Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park

   After spending a lovely night at the Bakersfield, CA we headed out again towards Sequoia and Kings Canyon National park. The drive was FOREVER, and Mom was annoyed because of the roads and wanting to hike. We finally arrived and set up camp, there were pine cones that were over a foot long, the boys had lots of fun with them. After a quick dinner of brats we went on a hike but... we couldn't find the trail, so instead we walked around the campground. I was so relived because there were bears there and I didn't really want to run into one in the dark (the sun was setting and Mom wanted to do a 8 mile hike!!).

     The next day we woke up early and went to the visitor center, learned about the hikes and headed out. Our first hike was to the Sherman tree, it was humongous, and short. Garrett loved it, we headed out then on the congress trail, saw the trees, walked crescent trail , circle meadows trail, Tharp's horse(cattle man who built his house out of a hallow sequoia). Sadly though we missed the bears in the crescent meadow, an Mom and two cubs, we walked right passed them! We did see a huge buck on congress trail, and some yellow bellied marmots on a log in one of the meadows. We hadn't had lunch yet and it was 3:45 so we decided to take the shuttle back. Overall it was a bad idea eventually we made it back though, ate lunch and headed to the Big Baldy trail head. one the way there we saw a BEAR eating plants in Halstead Meadow. On the way up I freaked out because ahead of me a I saw a bear cub  (we don't know what it was because we couldn't find anything, there was something there, so I will say it was a bear cub), eventually we continued on our way up mountain. The view was amazing and worth the hike. In total we hiked 10.4 miles, the most we had done. That night we took zero minute showers, literally, get in rinse, stop water, wash, rinse again, done. Only reason we did this is because we had no hookups (electricity or water).

      6/20/14, Friday, we went to Kings Canyon and hiked along Mist Falls trail. The water fall was amazing and truly lived up to its name... we were misted the whole time, and it was cold. On the way back all our feet hurt, mom got a blister (small). The normal hike length was 9.4 miles but we went a longer way back to see new scenes. Once we got back to the car Dad, Nathan, Garrett, and I went down to the river to soak our feet. IT WAS SO COLD!, our feet hurt when we put them on the water. We did 20 second dips till our feet were numb and we left them in. Nathan spotted a common water snake which we observed till it was time to leave. The drive home was like 2 hours, halfway we stopped at a Lodge to get gas, Mom toke a shower because she couldn't stand another zero second shower with no hot water. Finally we made it home, the boys made a fire and we roasted hot dogs on it for dinner. While we were roasting smores I heard twigs breaking, (this was a high activity bear zone by the way before I go on.) Looking up I saw a large animal with 4 legs, dark fur... as it came closer to the fire I froze, and inhaled deeply. We then realized that it was just a deer walking past us into the trees. I was still shaking for twenty minutes after. The boys loved it, I didn't so I left and didn't come back out.

       Now I am finally caught up to today. We woke up really early today packed up and drove to Kings canyon. We left an hour earlier than planned so when we got there, we got our Junior ranger badges and hung out. Eventually we left and headed towards the stables... we were going horse riding. Here were our horses:

Nathan = Goose, a kind loving horse that followed the trails expertly

Garrett = Zack, a short horse who also obeyed well

Alise = Bill, slow and liked to eat, sensitive, kind

Dad (also Bill) = Levi, well mannered

Mom = Walt, just a good horse

      We all enjoyed the ride a ton, it was very nice and peaceful. Now we are on the road heading towards Yosemite National Park. It has been long, boring, and dry so far. We are almost there though. :-)