Yosemite: Giant Sequoias

As far back as I can remember, my dad had this famous Ansel Adams print, Moon and Half Dome, and I always loved it (in fact, I stole it and brought it to college with me... and then returned it afterward!).

So it was a dream of mine to visit Yosemite National Park, which is about a four hour drive from the Bay Area. And on May 11th, we packed an overnight bag and made the dream come true! (But not before fueling up for the drive with some Peets coffees!)

With just about a day and a half there, I planned our excursions so we could see as much as possible. So when we first arrived on Friday at around lunch time, we made our first stop the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. (Mariposa Grove is just one of the few groves of giant sequoias in the California Sierra Nevada range, which is the only place in the world these trees grow naturally!)

After lunch on this rock above, we hiked around a bit to see these wonders and wow are they impressive and amazing. So grandiose! They had some educational placards around so we learned a lot, too. For example, did you know...

- The trees only begin growing and really thriving as a result of fire! The natural cycle of seasonal forest fires helps with the germination of the seeds and also keeps other trees/vegetation from growing too closely so they can get maximum light.

- The trees are hundreds of years old and survive many fires, which burn the lower branches (so that's why the branches start so high!). This also makes them more fire resistant.

- When they fall, they decompose incredibly slowly due to the chemical makeup of the wood, which contains a high concentration of tannins. (The fallen one below has been down for hundreds of years and is still there!)

- They have really complex but very shallow roots, which is why they are fenced off so visitors cannot get too close to damage the roots.

It was amazing to see these giant beauties and we also really enjoyed the fresh smell in the grove! But we couldn't spend too much time here as we were headed for Yosemite Valley and had much, much more to see, which I'll share in subsequent posts... so come back again soon! :)