Sequoia and King's Canyon National Park, California

 On our way north through California, we decided to visit King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks near Kingsbury, the home of Sunmaid Raisins.  Yes we visited the Sunmaid gift shop first, then took the road less travelled by up 6000 feet to these two beautiful parks, featuring the gigantic sequoia redwoods.  Oh my, these majestic trees are 300-500 years in age and just tower over the viewer!  It was quite cool with roadside and melting snows and we were doubtful that all the roads would be passable.  We managed one loop that took us about three hours to travel.

Beautiful vistas awaited us at  Hume Lake, a man-made feature and recreation area within the parks.  Spring flowers were bursting forth on our drive up which added so much beauty to the road and mountain sides.  Lupins, yellow daisies and redbud or cherry blossoms added so much colour.

Hume Lake

The giant and the dwarves!  If you look very closely, probably with a magnifier, you will notice Bill and Caper beside the towering sequoia, left of centre.  This was by no means the largest in this grove, but certainly huge!  With the amount of rain and snow in the area, it is no wonder the trees are so gigantic!