Lodgepole and Giant Forest

Our last day at Sequoia National Forest we first stopped at Lodgepole and hiked to Tokopah Falls.  Along the way we say some Marmots hiding in the boulders. They are the largest member of the squirrel family and we were warned that they chew on radiator hoses.  At every stop we made we had to unload all of our food and toiletries from the car and store them in metal boxes due to the bears.  Once we got to the falls we talked with some other hikers who wanted to know if we saw the momma bear and her cubs on the way.  Apparently we just missed them.  The next place we went was the Giant Forest full of Giant Sequoias and the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world. Interesting fact is the tree is estimated to be 2,200 years old and each year grows enough new wood to make a 60 ft tall normal tree. The Sequoias trunks can be up to 40 ft in diameter and 311 feet tall.  Next stop was Moro Rock where we climbed a lot of stairs to the top.  Moro Rock is a granite dome that you can stand on top of and see the Great Western Divide.  Very beautiful view!  Our last stop of the day was Crescent Meadow where we started out on the Eagle View trail.  All day we had been hearing about other visitors seeing bears and we still hadn't and I was a little disappointed.  Well, we were about 3/4 of the way to the top of the trail when Andrew spotted a momma bear down in the meadow, and then i saw her cub come running down the hill to her.  It was really exciting to see, so we tried to get a few pics before we got nervous enough that we decided to head back.  We wanted to keep a safe distance between us.  We headed for Tharp's Log instead, a cabin that a man built in the 1800s inside a fallen sequoia.  The day was a great end to our trip!

On the way to Tokopah Falls

A friendly Marmot

Tokopah Falls

World's Largest Tree

View from the top of Moro Rock

The way up to Moro Rock

Momma bear and her cub.  Probably will have to click on pic to see them

Tharp's Log

Cedar Grove, CA

We spent the next day exploring Cedar Grove, not far from our cabin.  The first hike we did was to Mist Falls, a 9 mile round trip hike.  It was a beautiful hike following a powerful river with great views.  We then explored Zumwalt Meadows and Roaring River Falls.  Great day!  We were exhausted by the end of it.

                                                                 Zumwalt Meadows

Roaring River Falls

Our Cabin

One of our favorite views

Mist Falls

Grizzly Falls

 

Grants Grove, CA

General Grant Tree

After a frustrating day of not getting Andrew's car back from the shop as promised and having to get a rental, we headed for Sequoia National Forest and Kings Canyon, California.  Crazy us decided to take the "short-cut" the GPS offered through the mountains instead of staying on the Interstate like google suggested.  We had already lost time dealing with the car so we figured saving an hour driving sounded good.  Worst decision, we ended up losing an extra hour due to the crazy, winding roads through the mountains where we couldn't go more than 20 miles per hour and Andrew got motion sick.  We were in the middle of nowhere with no way out, except to go all the way back, when we saw a sign that said road construction with delays up to 80 minutes.  Thank God our delay only ended up being 10 minutes or I probably would have had a break down in the car.  We did make it to Grant Grove that evening and got some time to explore the giant sequoias before heading to our cabin for the night.

Hoover Dam/Las Vegas

Memorial Bridge

On our way to Las Vegas we made an unexpected stop at Hoover Dam.  We didn't realize that we would drive right past it.  We walked over the Dam and Memorial Bridge.  It was hot and windy!  Our next stop was Las Vegas.  We stayed at Circus Circus and watched the circus acts and played games at the midway that night.  The next day we walked the strip.  That night we went to Cirque Du Soleil, an amazing show, the favorite part of my day!

Grand Canyon

Our next stop was the Grand Canyon.  Absolutely beautiful!  Pictures are never the same.  Our favorite part of the day was hiking down the South Kaibab trail into the canyon.  It gave you such a good perspective of how huge the canyon really is.  The trail started on the rim and was all downhill, so as we see people coming back up huffing and puffing it made us a little nervous about the way back.  It was only 3 miles round trip but the toughest hike we've ever done because of the elevation.  From the rim to Cedar Ridge where we turned around was about 1,000 feet drop in elevation.  After we finished the hike we rode the shuttle buses to look out points from different places along the rim.  Our last stop was dessert view watchtower where you could climb the tower and get great views of the canyon and the Colorado River.

You can see the people below us on the trail we took down.

You can see the trail we took.  It followed the ridge.

Meteor Crater, AZ

Our first scenic stop on our way to California was Meteor Crater in Winslow Arizona.  The first two days were nothing but driving so it was nice to stop and get out of the car and walk around.  The crater was cool to see and huge.  It is 1 mile across and 550 feet deep, yet not nearly as big as some of the other meteor craters on earth.  We had a very informative tour guide take us on a walk on the rim of the crater and visited a museum inside.  An interesting fact is that they did astronaut training in the crater to practice for the craters on the moon.