We ventured today into Sequoia National Park, home of the
Giant Sequoias: General Grant and General Sherman. Hmmm. Will have to think about those names.
They were giants, all right, giants of another sort.
A little arbor information:
Redwood Sequoias are the Tallest of the Sequoia family. Giant Sequoias are exceptionally tall, but
the Giant designation comes from their breadth – they are the most enormous in
diameter and circumference (had to throw in some math words for good measure!)
Into the forests that make the upper regions of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains dense with trees – up to over 8000 feet we drove. We admired
orange groves along the wayside in the Fresno, CA, area and had lamented the overall
vegetation’s thirst for water. So many grasses and plants have dried up and
dead, brown grass borders lush, green, irrigated fields of fruits and
vegetables.
We are in awe of the size and age of these sequoias and so
are many others who made the journey to the top with us – quite a few are
French, some are German, Swedes, Hispanic, - at this time of year, few if any
children are traveling. We walked and walked, sometimes staggering from looking
up for so long.
We hiked to see the General Sherman tree – largest living
tree on the planet! The sequoia’s cinnamon color bark is the mark of a mature
tree. Teenage, adolescent trees are gray and their limbs are starting to look
more like a Christmas Tree. Babies are
tiny specimens with very soft growth. Sequoias lose their lower limbs as part
of the maturation process. Fire, too, is part of the ecosystem, with sequoias
able to withstand all but the very hottest, most intense flames due to
excessive amounts of tannen.
What an incredible experience – learning, seeing, sharing
God’s majestic plan as it unfolds all around us.
PS - We were close to that huge rainstorm, getting some showers as we came down from the Sequoia Natiional Park. We are not headed to Los Angeles. Have you seen the news about the mud slides?
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