National Parks Road Trip 2017: Sequoia/King's Canyon 1

We left Vegas and drove to Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks.  They are two parks nestled right up together and they share all their services, so they're kind of like two-parks-in-one and they call it SeKi.  We were now in John Muir Country: "All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild."

SeKi Day-One Highlights:

• The smoke from the wildfires burning along the central coast made for an incredible sunset as we drove into the park.
• Camping inside the park was nice.  We stayed at Dorst Creek Campground.  The drive was still long for some of our destinations within the parks, but when you're starting inside already, they are much shorter!  However, the campgrounds are huge and filled with a lot of people, so we had some noisy nights.
• Our first hike was along the Kaweah River to Tokopah Falls.  Get ready for a dorky Lord of the Rings reference: it felt like walking into Rivendell!  Beautiful and enchanting!
• The rivers inside the California parks were all full to bursting due to the awesome snow pack that the Sierra had last winter.  They were fast moving and really cold, so not for swimming--a big change from the gentle Virgin River.  We found a few places where it seemed safe to wade, but even that made me nervous.
• Climbing Moro Rock was cool and had some incredible views of the Sierra.  Ben ran up it!  The last time my mom had been on this hike, I was only 2 and there weren't any rock barriers between the trail and the cliff drop-off--just a chain to hold onto.  She says she was gripping my hand so tightly I told her she was hurting me.  After the first few hundred feet, she was sure we were going to plunge to our deaths and just couldn't do it, so we turned around.  This visit, with that memory still strong, she wasn't sure she was going to give it another try, but her grandsons convinced her (as did the natural looking rock "railings" that are now installed along the trail).  She did it!  All the way to the point at the top!  Go Mom!  
• Seeing the giant sequoias for the first time: they are so amazing!  Enormous!  Like mutant trees!  Not just with a vast circumference and stunningly tall, but even their bark is huge, like they've been hit with a grow-gun.
• We visited the Giant Forest Museum and learned about the history of the area and the park, as well as about the important role fire plays in seeding new sequoias.  During the 60's and 70's the park was vigilant about keeping forest fires at bay, but they soon discovered that no new sequoias were sprouting.  They found that the fire actually prepares the earth below the trees and the heat allows the tiny pine cones of these enormous trees to open and scatter seeds.  So now they do controlled burns to make sure to keep the area healthy and growing.  
• Luke and Tommy earned their 4th Junior Ranger Badge--SeKi had one of the least time-consuming Junior Ranger programs and they knocked it out quickly.
• On the ground outside of the museum, tiles had been laid in the ground to show the height of the Sentinel Tree growing in front of the entrance.  It was amazing to see the line extending 257 feet all the way to the shuttle stop!  They are HUGE!