Departed about 9:30AM for the Ash Mountain (south gate) to Sequoia
National Park with several hikes in mind after reading “Sequoia & Kings
Canyon Great Walks.” The radio information station 1610 AM for the park
warned of work on General’s Highway and the ranger at the entrance confirmed
that traffic was only permitted through the construction zone on the hour.
The ranger also asked if I had 4 wheel drive on the 4Runner, which along with
the warning sign about tire chains I took to be a caution. We drove into the
park about 4 miles to Potwisha Camp Grounds where the construction crew was
staging cars for the on-the-hour crossing of the work zone. We parked and
took a brief hike, 0.2 miles listed as #34 Potwisha, which crosses over the
Middle Fork of the Kaweah River. There were some interesting grinding holes
in the granite rocks near the river bed and a nice man-made waterfall where
a pipeline crosses the river. The path crosses the river via a short suspension
bridge. We took a few picture here along the river.
The construction caravan departed at 11:00AM and guided us past the area where
a stone guardrail is being built along the edge of the road. The construction
zone only lasted about 4-5 miles and then the line of cars continued up
General’s Highway. Our next hike was planned for the Crescent Meadow area,
hikes #28 Morrow Rock and #29 Crescent Meadow. As we traveled up the road,
Three Rivers is at an elevation of 800 feet and the highest point on General’s
Highway is Lodge Pole at 6720 Feet, we noticed a few patches of snow. But those
patches rapidly joined together and we were soon in a winter wonderland of tall
trees covered in snow. Most of the camping and trailheads were closed and soon
we came to a ranger stopping traffic on the road where it was required to have
tire chains or 4 wheel drive to continue. Although we looked for a sign, we never
saw the sign for the Crescent Meadow turn off and it is likely the sign was
covered by snow from previous plowing efforts. We knew we had passed the turn
off when we arrived at the Giant Forest Village, which was closed.
We continued on to the turn out for the General Sherman Tree and stopped
for a walk around the tree and to take a few more pictures, documenting the
winter landscape.
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The General Sherman Tree is almost surreal, as it looks like
some prop left over from a Hollywood production, it is difficult to comprehend
such a huge living object in the middle of what is otherwise a typical CA
mountain forest setting.
Our drive north along General’s Highway continued up to Lodge Pole,
which is the main visitors center with the usual parks services market and
souvenir store. We looked around briefly at the exhibits, the most interesting
was an old park guest book that had an entry from a fellow named August
something that caught Augie’s eye. At this point it was snowing lightly,
that pelted snow that rolls around on the ground, and the sky was darkening.
The elevation from Lodge Pole to the northern park entrance, now in King’s
Canyon National Park as the two parks adjoin, is nearly the same with the
Big Stump entrance at 6800 feet. So the road between the two is relatively
level, with the typical ups-and-downs of mountain travel. But, the nearly
constant elevation also meant we were above the snow line the entire route.
It was at this point that we knew there would be no more hiking while in
Sequoia National Park.
We arrived at Grant Grove, just north of the Big Stump entrance, and took the
snow covered loop trail, #1 General Grant Tree Trail 0.8 miles, among the
many large sequoia trees in this grove. We took a few more pictures here before
leaving the park.
The 40 mile drive back to Three Rivers from the Big Stump entrance along
Highway 245 is about the most winding downhill road I have ever driven and
it seems like the road will never level out in the valley far below. On the
descent the pelted snow turned to a light drizzle that followed us most of the
way back to our Three Rivers motel; we arrived back at our motel at about 3:30PM.
We had dinner at the Noisy Water Cafe in Three Rivers. This is a large restaurant
with a nice view of the Kaweah River. The food here is more home style cooking.
Augie had the bar-b-qued chicken breast and I had the broiled catfish. Augie’s
meal was served with a large salad and I the had cream of mushroom soup which
looked and tasted homemade. The serving sizes were ample, but Augie added a piece
of apple pie to his meal to make up for the skipped lunch. $35.
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