There weren't many places to pull over and it was a huge climb to get back up into the mountains. We headed straight for Sequoia and the Redwoods. They were amazing. It doesn't matter how many times I see them I am amazed at how huge they are.

This root just seems to dwarf Hayden. It was the coolest thing though because the tree was naturally hollowed out in the middle and you could walk right through it:

You kind of get the scale of the inside here with Mendis inside.

If you put these 2 photos together you can see one tree. There is no way the whole tree will fit in one picture.

While we were there they had a prescribed burn going on. It looks pretty harmless here but in no time we were rolling up the windows and coughing. You couldn't see anything for miles while we drove through the smoke. With the wicked cliffs we were driving on I was a bit relieved that you couldn't see very far. I was not thrilled with the road winding through the cliffs with no guard rails! At one point we were all set to drive down to King's Canyon to see it. We drove for about 1/2 an hour and were not impressed. It was dessert again and we took forever to get there. Finally we decided to just forget it and turn around and go back into Sequoia. It would have been cool to see what all the fuss was about but we didn't feel like we had that kind of time. It's always good to save something for next time right?

We were really disappointed in this "Tunnel Tree'. Somehow we managed to miss the tree that is standing up that you drive through. I think it's in Yosemite now but I am still not sure.Oh well. It took us forever to find the hidden road to get to this one as it was. Later we were super glad we took that road because even though the tunnel tree was disappointing we got to see 3 bears in the woods.

Hayden wanted a picture in a tree but with bears all over the place we were a little nervous. We took it quick and moved on!

I wish I could have gotten a picture that does the road justice. We took this about half way down the mountain while we were stopped for construction. There were so many switchbacks I was getting sick. By the time we got down it was dark so yeah it was something else. I told Mendis I was really glad we went to Sequoia because I am afraid I might not want to go back and drive that road ever again.
I must mention that all was went with Beth & Rob. Rob replaced the radiator in about 4-5 hours and they went up into the park too. We never saw them the rest of the day but when we compared notes the next day we probably saw alot of the same things including the same bears! They missed the North part of the park but that wasn't much besides the General Sherman tree anyway so all was well. In fact their car worked like a champ the rest of the trip!!