driving through a sequoia that fell in 1927. They are mighty tough trees, resistant to insects, disease and fire. Eventually they collapse under snow or strong wind, but can live over 2000 years in good growing conditions.
this was only the second bear we have seen on our trip - the first was in Grand Teton NP
Giant sequoias - impossible to capture the whole tree without a fisheye lens
One of the giant sequoias - they are the largest (by volume) living plants in the world. The General Sherman tree has a volume of over 52000 cubic feet, and a base diameter of about 35 feet (11 metres)Yosemite was a superb place to laze around, hike around, and just chill out. Nearby Kings Canyon is similar but quieter and wilder - its canyon is 50% deeper than the Grand canyon. The sequoia groves have lots of really big trees. Kitty was unfortunate in that when I found the brown bear in the photo above it was the only half-mile of car travel in which she was not in the car. She was annoyed so I found another big, black bear for her a few miles away (or did I find a Kitty for the big bear ?). Anyway, as with the previous encounter of Kitty and the rattlesnake, they both survived.
But we must bid farewell to the Sierras, the National parks, the deserts, the wild animals and to the simple life. We must face the real America - traffic freeways, large cities, and maybe even loud, unpleasant people (no I don´t mean the French - who seem to have invaded the National Parks here).
So tomorrow we hit the coast at San Simeon (Hearst castle) and work our way north up the Monterey coast to San Francisco. Australia has another week of peace and quiet before we return. Make the most of it.
Cheers
Yosemite Graeme (Yosemite means ¨he who kills¨ ! - so watch out you scrawny varmints)
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