So once we dumped the van, we rented a crossover vehicle, overstuffed it with way too many supplies, and finally hit the road. The first leg of our ride wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. We soon discovered that our rental’s A.C. was broken. We did eventually get this fixed a couple of days later, however, for the time being we found ourselves driving through Bakersfield in 100 degree heat. Nevertheless, when we finally got to the winding mountain roads on the way into Sequoia and Kings Canyon, I was incredibly happy we’d made the switch. I’m sure Greg was even happier since he was the one doing most of the driving – even if the steering wheel was staring to fuse to hands from the heat.
Luckily, the heat didn’t follow us into the parks. We lucked out with some lovely cool summer days and we took full advantage of them. We attacked those parks with a vengeance. I would recommend spending at least 2 to 3 complete days in the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. We staid two nights, but we basically had one day there, and I have to say that we did a damn good job of covering all the major sites. We drove all around the spectacular national monument, we saw all the famous giant sequoia trees, climbed up to pretty waterfalls, drove through the giant fallen logs, and had a couple of mini-adventures.
As we were walking along the path next to the river, we each were each snapping away on our cameras, in our own little words. Greg was a little farther ahead than me on the path, and then I heard rustling on the path beyond him.
Bear!
Greg just kept on walking, still in his little trance.
Bear!
Now for it to make sense why my dear husband would just keep walking straight towards the bear that was right on the path despite my yelling out “Bear!” repeatedly, I have to disclose the slightly nauseating detail that my nickname for Greg is Bear. So when he finally heard me, his reaction to my yelling ‘Bear’ was basically, “Yes, I’m listening. What?”
No, BEAR, Bear!
Luckily I got his attention when I did, because moments after he heard the little black bear that had been pawing away at log, seemingly by herself, was joined by her two cubs. Everyone will tell you that you really don’t have to worry too much about black bears. They’ll try to steel your food, but other than that, if you don’t mess with them they generally won’t mess with you -- EXCEPT when you’re dealing with a mom and her cubs. That’s when you have to be really careful.
My Greg would not be deterred, however. He continued on his path, albeit more carefully; and now, he had a mission. He had to get the shot! And by God, he did.
Meanwhile, I stepped behind a tree, and then proceeded to take video. This is after they'd moved away a bit:
Later on that day, the thrills continued. Sort of. Our final stop before heading back to our campsite for the night was Moro Rock. When you start out, it looks innocent enough; but then the stairway that leads you up the sides of the monolith gets really narrow and steep. It got the better of me. My fear of heights took over and I couldn’t go any farther. Greg had to scale the final heights on his own while I sat down and clung to side of the rock. I HATE when vertigo takes over and I can’t get it under control. Utter and complete defeat!
It seems a little odd, now that I think about it, that when faced with a mother bear, that could actually hurt me, I feel pretty comfortable by just putting a tree between us. Clearly, were the bear to get mad, that tree isn’t going to do a damn thing. However, when on a path tread by millions of people every year, a little height takes me down. Stupid irrational physiological response.
Greg mocking me with his fearlessness.
For a few more pics, here's Greg's Slideshow:
For park info and maps see http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/maps.htm
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