This morning we got up early and headed for
Sequoia National Park. This is the raging torrent of Kaweah River (middle fork) at the entrance to the park, close to Three Rivers cafe (where we learned of Steve Jobs' demise).
How many signs have you seen for 10mph? There were so many that I got Morag to snap this picture - real mean hairpins, all the way up the mountain. I had a friendly chat with the ranger, who checked the local doppler for weather. I looked at the blue sky and although he recommended snow chains (if you were caught in a snow drift without them there is a large fine), he wouldn't prevent us going without them (although he did prevent the motorcyclists behind us). Frugal Ian decided to risk it - otherwise we could only go about 500m into the park - but Morag became increasingly worried, as we worked our way upwards...
When we got to the Giant Forest Museum at 4,600ft (1,402m) above sea level, it started to sleet, then it started to snow. This is the Sentinel (I like it when individual trees are given a name) - 2150 years old, 257ft high, and weighs 700 tons. Morag wanted to turn back (our car was a front-wheel drive rented sedan, not exactly a four-wheel drive), but I promised if it snowed any harder I would turn back after seeing the next tree - General Sherman. I really wanted to drive through the tunnel log (a tree so big, that when it fell across the road they cut a tunnel through it!), about 5 miles further...
So we arrive at
General Sherman - the largest known living single-stem tree on earth,
twice as big as The Sentinel (which we thought was quite big). I ran the 0.8 miles downhill to the grove in shorts - it was snowing so hard that I came back with a snowdrift on my head! Jumping back into the car more than a little wheezy, it was a race against time until the road back became impassable (or at least impassable for our now degraded rental car).
The perilous road back after seeing General Sherman. Morag just about had an epi when I took out the camera driving in these conditions, but you can see quite far ahead and it is fairly flat (at this point). Chucking the car into manual, sticking to first gear for most of the first 2000ft, and trying to steer on previous car tyre tracks meant I was as safe as possible - but you really did not want to get stuck here. When the hire company provided roadside assistance, I don't think they meant 4000ft up the side of a mountain!
Halfway down, we met the roadworks we encountered on the way up - a 20 minute wait for the lights to change (really!). It gave us a chance to catch our breath and pop off a few snaps of the clouds in the mountain valleys. Looks like somewhere in southern Bolivia or the Congo, doesn't it?
Lake Kaweah (formed by Terminus Dam) and some foothills, looking back to the National Park. We were in those snowy mountains, only 30 minutes ago! This picture looks real pretty (there I go again, speaking American) viewed in large sizes...
After that lucky escape, we drive to Merced to find that the last room on special in the hotel just went 5 minutes ago! We try not to pay full-price when we can, so trudge a little further south down Interstate 99 to the town of Tulare to rest our weary heads.
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