Tree Hugging.

I'm sorry it's been so long.

Right after the Fourth of July I decided to take a short break from my trip. Surprisingly, yes, all this adventuring and exploring gets tiring after a while. It was the perfect week off from my already amazing reality with even greater company and it couldn't have come at a better time after spending a week in Los Angeles. I know I said I was going to tell you all about that week but I've decided not to. Like I've told you all before, if I don't want to do something the odds are I'm not going to do it. I'm stubborn like that. So, I've decided not to go into great detail about L.A. There's something about that place, I can't put my finger on it, but I am just not a fan. Waking up next to one of my best friends and my cat was definitely the highlight. Special shoutout to Erika, Chunjee and Nem for making my week in the city of angels so much more enjoyable. I'll leave it at that but I will, however, post a picture or two from the amazing fireworks Erika and I picnicked underneath on the fourth. I love fireworks, I always have. There's something magical about them, no matter how deafening they can be.

Fast forward.

Thatcher and I met back up in Los Angeles on the eleventh and decided to grab some food before we headed north. An L.A. staple, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles was what we went with. I am here to tell you all that it is good and definitely worth getting if you're there, but not the best fried chicken I've had on this trip. Not even close. Our plan for the week was to be out in nature as much as humanly possible. Mission accomplished, I must say. After a long day of travel on Tuesday, we couch surfed at easily one of the nicest homes we've had the pleasure of staying in so far. A bedroom for each of us, amenities everywhere, a beautiful garden, and a cute, cuddly cat that was quite the attention whore, were just a few of the many comforts we were given by Matty in Lindsay, California. The next morning after a delicious breakfast we headed for our first of three national parks we would see over the next few days.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park was amazing. I love trees, in case you weren't able to tell by my many tree and bark photos I am constantly posting here. None of the trees I've seen thus far even come close to comparing to the sequoias, however. They are easily in my top three trees along with the Rainbow Tree and the Manzanita. Only growing between an altitude of 5,000 - 7,000 ft., the sequoia is the largest thing on the planet. Literally. General Sherman, the world's largest tree, is approximately 110 ft. at its base and is growing more and more each year. The top of the tree is dead but every year it grows in volume, adding enough bark to it's trunk to create a regular sixty foot tree. If you could fill General Sherman's trunk with water it would provide enough water for 9,844 baths, that's one bath a day for the next 27 years. To put height in perspective, our view looking up at General Sherman is the same as a mouse looking up at us. Crazy, right? Driving through the park, watershed running along the side of the narrow byway and colorful foliage lining its bank, we kept waiting and waiting for the moment when we finally found our first sequoia, worried somehow we would miss it. Turns out, that's impossible due to their size and driving through the giant forest made us feel minuscule. The two mile hike through the sequoias just past General Sherman is one I highly recommend. Not only are there fewer people, but smaller trees of average, every day size with green moss are scattered among the red giants, contrasting not just their size but their color as well. Looking closely, I noticed small spiderwebs strung between the tree trunk folds, they were stacked high above one another and reach pretty far up the tree, the sun catching them in its rays. Among the many cleverly named groves and sequoias, Chief Sequoyah was my favorite. I loved the obvious character it had, the big knots and bumps jutting off its massive trunk were fascinating. Every sequoia had a different burn pattern up their trunks, cutting out black, triangular sections of their imperfectly round bases. Fun fact, fire is one of the major processes essential to a healthy sequoia grove. Low intensity surface fires are a natural occurrence and key to releasing seeds from their cones so they can keep growing. Most importantly, the fires help to reduce competition in the forest. Sequoias need all the water and nutrients they can get without having to fight for it so why not reduce the competition a little bit. Other than the whole fire thing, sequoias would make amazing trees for tree houses since their branches can easily be eight feet around. Wandering among the giants, I studied each new one I came across, wondering which one would make for a great hugging tree. Then I found the perfect tree, walked up to it, leaned against it and smiled. The red bark was fuzzy, textured, and soft against my cheek and in that moment I found my happy place.

Our final stop for the day at Sequoia National Park was the exact opposite of the first. The steady climb up 400 stairs originally created to wind around and up Moro Rock in the 1930s lead to a spectacular vista of what seemed to be the park in its entirety. At 6,725 ft., the granite dome made for the perfect viewing point of the winding road below we had driven earlier. It peeked out between the lush, dense forest floor as the Great Western Divide became more prevalent. Railings completely enclose the platform at the top of the rock to keep people from exploring any farther out and naturally, Thatcher and I climbed under it and stepped out a bit farther. I know, this sounds insane, but you would have too had you have seen how much rock there actually was to walk out onto. It's not like it was a sliver of rock to stand on, it was practically a whole other large platform. Stepping out and down a bit farther we found an abandoned set of stairs that must have been part of the original set made in the '30s, no longer in use. Mountains and cascading sequoia forests all around us, looking more like Colorado than California, we admired the view a bit more before heading north to the Sequoia National Forest and our campsite for the evening.

Kings Canyon, just above and in some ways attached to Sequoia National Park, boasts a unique sequoia, General Grant. It was dubbed a National Shrine by President Eisenhower just eleven years after World War II, I suppose the peace and stability embodied by sequoias seemed exceptionally important at the time. These and other "trees of life" inspire profound emotion and still standing after countless storms and fires, it honors the sacrifice of those who gave their lives to protect this nation.

Waking up to crisp air and excitement we started for Yosemite National Park. I had only ever heard great things about it and the anticipation was killing me. Entering through the south entrance and driving through the curves of the park, we started in a forest surrounded by trees and came to a tunnel. Driving through, the vista on the other side opened up onto a perfectly clear sky and granite mountains across the valley. Simply gorgeous. Off in the distance, waterfalls left their trails down the facade of the rocks beckoning me to come closer and see them. Bridalveil Fall was on the way to Yosemite Valley so we stopped there, stood below the massive waterfall and watched as the water changed directions, appearing as though it was swaying with the wind. Yosemite is truly an exceptional yet overwhelming place. There's so much to do and see that you really need a few days to even make somewhat of a dent in the park. Even then, I'm not sure if you would have seen nearly enough. The way Yosemite is set up with the villages, shops, things to do that's not just hiking, you could easily make a vacation out of Yosemite Valley alone without ever seeing Tuolumne Meadow to the east or Wawona along the south side of the park. Driving down through the valley that day we were greeted with the Merced River that flows alongside the two lane winding highway. Tall, dense trees line the immediate edge of the road and just past that the shore of the river begins, the pale mountains above reflecting in the fast flowing water. Our original plan, after seeing Lower Falls and Mirror Lake, was to drive across the park, see the meadow, and camp at Mono Lake, a lake surrounded by monoliths that sounded one-of-a-kind just outside the east entrance of the park. Bertha, however, had other plans for us. Thatcher joked about her kicking the bucket and I immediately responded with my usual skeptical tone and "don't jinx us" attitude and guess what? The check engine light turned on maybe ten minutes later. True story. Realizing that civilization and hopefully a mechanic were the opposite direction of the lake, we headed that way to camp in the forest and woke up early to get her a check up. Don't worry, it was a false alarm and she got a clean bill of health. We joke about it now saying it was Bertha's way of telling Thatcher not to mess with her. Too overwhelmed from the enormity of the park and overly tired from traveling all day, my six month road trip-iversary ended in me having a small breakdown, relieved in the thought that it could only get better the next day.

Of the many hikes in Yosemite, the most famous is Half Dome. After realizing we needed a permit to go all the way to the top and slightly disappointed that we didn't plan ahead, we made the most of it and decided to hike to the halfway point, Little Yosemite Valley. Up until now the best hikes I've done at national parks have been at Zion. This hike up the mist trail was right up there with those and I encourage everyone who visits Yosemite to do this one. The ascent past two amazing waterfalls, bigger than I've ever seen, was well worth it. Vernal Falls was by far my favorite. The water pouring over the edge of the fall was coming down in sheets, the mist covering the air like a blanket down below. The trail of wet, rocky steps along the side of it covered in people trying to get from point A to point B without slipping. We started climbing those stairs, dodging people here and there, admiring the vibrant green and yellow flowers scattered around us and noticing the water rushing down the stairs in the crevasses mirroring the fall to our left. Soaked and freezing by the time we cleared the mist, I turned back to look at the spectacular view only to find a double rainbow had been following me. Fun fact, the second rainbow's colors are reversed. Did you know that? I've seen one once before in Hawaii, but not like this. I figured getting my lens a little wet was totally worth it and tried to get as many pictures as I could, hoping not to forget how unique the experience was. The slippery stairs ended and steep, dry ones replaced them as we climbed to the top of Vernal Falls and continued onward to Nevada Falls another mile or so ahead. The granite switchbacks were nothing compared to the steep battle of Walter's Wiggles at Zion National Park. The main difference being that these switchbacks were slick, particularly on the way down. Granite is very smooth, add a little sand on them and you have a very sketchy path to the bottom. Carefully making our way up we explored Little Yosemite Valley, all the while hoping to finally see a bear, more so Thatcher than me, and finding massive pinecones and a whole new environment instead. We stopped at the top of Nevada Falls, also enormous yet very different than Vernal Falls and were mesmerized by the gushing water being pushed through a small chute out to the riverbed far below. Ten miles we hiked that day, it definitely made up for the day before, that's for sure.

If you ever go to Yosemite be sure to catch a sunset from Taft Point. We got there at 7:30, sunset was an hour later, and hiked the 1.1 miles to the vista. The stroll through the forest was captivating. The sun poured through in pieces illuminating the bright green moss growing on the trees all around us. Every new turn was more bright and brilliant than the last. The small flowers glowed in the strips of sunlight and exiting the forest's edge on the other side, it opened to what looked to be a drawing out of a Dr. Seuss book. The flat mountaintop slanted and the edges were jagged, curved patches of green decorated the top in a quirky fashion and off in the short distance was what looked like the edge of the world. Standing on the point and looking down I admired the strips of boulders down below, green dispersed throughout. Shifting to the edge of the point, the sun was a vibrant orange yellow and sat atop the mountains across the way. El Captain, one of the more famous peaks in Yosemite and a flat sheer drop-off of white and grey granite, was right in front of us, boasting it's beauty in the sun. Warm light highlighted the rocks I sat on and the Merced River down below cutting through the valley floor, the same place where we'd watch the sunrise the following morning. This was by far one of the most spectacular sunsets I've seen, and I've seen a ton. My favorite thing I've discovered doing while watching a sunset is to turn around and watch the sky behind me as well, so many people forget that the whole sky is affected. The mountains in front of me turned deep shades of purple and the forest behind me faded from bright green to dark to the point of just being a shadow in the sky as the sun hid behind El Captain and turned in for the evening.

I can't wait to go back to Yosemite and see what I missed. It feels like I barely saw anything even though I saw quite a bit in reality. Maybe next time I will make it all the way up Half Dome and really feel accomplished, who knows. I've been on the road for a little over six months now. I've seen 28 national parks so far and only purposefully skipped two. Pretty good, I think. I can't wait to see what else is out there, it's hard to believe, but like I've told myself before, it can only get better from here.

- G.

The Photo:
Hugging a sequoia.
Sequoia National Park.
7/12/17.