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Close to natural skyscrapers

Travel Tales
Last Updated 05 February 2015, 15:40 IST

It was a dream come true to go to the Sequoia National Park during my visit to my son’s place at ‘Mountainview’ in California. We packed our food and started our journey early in the morning long before sunrise. It was October and the beginning of the fall season.

The journey via Cupertino, Gilroy, Fresno, Visalia was very pleasant. The landscape was green and almost plain up to Gilroy. We could witness vast agricultural fields on either side of the highway brimming with activities. After Gilroy, the landscape gradually changed, it became foggy and one had to switch on the headlights of the car.
We reached Visalia, often referred to as the ‘Gateway to the Sequoias’, around 11 am.

Visalia is in the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Being coffee addicts, we had coffee at a local restaurant and continued our journey on the hilly track and reached the entrance to the Park. After getting the entry pass, we continued our journey on a winding mountainous road with many sharp curves and hairpin bends. As we climbed up, we could see the clouds passing over the car. The National Park is home to bears and one can chance upon these.

Therefore, one needs to be careful while alighting the vehicle. We reached the heart of the park where the ‘living skyscrapers’ are found in innumerable numbers. Most of the trees are 250 feet high and above. The world’s tallest and largest trees are located in Sequoia National Park, which is the first national park of California. One is the giant red wood (Sequoia Sempervirens), the tallest tree, and the other is the giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron Giganteum), the biggest or the largest tree on earth.

We placed our food packets in the designated places to protect them from bears and proceeded towards the tallest tree — the redwood tree named Hyperion, which is 379.7 feet (115.7 metres). It is difficult to gaze at the apex of the tree at that height. It was a great sight and is fresh in my memory. It is impossible for anyone to capture the image in the camera in one frame. Later, we had lunch and then proceeded to see the Giant Sequoia.

It is located in a different place, away from Hyperion. It was named ‘General Sherman’ after the American Civil War general, William Tecumseh Sherman, in 1879. It is gigantic and 275-feet tall. The girth at breast height is 2410 metre (79 feet), near the ground (its base) and is 31,3 metre or 102,6 feet. It weighs an astounding 2.7 million pounds.

‘General Sherman’ is not only the largest living tree but also holds the title of the largest living life form on the planet. It is almost 2,000-years-old.  Looking at its size was awe-inspiring. My joy was boundless. This masterpiece of nature, beyond doubt, is a sight that will stay with me for ever.  

Later, we moved on to Kings Canyon National Park to see the ‘Nation’s Christmas Tree’. It is almost in the heart of Grant Grove in the National Park and is named ‘The General Grant Tree’. It is the second-largest sequoia in the world.

A gigantic specimen of Sequoiadendron Giganteum measures around  270 feet tall and 107 feet around at its base.

The tree was named in 1867 to honour Ulysses S Grant. It is  also one of the ‘biggest’ attractions in America. In general, both parks are a nature-lover’s paradise and offer a range of activities including free ranger-led walks and talks, fishing, hiking (800 miles of marked trails), horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and snowshoes walks.
After the visit, we started our return journey.

Descending the hills, we enjoyed the foggy mountains, rivers and waterfalls, which run crystal clear.

Being an ardent nature- lover and a floristic explorer, it was the most memorable trip for me. 

Dr Mahadeswara Swamy

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(Published 05 February 2015, 15:40 IST)

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