As you may have gathered, I don’t always write our current location. Some weeks I write about our previous adventures to catch everyone up on our travels. This week is different. I have to write about our experience so that I write while it’s fresh in my mind. I anticipate forever looking back on this week. You might have guessed. This week was a good one.
We attempted to camp near Sequoia National Park. I laugh because we ended up camping nowhere near it. I might have got confused by the fact that we were close to the Sequoia National Forest… not the National Park. Whoopps. We saw the trail of 100 giants nearby and found a campsite, not taking the time to GPS our way to Sequoia NP. We were, in fact, 3 hours from our destination. This fact made for many long drive days through the mountains. I would love to say we soaked in every second of the mountain and river views, but honestly I spent most of it clenching the “oh crap handle” and trying not to vomit. Apparently I suddenly get car sick out of nowhere, that or my body has decided hairpin turns are just not for me…. I did learn that California seriously needs to invest in more guard rails. Cliffs, mountains, and sliding rocks do not make for stable driving surfaces. With one mistake, us or anyone else could easily be over the mountain side. Hence the handle.
Enough of the negative.
Our week was phenomenal. Relaxing. Just what we needed.
We camped in the little town of Kernville. It’s in the valley, mountains bordering all sides, with the exception of the river lazily making it’s way through the mountains. If you head towards the mountains in the photo, you’d find it. The town thrives on tourism, without being touristy. It’s authentic with old store fronts including an ice cream shop, a burger place, a pizza joint, several white water rafting tour groups, and it’s very own brewery. The town has so many campgrounds that in the evenings, despite where you are, the smell of campfire surrounds you. It’s comforting. On evening walks, looking up at the vast sky, and absorbing the vibrant stars the campfire scent somehow makes it feel like home.
Everything in town is within walking distance, including the town playground on the river. We enjoyed many lazy afternoons soaking up the sun and watching the river flow, as the kids played. I even realized I could ride my bike, while in my boot. Definitely an adventure. I’m certain I looked a little loony- booted foot pedaling away while my 1 year old is sitting on the back.
One of our favorite parts of town, besides the scent, is the nearby hot springs. In the past, my husband and I have been to a commercialized hot springs in the mountains of Banff, Canada. However, they differed greatly from what we encountered here. We found out how to find them from a quick google search and we headed on our way. We entered a parking lot high up on the mountain top and parked. We realized soon after that the winding path was extremely steep and not really “boot” accessible. Here I am, swimsuit and a dress /coverup, plus my all fashionable boot hiking straight down the side of a mountain. I’m embarassed to say I fell more than once. Dress over head. I might not have been quite prepared enough for this adventure. Had my other foot not been in a flip flop, I may have been able to keep my balance. However, I still felt success in making it to the bottom, while also trying to balance a 4-year-old. More like he helped his Mama… We made it none-the-less.
At the top of the springs is a single tub. A tub is a soaking area made from the natural rock filled with the natural hot spring water. This is the luxury spot because it’s small and meant just for a few people. We were not lucky enough to snatch up this one so we hiked even further to the bottom. Right on the river are 4 tubs, all together in a little pod, right on the river. The natural sulfur smell was apparent, but not overwhelming. We soaked in these tubs with our new friends we met along the way. Although I don’t quite think I deserved the bravado of chatter on my accomplishment making it down the mountainside in a boot, I definitely embraced the hot water on my weak ankle.
Our previous hot spring adventure was a pool that was filled with the hot sulpheric water, this one was so much more in touch with nature and we greatly enjoyed it.
The water in hot springs is heated due to volcanic activity deep within the earth. The water is then pushed upward and seen as hot springs.
https://calihotsprings.com/
As I stated before, we stayed here for the sequoias. I have dreamed of seeing them all my life, as has my husband. We were elated to finally be able to make it here. Although our journey through the moutains was quite nauseating, we arrived without any issue. The park appears like any other, at first glance. The sequoia’s look like typical pine trees from a distance and a lot of the early parts of the park don’t even have normal sized sequoia’s. However, once you advance to about the middle of the park the landscape changes. Driving, there are trees that look the width of our truck. We watched in amazement as we stood beneath over 3,000 year old living things. I’ll let you just absorb it from here.
The most sought after destination in the Sequoia National Park is the General Sherman Tree, seen in the photo where I am holding my arms out for measurement. The boys crawled in and out of the tree and are now able to say they have been inside the largest tree on earth. The photo of my husband standing with both boys is in front of a cross section of one of the large sequoia’s. For reference, my husband is 6ft and did not even reach the middle of the cross-section….
Fun fact: at it’s largest point, the general sherman tree is 17.5 ft in diameter. It is 275 feet tall and continues to grow, adding enough wood to create ANOTHER 60 FOOT TREE EVERY YEAR.
It’s absolutely breathtaking to see these giants up close. F told us that he feels so small in comparison to them. This led into us to talking about how small our problems are in comparison to God and the amazing things he has made. It’s astounding how nature brings life into perspective, even at the age of 4.
The park has winding trails that go through just the giant sequioa’s. We attempted to weave our way the best we could; however, the snow and ice made conditions difficult. Instead, we decided to embrace the moment and had an old fashioned snow ball fight. We were all pretty wet on our 3 hour drive back, but it was absolutely worth it. Dinner was enjoyed next to the river at a little moutain restaurant. We truly couldn’t have enjoyed a better day.
As I had said earlier, we chose our campground because we were close to the trail of 100 giants (sequoia trees). Typical of our adventures, it was closed down due to snow. Despite it, we didn’t regret our choice of town. I relaxed more here than I have in a very long time. One afternoon, Daniel watched the kids and told me to take the hammock somewhere. I found the most relaxing spot in the Sequoia National Forest, right on the river. Spending the afternoon reading, enjoying the river, and embracing the mountain views.
We are off to Fresno, CA or where ever we end up… It appears our campsite was in a pretty unsafe area so we decided to fly by the seat of our pants and find a boondock site tonight. Wish us luck! Hopefully, I’ll get another post in for you all this week and get caught up. See you soon!
Trading The Dream For Wander 