Trail Baggin' Series: Sequoia National Park
Welcome to the first of many blogs in the Trail Baggin' Series!
This series will be dedicated to first-hand experiences on various hiking trails throughout the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, and Hawaii... you know, USA! USA! You can expect to see lots of iPhone-quality pictures (maybe some GoPro pictures if I ever learn how to use the camera properly), a few details about the trail, and some tips or tricks to make your experience all the more worthwhile.
Trail baggin' is a play off the phrase "peak bagging." Peak bagging is an activity where hikers/climbers will summit a collection of peaks. Once they have completed their summit, the peak is "in the bag" so to speak.
Starting off the Trail Baggin' Series is a day hike that my friends and I took on a first-time camping trip to Sequoia National Park. Per suggestions made by our new buddy, Pierce, for the time allotted, we started our trail at General Sherman Tree around 12:30PM and finished our hike at Moro Rock at 4PM, taking breaks along the way to snack and snap.
From the general parking lot, a 0.5 mile downhill hike brings you to the General Sherman Tree - the largest tree in the world with a girth of 102.6 feet at its base.
The General Sherman Tree is a popular attraction in the park. It is accessible via car with two designated parking lots - general and persons with disabilities and via shuttle within the park. The pictures shown above were taken when we arrived on our first day (hence, the clothing change you'll probably notice in the pictures to come).
From the Sherman Tree Trail, we continued on the Congress Trail which would eventually lead us through the forest to our mid-point destination, Crescent Meadows.
The climate in Sequoia National Park is dry and warm during the summer. This isn't much of a problem since we were shaded while walking among giants. You're probably wondering why this trail was dubbed the Congress Trail... this paved trail brings you to a group of the largest sequoia trees in the park, named The President, The Senate, and the House.
Beyond The Senate is a dirt trail that began the trail to Crescent Meadows. This trail is about 2.2 miles with plenty of scenic stops along the way.
Alas, Crescent Meadow.
Green, green, and more green every where!
As liberating as it would have felt to run through the meadow and roll around on the good earth, it is HIGHLY discouraged. Staying on the trail is vital to maintaining wildlife in the park. Lucky for us, a large fallen tree made it possible to be in the middle of it all.
After completing this section of our hike, we took a small break before beginning the Sugar Pine Trail to Moro Rock. The Sugar Pine Trail is about 1.5 miles and was a different type of scenery - one with more rock surfaces and less shade. We paced ourselves rather quickly on this section of the hike in order to give us enough time to complete the Moro Rock trail before the shuttle services ended for the day.
Having researched "Things to Do in Sequoia National Park" prior to this trip, the only thing I knew I wanted to do for certain was to complete the Moro Rock Trail. I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.
Our final destination was to the Giant Forest Museum, where I happily ate the second half of my veggie wrap and did not take any pictures. We completed the Moro Rock Trail and opted to shuttle it the museum before heading back to General Sherman Tree where our car was parked.
Shout out to Pierce for the trail suggestion!
For more pictures of our trip to Sequoia National Park, check out the photo gallery here.