Sequoia National Park Review
These folowing thoughts are mine and I will try to be constructive and offer positive remarks after pointing out what I considred to be flaws in my visit to the park. I must frame up my visit by explaining how i came to be there in the first place, renting a car in Vegas and heading out through the Death Valley and experiencing 119 degree heat was a forerunner to my heading down a long mountain valley to Lake Isabella as there were few highways over the mountains into Sequoia National Park.
I can remember as the closer i came to the Park the more i climbed higher that also the traffic increased so that by the time i reached the opening there was a long line of vehicles waiting to enter the park in single file. It was Memorial day weekend and memorial day itself and before the pandemic in 2021. Gas was plentiful and people were driven to get out and enjoy the summer.
Needless to say it was busy and slow going as visitors lumbered their way up the mountain sides in their vehicles navigating the cut backs to avoid certain death if one were to go over the edge of the road. As you climb higher into the mountains, there was shorter more drought resistant trees at the bottom of the mountain but as you climbed higher the trees suddenly began to get larger to gigantic. Yet these trees were just babies compared to the giants on the plateau above me. we must have climbed 3000 ft. in elevation or better to a landing and parking area at the the main area of the campground where the giants lived.
It was a madhouse with people coming and going and parking areas that constantly were changing so that rangers were hard placed to keep up with the throngs of visitors that was assembling there. people were parking everywhere and though mostly people seemed to be courteous and clean enough to clean up their mess after themselves there was still evidence of trash misplaced requiriung a cleanup personel to constantly follow the crowds around and clean up after them.
Finding ones way around wasnt to bad as I was depending on a cane to manuever my way around, the air was still and smelled of humans and not the deep woods smell i expected. wafts of carbon monoxide from the older vehicles chugging and smoking their way up the mountainside lent to the smells i was experiencing. in fact several signs warned of places to pull off on the 2 lane road to avoid breaking down and causing a major tie up causing more fumes and frustration. campers were forbid as the closer to the top the turns were tighter. Having a small car was a blessing in that respect as i was able to manuever into a good parking spot. Grabbing the cameras the first sight i was headed to was the Gen Sherman tree which was within a 1000ft. of the car wheere it was parked.
My time there was spent moving from one location to the other enjoying the magnificence of the beautiful trees overhead and watching the visitors take selfies besides the huge tree bases to show how insignificant humans are in comparison. yet still significant enough a pest to like myself drive and fly thousands of miles to just view them. Using myself as an example, i imagined how the hundreds to thousands of people all arrived there to do the same thing i did. How we all drove in vehicles as mass transportation of anything larger than 30 passenger bus would barely make it to the parking area. At least my vehicle was gas efficient , but there was only me in the car. Still the fumes from all the cars and the masses of people that came is leading to an ecological nightmare that reared its ugly head after i was there.
\ Forest fires are always a threat but with the continued drought it became worse and forest fires at the base of the mountain crept real close to shutting down the park later in the summer prohibiting all but fire personel to try and save the giants. They wrapped aluminum foil around the base of the Gen. Sherman tree as sparks came closer. they also wetted down the floor of the forest and used their resources to try and contain the fire away from the giants. They did good and was able to contain the threat but for sure it will not be the last time. Our continually heating planet and our unrestricted use of fossil fuels will assuredly bring us back to this situation again.
I regret in some ways my need to see these giants even as I sat there playing tourist as i have done many times since then at various locations in the soutthwest USA. for 2500 years these trees have been around and yet it seems ironic that in my lifetime we have reached the point of no return when it comes to our climate. We have taken down so many trees and used them to further human kind as fuel , food , and furniture , boats among other things since the late 1800s when the industrial revolution that we probably have 50 percent of the trees locking up carbon as we did in the 1800s. Fossil fuels are carbon producers and the irony comes when i traavel over 2500 miles to visit a 2500 year old tree, I have to ask myself is it really worth it, let alone the thousands and possibly millions who also visit this site and others in respect for the natural features but oblivious to the repercussion just that alone has on our beautiful parks. the same scene is being played out in every national park.
Staying home all the time is no option either. We are in transition to more earth friendly vehicles and this will change as we head into the future, But for now I intend to spend more time hopefully to enlighten others through my writing as i try and look for solutions to our future global warming problems. My next blog will be on how to make my next trip to see the giants better for me and hopefully better for them. I doubt i will live to see that day, but who knows.
