Odometer: 60,250
Time: 09:00
After a visit to the Jeep Dealership we head east again, the same road as yesterday until….. we miss a turn and only realize much later that we did not come along this road yesterday. Anyway, we get a very nice detour partially along the Kings River, over hills and through farmland and orchards.
It is almost noon when we arrive at Sequoia National Park. Along the road, still in Kings Canyon National Park (a corner of which we have to pass before the Sequoia Park Entrance), we see a sign regarding “Prescribed Burns” and soon after we see smoke coming up the steep border to the road. We stop and look down to see that most part of the ground of the forest in that area has burned off, but the trees are not harmed at all. We still see flames in one area, interestingly nobody is there to supervise the burn. A few miles later in the Sequoia National Park we see the first really big Sequoia trees. It’s amazing how thick they grow and how huge they can be. They have a much softer, redder bark than the coast redwoods, it very fibrous and thick!
At a later point we visit THE biggest tree. General Sherman is the name of this Giant Sequoia with a height of 275 feet (83.8 metres). As of 2002, the volume of its trunk measured about 1487 cubic meters, making it the largest non-clonal tree by volume in the world. Even today the trunk still grows and becomes wider but it does not gain any height anymore.
- Circumference at ground: 102.6 ft (31.3 m)
- Maximum diameter at base: 36.5 ft (11.1 m)
- Diameter 180 ft (55 m) above base: 14.0 ft (4.3 m)
- Diameter of largest branch: 6.8 ft (2.1 m)
- Height of first large branch above the base: 130.0 ft (39.6 m)
- Average crown spread: 106.5 ft (32.5 m)
- Estimated bole volume 52,508 cu ft (1,487 m3)
- Weight: 1,385 tons (1,256 metric tons)
- Estimated age: 2,200 years (some trees are known to be about 3,200 years old)
We exit the park through the south and take the HWY back to Fresno.
Overnight Stay: Day’s Inn, Fresno, CA
Dinner: Hometown Buffet
