Trail of 100 Giants

9/18/08
South of Lone Pine, the elevation of the Sierra front drops dramatically. The interstate passes through far more private property, though most of the businesses appear to have been abandoned for decades. Route 41 toward Sherman Pass (9200‘) is the first road to traverse the Sierra Crest since Yellowstone‘s Tioga Pass, 200 miles to the north. I pressed on and crossed historic Walker Pass (5280’) on 178. Bare peaks and my first look at the Joshua Tree, which would feature in the next chapter of my trip, but was anomalous here. As far as I was concerned, I was still in the mountains. I passed through what is called the Kern Plateau without stopping, skirted Lake Isabella through Kernville and then drove up Kern River where I camped in the hot California sun and ate spaghetti. Pretty quiet over here, the camping season largely over.


I spent most of the next day in the car, which mostly sucked though only relatively as it was actually a very nice drive. I just don't like spending so much time in the car. Up Kern River, over the Western Divide Highway along the bottom of a geographic feature known as the Great Western Divide, which I did not yet understand but would come to over the next few weeks. Through the Sequoia National Monument, which didn't have many Sequoias that I saw from the road but did have some lovely rugged dry scenery. I stopped at the trail of 100 Giants which had a campground right there for only $5. Sure wished I’d known that.

Suddenly I was face to, well, foot, with my first Giant Sequoia. It was giddying really; I actually started giggling. I figured I'd hiked a lot in the PNW and seen a lot of big trees - some of the world's largest Douglas fir, Western Red Cedar, and Sitka Spruce. I figured that sequoias would just be bigger. Well forget it, they are in a different league altogether. It truly does seem like a species apart. (Well I guess it is a species apart. I suppose I mean genera? Doesn't sound as good.) The power of the tree is palpable and you really have to be there to feel it. The trail was short and I saw less than two dozen giants, a suitable introduction and I'd see a lot more. But this was just a pit stop; I was back out on the road.

 Down, down, down the Tule River drainage, and if you want to get a sense of what they mean by the gradual descent of the Sierra's western slopes, drive down the Tule River drainage. The actual pass wasn't that high but I've never driven down so many switchbacks, 20MPH. Endless. Scenic, but I’d have probably made better time just going around through Bakersfield.

Onward  into Springville. The storms I had watched from Owens Valley had launched new fires in the Sequoia National Park, and Springville was very smoky. I'd read that one of the considerations the National Parks make in deciding whether to combat a fire is the impact of the smoke on the surrounding communities. This was a dramatic instance of this issue here.