Road Trip - April 2017, Part 5
The next destination was, and remains, one of my favourite places in the world: the Sierra Nevada mountain range. I pondered going to Yosemite, but, though it was long ago, I've been there many times and wanted this trip to be about places I was less familiar with. So I made my way to the little town of Three Rivers and used it as a base to explore Sequoia National Park and the surrounding area.
The foothills are still green, but browning fast.
The Kaweah River floods the road.
I had wanted to hike to Alta Peak, but it was still early in the year, the trail was covered in several feet of snow, and I didn't have the proper gear. So I hiked the trails around the General Sherman Tree. The Trail of the Sequoias is a grand loop with lots of variation. At that time of year it was still almost completely snow-covered, little travelled, and I wasn't familiar with the trail markings. But I had a good topo map, and managed to get "un-lost" a couple of times when I strayed too far. Unfortunately I'm not that pleased with my pictures, but here's a few:
The grandeur of these trees defies description.
Wherever you want to go, there is snow.
The snow has its own geological layers.
After an exhausting and rewarding day, I headed back down to Three Rivers and caught the late afternoon sun on the way.
Dropping back to the west.
The Castle Rocks.
Firebush everywhere.
I'd been hearing about Death Valley, and how the unusual amount of rain this year was producing a surge of wildflowers. I'd never been to Death Valley, and I'm not into heat, but it sounded compelling, so that was the next destination.
