Kings Canyon National Park
Monday- We had to drive up a really long and very winding road to get here, The North West entrance to Kings Canyon National Park. Stopped at the visitor center, got our passports stamped, and mailed a few post cards since they had a post office right there. Once here, we drove around the park a little while, then we took a trail to some more really big trees. Many had been named after states, such at the Oregon Tree, California tree, etc. Also saw the Centennial Stump, the remains of a large tree that was cut down, cut up, shipped to the East, and reassembled it for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Skeptical Easterners refused to believe that it all came from one single tree, and dubbed it "The California Hoax" This trail also featured the General Grant tree, 3rd largest tree in the world, also known as the nation's Christmas tree.
We didn't go all the way to the end of Kings Canyon, as we had a lot to see in Sequoia National Park, just south of here. We were trying to stay on schedule, and see as much as we could and still get back to Connecticut in time for Tyler to start school. I had been to the end of the canyon before, knew it was great views of the mountains and canyons, but Tyler and Dawn were getting bored of mountains and would rather spend more time in Utah. I can't disagree with that! So off towards Sequoia we went. Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks are side by side, so you just drive out of one and into the other!
