Fuelin' the Old Fashioned Way

I was looking through my vacation photos to see if there

 was anything else I wanted to share and I found this...

It's a gas station along the highway that heads into Kings Canyon.
Check out those old pumps.  You can see the gas inside the glass
cylinders on top.  And, they actually work!  They sell it by the litre
and it comes out to be around the same price that we pay per gallon
outside of the park.  I love finding stuff like this!
I hope it stays around for a long time!

Fuzzy....Wuzzy...What?!

On our recent visit to Kings Canyon National Park, we saw lots of these...

Fuzzy, wuzzy, little caterpillars.  Wow!...They sure have long hair!
There were so many on some of the trails that we had to be careful not to step on them.

How about a mustache?  Hee hee

We also saw a lot of these webby things.  The first few days that we were there, they all seemed to be thick spider webs with dead bugs trapped in them.  But, as the week progressed, we started seeing more and more caterpillars on them.  Hmmmm?  What could they be?  Who made them?  We've never seen anything like it.  We assumed they were spider webs but, with so many caterpillars on them, it makes more sense that they were created by the caterpillars.  We kept meaning to ask a ranger.  But, they seem to be quite scarce in this park.  And, whenever we went to a visitor center, we forgot to ask.  Has anyone seen these before?  Do you know anything about them?  I'd love to get the scoop, if you wouldn't mind sharing.  Thanks! 

Meadows, Rivers and Falls....Nature Therapy!

On our recent trip to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks, we chose one place or direction to go each day to explore. One of those days was dedicated to driving into the part of Kings Canyon where the Kings River flows. It was the most spectacular and beautiful day of our whole week.

A portion of Kings Canyon National Park is in the section of mountains with Sequoia National Park.  That is where Grant Grove, the Princess Campground that we stayed at, and cooler temperatures can be found during the summer...due to the higher elevation.  There's beautiful forests, giant trees, and meadows.  It's beautiful. 

But, to me, the most amazing and best parts of Kings Canyon are down in the actual canyon where the Kings River flows.  The road winds around, hugging the side of cliffs, thousands of feet above the river.  The further you go, the closer you get to the river and the higher the canyon walls rise above the road.  This canyon is actually one of the deepest canyons in the United States with a maximum depth of 8,200 feet.  That's deeper than the Grand Canyon which is 6,000 feet deep.

The rock walls are incredible!  The trees are beautiful!  And, the river...it is beautiful beyond description.  All we could say as we drove past sections of it was....Wow!  Wow!  Wow!  It was the prettiest river I've ever seen.  Unfortunately, the most beautiful sections were along the road with no turnouts or places to stop and take pictures. The rocks were perfectly situated to create an endless number of small waterfalls as the water flowed and tumbled down the canyon.  It was gorgeous!  The canyon is very narrow for long sections of the drive.  That adds to the magic...a gorgeous river, a winding road, enormous rock walls that echo the sound of the water...and...it was overcast the morning that we drove up which cooled the heat of the sun.  Oh...and to top it off...I brought along an amazingly delicious cup of coffee I'd made back at camp...sort of a vanilla latte with a dash of cinnamon....Yum!

The water flow isn't anywhere near what it would be if we'd had normal amounts of snow and rain.  But it was still strong and treacherous enough to make it very dangerous to enter.  

We saw a lot of warning signs.  

There's something about flowing water that makes me feel sooo good. 

And, just look at all the beautiful colors...

There were waterfalls tucked in little side canyons along the way.  And, there were turnouts and parking lots for bigger ones.  The first waterfall stop we made was at Grizzly Falls.  It was popular and I had to point my camera above the people to get shots of just the waterfall.  Pretty!...

To get an idea of the size of this waterfall...notice my daughter near the right side,

bottom of the photo (you can click on it to enlarge the photo)...

There she is again...in the bottom right corner....

The next waterfall we stopped at was Roaring River Falls.  From the parking lot, there is a paved path through the trees and past sections of a river with tall rock walls on either side.

The path ends at a lookout to the waterfall.  It may seem small but it looked and sounded very powerful in person.  So much so that the pool below it and the river just beyond looked quite dangerous and more signs were posted warning visitors not to enter the water.

The green color of the pool below is pretty.

We sat and soaked in the beauty, the peacefulness and the magic of the falling water.  Ahhhh!

Near where the canyon road ends, there's a parking area, picnic tables, and a 1.5 mile trail around Zumwalt meadow.  It starts out along a river and leads to a bridge...

Over the river and into the woods we went...

The views from the bridge were so pretty!  I love the colors of the water and rocks...

The trail started out rather flat but the south side of it climbed up and over rocks...

It was good exercise and lots of fun!

Once we crossed over the big boulders and rocky sections, the trail entered into a forest on the eastern end of the meadow.  The path became shady and gentle. 

We rarely saw anyone on the trail.  So Pretty and peaceful.

Delicate fern carpeted much of the forest floor...

We saw fungi growing on some of the trees...

And, a happy, healthy squirrel munching on something in a tree overhead...

My eyes just couldn't get enough of this...

Beauty all around!  Here's a glimpse of Zumwalt meadow...

The narrow canyon with high rock walls are oriented in a similar direction to Zion Canyon in Utah...one of my favorite places.  And, they both have a river flowing through.  The colors and scenery are very different but both are incredibly beautiful!

More pretty colors in the water...we even saw some wild trout

swimming around in the shady sections...

Zumwalt Meadow...

Ahhhhh....what an amazing day!  Peaceful and filled with

some of the most gorgeous nature I've ever seen!

It even calmed the hyper me so much that I bought a book at one of the visitor centers, went back to camp and actually read!  I usually can't settle down enough for that.  It's amazing what a little nature time can do!  I even finished the book before the trip was over!  The book was, "Women of the Sierra" by Ann Seagraves.  A fascinating look at the lives of 13 women from the mid 1800's to the turn of the century that had a big impact in the Sierra Nevada Mountain area.  I highly recommend it.  The author has several other books within the same subject that I plan to buy and read...maybe during a future visit to the Sierra. 

Hume Lake

Just up the road from the Princess Campground that we stayed at in Kings Canyon was a turnoff to a winding, narrow road that took us past stunning views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains...

...and to a pretty little mountain lake with beautiful scenery all around.  It was Hume Lake and it turns out to be a well known place because of the Christian camps at one end of the lake with boats, kayaks and lots of other fun stuff to do.  What a great place for camp!  It almost makes me want to be a kid again just so I can go to that camp!

Hubby stepped into the lake and took in the scenery and peacefulness of the area...

As we drove around the lake, we crossed a bridge to a stream that feeds the lake...

Unfortunately, the pictures don't come close to showing how pretty it really is...

These big holes in the rocks were interesting.  I wonder what created them?...

That was a relaxing day.  We did a little exploration, saw some beautiful sights, and then went back to camp to kick back and read, crochet, eat, and enjoy another unique beer that we brought along.  The weather was in the 70's and just perfect for kicking back and relaxing.  Ahhhhh! 

There's still more to share from our week in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.  I hope you'll come back for another visit...and...don't forget to leave a comment while you're here.  I'd love to hear from you!  :-)

Wildlife in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National park

Our week in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park was accompanied by the singing and sounds of a lot of different birds.  They spent most of their time up in the dense forest of trees and we rarely saw them but they almost continuously filled the air with their songs.  Many of the sounds were unfamiliar.  It would have been fun to have seen what the birds looked like that were making those unique sounds.  I did, however, recognize one and eventually saw many of them....the Steller's Jay.  They're so pretty dressed in blue.

We knew there was a lot of other wildlife in the park but it was very rare to see too.  We only saw a few deer the whole week.  They were difficult to capture on film because we were in the car each time and they didn't stay in one place for very long.

Once they 'dnotice someone was near, they'd start moving...

And, then running...

Then...in almost a blink of an eye they were gone.

We've learned that when we're in areas like this and we see people stopping their cars in the middle of the road or pulling over to the side for no apparent reason...there's probably something to see and that something is often an animal.  That's how we found the one and only bear we saw the entire week.  I'm glad we only saw one because they should be shy and avoiding humans.  This one was quite a distance away in the woods...which explains why it's hard to see it in these pictures.  I did zoom in on this photo to see him but wanted to show how it's off in the woods.  Look very carefully in the very center (if you click on the photo it should enlarge a bit)...

Here it is zoomed in a bit more...

It was munching on plants and seemed like it didn't even know we were there.  Although, I'm sure they probably have very good hearing and it not only knew we were there but also kept tabs on us.  Luckily, for the bear, there were just two cars and five people watching him and we were all smart enough to keep our distance.

The only other wildlife we saw during our stay were bugs and butterflies, a few chipmunks and squirrels and some wild trout.  But, that's just fine with me.  Wild animals should be just that, wild.  It's not normal for them to want to be near humans.  And, not safe!  That's why many parks have signs asking visitors not to feed them or try to pet them.  It's best to let them be and they'll let us be. 

Next time...Morro Rock in Sequoia National Park.