Sequoia National Park (14 items)

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Visit to the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park with my parents (day 1). Also known as the "tree album". These trees actually are big and make Muir Woods look like a little toy forest. :-)

  • Tunnel Rock, the first interesting sight right after the entrance to Sequoia National Park. I was originally going to post a picture with me on top of that rock but my mom only figured out how to work my camera a few minutes later. ;-)
  • Giant Forest. The trees are actually much larger than you would think at first sight. Look closely at the height of the fence and the information board to the left.
  • My parents next to one of the impressive trees at Giant Forest.
  • Feeling dwarfed by a Sequoia redwood.
  • Still pretty impressive though, for an average sized tree. It would easily make a Jumbo jet look small next to it. The age of this particular tree is estimated at 2,200 years.
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  • Fires are quite usual in this area but sequoias survive them and simply grow another layer of bark to cover what was burnt.
  • Death by pine cone, so I hear, is quite common in this country.
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  • Sequoias don't have very deep roots and are therefore relatively prone to fall over at some point.
  • On the way to see the General Sherman Tree. The bark of these trees is relatively soft and expands by up to 1 mm per year.
  • There it is, the General Sherman Tree, ''the'' tourist attraction in Sequoia National Park, the "biggest thing alive". It's neither the highest nor the tallest of the trees but the largest in terms of volume. Too bad the human brain is not made for estimating volumes (or caring who General Sherman actually was) ...
  • General Sherman Tree
  • View from a lookout along Generals Highway.