Sequoia National Park

We love living so close to a National Park. We love to hike as a family. We love to go up into the mountains and explore. Despite the fact that we have been many times, we have yet to touch the surface of this huge park. However, we never fail to have a great time no matter what we find. We stopped this time at the visitor center and asked about a hike we had found in a book. The ranger told us about a hike that started at the dumping station that we might like. Yeww! It didn't sound all that inviting to start at the dump station but we tend to be overwhelmed by bodily functions so why not? You parents of young kids know what I mean right? The snot, the barf, the #1 and the #2, the diapers, the diahrrea, the WHAT ELSE can come out of four kids syndrome. Okay I am off track. We found the start and the girls had a great time hiking along the river throwing in rocks, scaring all of Darin's HUGE fish he was trying to catch. (we didn't really see ANY fish, but I am sure that he would have caught one if he didn't have 4 very loud girls giggling and screaming on the shore. :o) It was so green and beautiful. We were in the foothills and early spring is definitely the time to be there. This tree is just one of the examples of the incredible beauty we saw.

Can you believe this is ONE tree?

After a bit we came to a fantastic suspension bridge over the river.

Man I love these girls!

After crossing the bridge we hiked a few switchbacks and came across this:

A huge old aquaduct. It was AMAZING. It was so surprising. No one tells you it is there. In fact, the trail is sort of hidden. But it was fascinating. It was very full and very fast moving. It is amazing that you have no idea this huge thing is even there at all. We hiked along it for awhile. Darin saw a huge fish and of course had to throw his line in AS we walked along it. Got to love it!

It ran for miles and miles. It was creepy old. It was leaking in places and you wondered how in the world it held all of that water. We are dying to know how long it has been there and where it stops and starts. We hiked as far as we could until there was no longer a path. At least a path on the ground! The trail went up a ladder and in order to keep going along the aquaduct you had to walk on boards that were laid across the aquaduct. Can you imagine? Walk on TOP of that thing? Props to the engineers who DO walk it.

These ferns growing on the side of the aquaduct were gorgeous!

Also on the hike, there is evidence of Native American culture. The Indians in this part of the mountians relied heavily on acorns. They would use holes in the rocks to crush and grind the acorns. The holes became deeper and deeper as they used them. Here is one example that is filled with water:

We were also lucky enough to find some petroglyph up on the side of a hill. Our girls were so excited. Abby and Sarah were especially worried as to why the Native Americans were not still there. It looks like the rock is falling away so someday this will no longer be here. Parts of it have already fallen away.

It started at the dump station, but what a find!