Sequoia National Park

It’s been way too long since the last time I updated by blog. Actually, I think that’s how all my blog posts start lately, one per year. However, I might have a few posts up in my sleeve for the time being.

This summer, I flew across the ocean to spend a month with my boyfriend Travis in California, but the personal side of my trip is perhaps a topic for another time. Between spending time with each other, his family and German shepherd Ruger (the sweetest boy), we zig zagged around Southern California and beyond. Apparently, I simply couldn’t go back to Croatia without visiting certain key locations that make the Golden State so unique.

I was introduced to giant trees the first time I watched The Return of the Jedi. Even though the scenes on Endor were filmed in the Redwood National Park and not Sequoia, I was nonetheless mesmerized by the thought trees that tall even exist.

Even though I didn’t have the opportunity to visit the park this time around and see Endor for myself, sequoia trees (or gentle giants as I’ll call them from now on) will always be my favourite of the two. The sheer sight of their warmed toned soft bark fills my heart with joy. No wonder people want to hug them all the time regardless of the humble reach of their human arms.

As we entered the park, we noticed a lot of the trees (both sequoias and redwoods) had their lower bark all burnt and charred. Later we found out there was fire that started last May, caused by a lighting strike. The shuttle driver told us a lot of the trees got destroyed, but overall sequoias are a resilient species with their bark 2 feet wide protecting the inside. That was of little to no comfort because it was really sad seeing the trees all burnt when their size suggests a strength impossible to defeat.

When we got there, the place was quite crowded and, like all travellers, we wished we had the place for ourselves. However, as our day progressed, God blessed us with a drizzle turning into rain and soon enough, the majority of tourists left and we really did have the sequoias for ourselves (for the most part). Travis and I are both rain lovers (I think there’s a medical—I mean technical term for it) and walking between/through these giant trees and smelling the rain was a delight.

One of our most favourite moments was finding a path going along the evergreen forest, near the Wuksachi Lodge where we witnessed fearless woodland creatures. I’m not gonna lie, having pizza in the lodge afterwards while sitting next to a large window made it extra special, too.

On our way back, we made quite a few stops along the winding road down towards Visalia (where we were supposed to stay overnight, but that’s a whole another story). Travis made sure we stop at the Hospital Rock, a historic Native American landmark where you can see a rock full of pictographs. It’s quite easy to miss when driving along the road, but a gem when you find it.

I was looking forward to drive through the Giant Forest again the next day on our way to King’s Canyon which was a different kind of natural beauty I’ll write about in the next post. God bless.