Well it's a little bit of a drive from Curry Village in the valley floor, but I wanted an easy day to prepare for hiking Half Dome the following day. I think it was about a 30 minute drive. The parking lot was full, so they have you park about a mile away and bus you up.
Once there, you'll find a small little shop with your basic souvenirs, drinks, and misc items. That's nice and all, but I was here to see some giant sequoias, which are believed to be some of the largest living things on Earth.
Shortly into the trail, I found a downed small tree, so I figured this was time to bust out the camera, and start taking pictures of myself.
Below is a piece of giant sequoia bark. It is amazingly light. This entire piece felt lighter than an empty coke can.
Alright, I was starting to finally see some big trees.
A minute later I turned a corner, and couldn't help by say "Oh my God!"
Here I am in the photo so you can attempt to grasp how large this tree is. BTW, I'm just shy of 6 foot.
Me again, along side of it.
Here's a little video showing how long the tree is.
Close up of the root system.
Extreme close up.
Even the smaller trees are still ten times bigger than what you're use to seeing.
Caution, enjoying this grove my cause neck pains from constantly looking up.
The super thick and light weight bark acts as an insulation when forest fires happen. The tree may be a little blackened, but no damage is done.
When not near the actual Giant sequoias, here's what a lot of the scenery look like.
Close up of the rings.
Me again for reference. This trees are HUGE!
Don't scroll down to quickly or you may miss me in the next photo.
Nice use of a fallen tree.
Once you turn a bend in the trail and come to this tree, you get the feeling of "now THIS is what I came here for!"
Those branches way up there are probably bigger than normal trees.
From the front side. Be sure to watch in HD!
The following is one of the best known trees in the grove.
Have you ever walked through a tree? Want to? Watch the video below and you'll get the feel for it.
Inside the tree, looking up.
I continued up the trail. Hmmm, walk 40 feet around, or risk walking on the fallen tree that's probably 10-15 feet up from the ground? I took the risk, both going up, and later back down the trail.
Look at me, I'm in a tree!
If you happen to look in the bottom left of the next picture, you'll see where I was headed.
I was going to run up and give the tree a hug, but park rangers ask you not to get close to the giant sequoias. I was going to until I noticed a park ranger's truck 100 feet away I ran up to this tree. I stopped, and the following is the result.
Below, you'll see the small museum they have, and how small it looks compared to the trees.
Alright, time to get do some learning.
In the center of the following picture is a baby giant sequoias. If I remember correctly, it was less than 4 years old. The bottom left of the picture shows some branches that rangers used to make an arrow, pointing to the tree. The tree is right above the pine cone, sticking out of the ground maybe a foot if that.
Another piece of bark. This large piece (notice my shoe in the picture on purpose for reference) felt about as heavy as maybe an average pair of mens shoes.
Even the pine cones are huge up here!
Finally got to huge a tree. I think my step-sister would be proud.
Me in a tree again.
Picture of the museum I was in earlier.
The two smaller trees in front of the giant sequoias were still probably 20 feet or taller.
Slow video looking up, trying to get a video feel of the size of these trees.
Got pine cones?
Another downed tree, but not as big as the other two.
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