Day 41 - (09/12) Kingsburg, CA ... Day 2

We left our peaceful, orchard-wrapped RV resort and traveled back into the mountains today.  The views were phenomenal.  Unfortunately, it was impossible to capture the height and strength of giant sequoia trees or the ruggedness and depth of the terrain in a picture.

Our GPS guided us through miles of orchards and vineyards to CA-180.  We then went east on CA-180 to its end in Kings Canyon, high in the mountains.  The route took us into Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

There was no sign of sequoia trees or mountains when we started.

Leaving the campground

We climbed high above the valley

We found both as we climbed to over 6,500 ft.  Grant Grove holds many giant sequoia trees named for states and presidents.  The General Grant is the star attraction as the 2nd largest sequoia tree in the world.

Carol in front of the Lincoln tree
(close-ups don't get whole trees here)

General Grant tree

The top of General Grant

It's hard to imagine the cavalry
protecting such a remote spot

Home of the 1st park ranger stationed here.
Hmm ... bet he was delighted.

Lightning tree

Many bases were ravaged by fire over the decades

Fallen Monarch provides a pass-thru

Kings Canyon is the largest, most rugged, and deepest canyon we've ever seen.  The appropriate superlatives elude us.

A peek over the cliff is dizzying 

The light lines in the center are made by a road.
We went down there!

Kings River runs through the canyon floor

This was another wild ride day

We never saw the bottom of some of the canyons

We "returned to earth" late in the afternoon.  We did some grocery shopping, had pizza in Kingsburg, and discovered both of our low-beam headlights weren't working.  It was a good day ... in spite of the car problem.