From Crater Lake we headed south into California and spent a day with friends in the Nevada City. It was great to see the Wasson's again and we would have like to stay a few more days if we hadn't already planned to meet Corrie's sister Eva and her family outside Yosemite the next day.
After three days in Yosemite, we headed south to visit Kings Canyon and Sequoia, which are managed together.
Hiking with the Wassons along a creek just below their house. |
All of the rivers are still running full after a winter of record snow, but even full the Merced is quite down on the valley floor. |
Corrie and I took Sam and Simon for a late afternoon swim. They are already pretty good hikers despite their short legs. |
One of the smaller water falls I climbed up to. |
The quiet slashing of the water was really nice after the crowds of people on the road. |
Hiking above Tenaya Lake. |
I think the boys might have tried to climb all the way to the top if I hadn't convinced them that it was much hard climbing down the slick rock. |
We also hiked up to the base of Yosemite Falls and had lunch there. Even with the crowds it's a beautiful valley and it was possible to find a few quiet places. |
Campground policy said we could gather "dead and down" wood for the fire... |
I might need a bigger axe... |
We did not spend much time in kings canyon, but it was nice drive along the river. |
Even in person it's hard to grasp the scale of a Giant Sequoia. I had to use the panoramic setting to get the whole tree. |
Without the sign I would have guessed that first branch was 50 or 60 feet up. I think my brain scaled the distance with the size of the trunk to match other large trees I've been around. |