Haven't had much of the camp or hike opportunities this year so I planned a late Fall camping trip in Sequoia with my 17yr old Son. Probably one of a couple chance left before he moves off to NY for college.
At the last minute my friend asked if he could go and then the only way he could get permission was to take his 5 year old. So we planned Sequoia as our destination. Pulled out the cold weather gear and sub zero bags to ensure our comfort and warmth. We went from the 14th thru the 17th with a truck full of firewood.
I know this is not directly Whitney related but had to share the car camping experience. Driving into the 3 Rivers entrance after dark we were startled by a black bear along the road about a mile up. Then we came along two foxes. At the camp site at Lodgepole we had a few neighbors, but the camp coyote introduced himself. During the 4 days there doing little hikes and just relaxing we saw an additional 5 bears.
Bear two was along the Wolverton/Sherman Tree road, he was foraging and oblivious to people.
Bear three walked through our camp, stopped at a neighbor’s to check out all the camp stuff they left out. He threw things around as he searched unsuccessfully for food. This medium size black then continued his walk up the canyon and out of sight.
Bear four was seen down a little from the Little Baldy trail near the top. He seemed to be walking, foraging.
Bear five was along the road and was a large brown bear tagged but very focused on licking up the acorns and other nuts.
Bear six was again back at the bottom of the park near the entrance entertaining people at a picnic site.
We also saw fresh bear scat along the trail to Crescent Meadows/Tharp's log.
Lots of bears, almost outnumbering the people we saw on trails and so forth.
We saw deer tracks and came along a young buck with a good start on his points.
At the excursion in Stump Meadow out on the Boole tree road we came along a colony of Lady bugs. Made some good pictures.
The coyote kept not far from the camp areas, as there were only three other sites occupied. He was fed hot dogs by some teenagers, and thus kept a close eye on everyone. He came through our site as we were packing up and tried to take something left momentarily between runs to the truck.
The 5 year old did well, hiking over 7 miles on different trails. The longest being the 3.5rt to Little Baldy.
The weather was fabulous. Highs nearing 70 in the sun, only got below freezing one night, though at Lodgepole there were remnants of snow from the week before.
Had I not been tied to the 5 year old we would have tried to hike Alta and get a look at Whitney. As it was, we kept seeing where it should be and a quick look at my GPS kept telling me which trail I should head to and how far it would be on trails to Whitney. Some day I'd love to do the HST or from Kings C.
The western views were not so good from the haze of normal Valley air and the fires, but the Eastern views were decent.
Pictures, including a few Pano's are here.
http://flickr.com/photos/jrsteed/sets/72157609474464922/Though Sequoia has little to see from the road, it’s a great park because there's a lot to see that’s not on the road. This often means that even though it can be busy in the summer, it’s still a great destination with fewer people and cars, especially in the season transitions. I was surprised by the number of bears. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip.
