Apart from a few raindrops, last night was rather warm and the weather in the morning was quite nice. Hard to imagine they had much snow up in the mountains above us but I went online to check the latest national park road conditions and nothing had changed there, “road closed due to snow storm, may take several days to clear”… “anyone heading into the park MUST carry snow chains”
Since we were only a few kms away from the park entrance I thought I’d head up there and speak to a ranger to find out how bad it was and how far we would be able to get safely on our bikes. The ranger told me there was no snow at all and all the roads were open!
So, we packed up as quickly as we could and started the climb into the mountains headed for the giant sequoia trees. The road quickly wound from a few hundred meters above sea level to 2000 meters where the giant Sequoias grow. The temperature quickly dropped from the mid teens to around 6-8 degrees, we went through and above the clouds and the sun was once again shining.
The Giant Sequoias are impressive especially the one know as “General Sherman” supposedly the largest tree in the world by volume / weight, with a diameter of 11 meters!
We took the detour to Moro rock, climbing to the cliff edge where we had amazing views over the clouds (and in the clouds at times) before heading north along the curvy “General Highway” road towards Kings Canyon NP. Since the time change it gets dark at 17:00 and since we were above 2000 meters camping was not an option.
Yet another “tunnel tree”
Lucky for us the John Muir Lodge had a room available at a reasonable rate so we jumped on the occasion and spent the night at the lodge in the Park. Just as well because we noticed the ice crystals on our walk to the restaurant, winter is here!
You did well to check about the snow… it’s not always as one says isn’t it ?
Nice Sequoia trees indeed and beautiful views. Lucky for you it was sunny that day.
Nibbling around the last few NParks around LA and LV while you still have the time.
Enjoy the last few weeks and be safe both of you !
xx
Third drive-through tree on this trip and the largest tree on earth, impressive guy! But why the name of a tank general?
National parks are an abundant species in the US, one next to the other in your area right now.
So, I guess you will ride through them as much as possible, rather than take the option of the humanized coastal roads.
The map above seems not the correct one.
Baci – 9 Nov