9/21/14 Before heading into Kings Canyon, we stopped at Grant Grove to check out the General Grant tree.
1 We arrived in Grant Grove late in the afternoon the day before starting the hike. This trip was at least partially a birthday present for Dustin, and we delayed the trip until the tail end of summer to avoid the crowds on the popular Rae Lakes Loop. The weather this time of year can get dicey, and we evidently just missed a thunderstorm the day before, but the weather was perfect today.
2 A path constructed through the remains of a fallen Giant Sequoia. Gives you a good sense of the massive size.
3 Many of these huge Sequoia show the results of surviving countless fires over the course of hundreds and hundreds of years.
4 No, not a cave. Dustin is sitting in a fallen, hollowed-out Sequoia probably a couuple hundred feet long.
5 This guy was posing so perfectly, I couldn't pass up the chance for a picture.
6 The General Grant tree. The third largest tree in the world by volume at 267' tall and 29' in diameter. It was labeled "The Nation's Christmas Tree" in 1926.
7 It's almost impossible to capture the full height and sheer mass of this tree in a single picture.
8 A video does a little better job at capturing the scale.
For best performance, you can view the video on YouTube.
9 After leaving Grant Grove, we headed to Cedar Grove near Road's End. We stayed the night in the lodge alongside the Kings River and prepared to start our journey the next day.