Good morning from Madera, CA! We were able to find a hotel outside of Yosemite and have decided today to head over to Sequoia and see the Giant Sequoia trees!

It’s a bit of a drive but we are going!

We made it!!! The giant sequoias grow only on the Western side of the Sierra Nevadas in California between 4,000 and 8,000 ft in elevation. So once we entered the park we headed up, up, up!

The first glimpses we saw were actually all ash and burnt trees. There was a terrible fire here last year that burned so much. It was another sad sight, a lot of trails were closed because the fire had burned them up and they had not re built them yet.

Our first stop was the Big Trees trail. The girls were blown away by their absolute giantness!!

There were a few downed sequoias on this trail and this one in particular the kids and Alan decided to crawl through!

This park is closed to a lot of vehicle traffic on the weekends so we took the shuttle to a lot of places. After we finished the big tree trail we took the shuttle to Moro Rock.

Alan and I brought our families to Sequoia the week before our wedding. His Papa hiked Moro Rock, all the way to the top. So we wanted the girls to go there too! He passed away three weeks before Ryanna was born.

It’s 350 steps to the top and a lot of tiny passageways but we made it! You can see the tops of all the highest peaks of the Sierras here with the exception of Mt. Whitney, the tallest which is hidden from view.

After Moro Rock I wanted the girls to visit tunnel log, this is a sequoia that fell that is so big you can drive through it. The road is closed to vehicles so we decided to hike to it. Soldiers trail is across from Moro Rock so we jumped on and headed that way. It was a very ashy and burned trail from the fire but we enjoyed it. After awhile we crossed into a forest untouched by the fire.

It was a great hike but long and hot!! We made it though!

We were never more excited than when the shuttle bus stopped at tunnel log to pick up hikers!!

Next stop, General Sherman! He is the largest tree in volume, not the tallest or widest but combined he is the largest on Earth! It is just crazy to look at these trees from the ground! They are massive!!!

By the end of this day we were absolutely exhausted!! We have experienced so much in just two short weeks!

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks -John Muir