First, I forgot to post a video of Lake Piru, so take a peek at this.
I also took this video of some of the deer at the campground. (This was actually meant to be a still shot, but the camera was still in video mode, but I'm posting it anyhow, because the deer looks like he's actually posing for the shot.)
Okay--now on to Sequoia National Park. We did this as a day trip because we were laboring under the delusion that it was about a 2-hour drive to get there. Turns out it took closer to 4 hours (each way). We saw the fog rolling in when we were still about 20 miles away.
The road into the park was under construction and they were letting folks through in one lane. We faced about a 45-minute wait, so we stopped at Hospital Rock. There are pictographs here made by Native Americans almost 800 years ago. You'll recall that pictographs are painted on rocks, whereas petroglyphs are carved.
By the time we got into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we could barely see the Sequoias! These are some monster trees. It was like driving in a cathedral. The experience awed and silenced us. As we drove through the huge stands of trees, we didn't talk or play music--just stared in awe.
We saw a little crowd beside the road and stopped to see what they were looking at. I couldn't believe how close the people were standing to this VERY LARGE bear! I stood in the open door of the truck and used my telephoto lens to take this shot. I know that bears can move very fast when they want to, and although this one looked very laid back, I wasn't taking any chances!
As sunset approached, we climbed above the fog that had settled in the valley below us.
We were at about 10,000 feet now.
Wiley insisted That I post all 3 of my sunset photos. I like the one with the dead tree best. He likes the one with the sun behind the tree best. What's your favorite?
As we began our descent, we noticed there were patches of snow here and there. It got dark very early, and it was a l-o-o-o-n-g ride home in the dark, but we had enjoyed the day so much that it was worth it.Okay--that's it for another day. Time for a bath and bed. We went to Angel Island (near San Francisco) today, so I have fodder for another blog as soon as I download my pictures.
6 comments:
Beautiful pics, my favorite #1
Looks very beautiful and those trees are overwhelmingly big! My vote is for picture #2
My vote goes to #3 I can see the living tree the dead tree and the sunset. God's handiwork.
Forget the snow -- those boulders or rocks are HUGE. From the photo, it appears like we are seeing only the bottom of some very large rocks or walls of rock.
I wonder what kind of paint was used to create those pictographs. The pictures looked in amazing shape considering they were painted 800 years ago! Why hasn't the paint worn off over the years?
Seeing the bear was fun. But, Joyce, please don't endanger yourself just to get photos for us. The year I graduated from high school I traveled with two friends to Yellowstone National Park. We saw three bears across a field -- it seemed very far away. Well, I got out of the car (signs were posted to stay in our vehicles)but I wanted to get a few good pictures. While I was getting the bears in focus, they suddenly ran right toward me, a mother with two cubs. I could not get into the vehicle fast enough. They crossed the highway and I suppose if I had been their target, I'd have been harmed or killed. Instead, we had the "good fortune" to have parked in front of a trash can and that is where the bears went. They passed right by me. I'll never forget how fast they were. One minute far away across the field and the next right next to me! They were incredibly fast. So just be careful.
By the way, I couldn't choose between #1 and #2 -- liked them both.
We still don't have internet access. I'm in the office now, and only have a minute.
Glad everyone enjoyed the pics. I have a ton more to post--hopefully tomorrow.
Julie--don't worry--the bear pic was taken from the truck (over the heads of the folks who were several hundred feet from their vehicles)! I don't mess with wild animals.
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