Have you heard of the largest tree on Earth? Well, it is located in this park and known as the General Sherman Tree! So once again, I made Aaron drive to a tree... (see the previous time here - https://kyakel.wixsite.com/adventureswithkara/post/4-hours-to-a-tree). Meredith, my friend from home who is traveling with us, also came and her friend from home Shawn came too! We did this trip mid April and I was shocked at how warm it was. I thought for sure we would come across more snow, but the one time we did was at Buena Vista Peak and it was only in small areas. Definitely t-shirt and light jacket weather!
We all met up at the Wuksachi Lodge. Oddly enough, the GPS took Meredith and Shawn a different way than ours did. Aaron and I took a pit stop and took pictures while we waited for them to catch up...Well good thing we left when we did since Meredith and Shawn had been waiting for us at the lodge for almost 40 minutes! There is absolutely no cell phone service so be sure to plan accordingly!
We booked a room at the Wuksachi Lodge which I have to say, definitely stay at a hotel inside the park. The distance from any entrance to the General Sherman tree is at least 40 minutes of switchback paved roads up and down mountains. The Wuksachi Lodge is 10 minutes from the General Sherman Tree and close to mostly everything we wanted to see in the park. Our room was not ready when we arrived around 3pm, and check in time is at 4pm. So off to the General Sherman Tree we went!
The trail to the tree is all paved and down hill to get there, so be prepared for the up hill back at 7,000 ft elevation! It is a 1 mile round trip hike and of course it is worth it!
Below is a slab of wood from a giant sequoia that was about 2,210 years old when it was cut down (for safety reasons) and survived at least 80 fires!
After this we headed to Moro Rock. The road to get here was closed so we took the 3 mile round trip hike. The hike is easy and if you want to, you can walk on the road. We decided to take the trail in and we enjoyed the views and things we saw along the way!
We even saw this sequoia that fell down!
Then, close to Moro Rock, we saw this tree that was split.
As we started to approach Moro Rock, we saw some amazing views of the sunset.
Once you get to Moro Rock it is 300 ft to the summit, and a very narrow staircase to climb up. I do not suggest doing this if you do not like heights!
Then we walked back on the road to the car.
One thing to keep in mind if you do what we did, the Wuksachi Lodge restaurant closes at 8pm. We had no idea, so when we were done hiking, we had to eat the last 4 Caesar salads and microwave Velveeta from their gift shop. It was enough for us, but we were bummed that it was all there was. I am not sure if this was due to COVID hours or if this is all the time, but keep it in mind if you go! The next morning we woke up with the pleasure of having breakfast which is only served from 7am-10am. The burritos were great!
Then we headed to Tokopah Falls. The Lodgepole Visitor Center was closed and we parked there and walked to the trail head. Take our advice and keep driving to the trail head... otherwise it will add a mile! The trail is roughly 3.4 miles and could be rated as easy to moderate.
The hike is along a creek and there are lots of signs to be careful as it is a 'Deathly River'! We couldn't help ourselves when we saw a little trail to another waterfall.
The views throughout this hike reminded Aaron and I a lot of Yosemite!
We started to catch sight of the falls!
We found ourselves a nice little spot to sit down and relax. We even saw a little critter checking out the water!
After this we made our hike back to the car and drove up to Grant Grove. This was about a 40 minute to 1 hour drive. We made a quick stop at Buena Vista Peak where we encountered some snow at the top, mostly in the parts of the trail that do not see much sun. The snow was up to maybe my shins or so, nothing too crazy! The trail is moderate I would say and only 2 miles round-trip. At the top you are given great 360 views!
Aaron even caught an Alligator Lizard!
Yes, Aaron got bit a few times, all worth it to him!
After this we headed to our last hike at the General Grant Tree Trail.
This is also paved and only 1/3 mile long. On your way to the General Grant Tree you can walk through the Fallen Monarch.
The General Grant Tree is known as the Nation's Christmas Tree since 1926 as proclaimed by President Coolidge! You can see too that it has a large burn mark from a fire it survived!
This was a great 2 day trip we did and we had plenty of time for everything! There of course are more trails you can check out, but I highly recommend these. California has some pretty awesome trees!
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