Well.............. I wrote the following blog entry over a week ago but couldn't post it since we've been in the national park and there is no internet, no cell phone- no nothin' except trees! We drove for about 2 hours one way today to get to a library and grocery store so we could reprovision. So, we just completed a 4 day backpacking trip over Rae Lakes in King's Canyon. It was spectacular, our first 12,000 ft pass (lots of snow!), we saw a rattle snake, king snake, a ptarmigan w/ chicks and a black bear. It was 44 miles and as usual, the stuff over 10,000 feet is what gives us the biggest buzz. So we're going to get another permit tomorrow for another trip before leaving here to head over to Yosemite. The time is flying by, we sure hope to come back out West sometime in the future when we can really DO these parks & surrounding areas more thoroughly.

I feel really bad that I haven't responded to all of the emails I've received from friends and family- it is just that our internet is so non-existent and we also seem to have very little downtime. But, we think of everyone often and hope all is well (we have plenty of time to think & talk on the trails!). We got some great pictures too but can't post them since this library blocks uploads (why??????????). But we'll get them up when we can. Here is the old entry:

A few days ago, we left Las Vegas and drove all day to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park, just outside of Fresno, California. We had a nice time in Vegas but were certainly ready to move on after a day & a half of it. Plus it was some kind of hot. All that day the truck struggled to keep temp and we drove much of the way with the AC intermittently off & on when we went up hills. For whatever reason, I was excited to get to California, somehow thinking the scenery was going to be different right away. But actually, it wasn't very attractive for most of the day- most of it was dry, barren landscape and then the agricultural fields started but while they were green & lush, everything around it wasn't. Plus the towns seemed poor and were really just roadsteads. At one point we passed an elevation sign that said 200 feet- which makes sense since we were close to Death Valley which is of course below sea level. Anyway, it felt really bad to have given up all that elevation that we've been running up our credit card on gas to achieve. In the last hour of driving we came up some 6000 feet to huge trees, beautiful mountains and polluted air! Yep, the air quality in these parks is known to be awful. Right now, per the visitor's center, it is "Unhealthy- especially those with lung conditions". The next & highest level is "Unhealthy for All". Yuck!! When I asked if it was due to fires or the like, she said nope, it's just good ol' California smog blowing up here. But you really can't appreciate it in that the surroundings are gorgeous, the wildflowers are knocking my socks off and Jon is still walking around saying he can't believe what he's seeing- he really loves the trees. Where you can see it is in the haze such that you can't see the distant mountains well, and in the colorful sunsets we've been watching.
A couple of days ago we took a beautiful hike through the Sugar Bowl which is a huge grove of sequoias. Those trees are truly amazing, you feel so small, you can hardly process their massiveness and all along the trail they are just there, one after another. They are the largest tree in the world by volume, the Redwood is the tallest. Their seed is the size of an oat flake and their cone only the size of a chicken egg. The main way the seeds ever get out of the cone to germinate is by fire. The trees automatically drop their massive lower limbs as they grow so as to be more protected from catching fire since their bark is fire resistant. They never reach a full maturity but rather, continue to grow until something happens to them such as a windstorm (they have shallow roots) which is why they can grow to be so old and huge. One of the oldest trees we saw yesterday is the General Sherman tree which is 2200 years old & makes enough new wood in 1 year as a 60 foot tree. All of it is hard to comprehend, but regardless, they are beautiful to walk among.
After that great hike we went back to our cozy campsite that we had in the trees (it was Friday night), & found that it had transformed into fiesta central, reminiscent of our travels in Central America. We'd been told that many local people flock up here on weekends to camp but it always amazes us how spanish families have such big extended family gatherings at the drop of a hat. If we could even plan far enough ahead of time I still don't think we could get the numbers they get. So........ we counted 13 tents in one triple campsite, which was right next to ours, the pot of beans was cooking, the red sauce was simmering, the music was blasting, the fire was going, the kids were screaming, the air mattress pump was doing overtime , you couldn't even SEE the bear box- it was so covered with fiesta fixings- the party was ON and we had to get outa there! So early the next morning we busted out of there and headed to a free National Forest campground- our site was right next to a boisterous brook and it was less than a mile from the trailhead for the lake we hiked . But that said, we still weren't alone- there were other people camped there playing the same CD for hours. That is the pure reason we love backpacking so much- it is about solitude and like- minded people. When you have to work to get someplace, it weeds out most.
There's still some snow here and the rivers are just roaring with water. They had a terrible winter, got over 330 inches of snow and it's been a late spring. This is very annoying for us since all while we were in Utah it was the off season since it was so darn hot and that made backpacking hard and now we're here, and there's still snow in the high passes and high water for creek crossings.
We're in bear country now. From here on out we'll always be having to be careful storing our food and using bear boxes, canisters, etc. Of course the way we travel, we need a whole bear box to ourselves and we fill it high with all the food that we carry around. We talked to a ranger today to see if we really had to empty out our fridge here in this park when we go backpacking and she said for here, we don't. These bears look in your car and camper to see if there's anything they want. So you're supposed to make sure they can't see any of your food or even a wrapper- pull the shades in the camper, etc. I know this doesn't go for the other parks as grizzlies go by smell too and are more aggressive. Anyway, we're trying to eat down our food some so we don't have to move so much stuff around.
We've also been having nice campfires since there is no fire ban here. All while we were in the desert there were no fires allowed. There's wood everywhere and those huge pine cones almost burn like a log! It's so funny, right now we're sleeping with a blanket & comforter at night & using the hot water heater for showers, when a few days ago it was so hot in here you couldn't really be inside during the day & you wished the water was cooler for your shower- what a difference elevation makes. And the fact that our poor truck carried us up here is amazing too!
Today, which was Sunday, we drove the King's Canyon road to another sector of the park. The road was steep & beautiful- this canyon is reportedly many feet deeper than the Grand Canyon (although I think it is narrower). We did our usual 10 miles a day hike and got to a brisk waterfall, a very scenic overlook, a lush meadow and walked along the King's River. We also planned our next backpack trip. Tomorrow we'll go get the permit and hope that we can get the hike we want. If we do, it'll be the hardest one we've ever done. I hope it works out.