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As many of you know, my daughter, Sequoia, was named after the majestic Sequoia trees. We extended our current trip out west so that we would be able to visit the park, which she hadn’t visited since May of 2008, when she was about to turn one year old. Here are some photos and tales from the past few days.
When we arrived in Three Rivers on Monday afternoon, we checked into our cute little motel room at the Gateway, which is right before the entrance to the park.
We wanted to drive into the park just far enough to see some trees that afternoon. First, we popped into the ranger station to get the Junior Ranger booklet so Sequoia could earn the Junior Ranger badge from Sequoia National Park, and then we drove on.
Sequoia got carsick on the way up the mountain. She was miserable and not looking forward to the ride back down.
We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, alongside the river. Dinner was good but the service was terrible. They took forever; Sequoia’s garlic toast never came and it was brushed off, then when the entrees came, our server said they were out of the toast, which they charged us for, and then it was an ordeal getting the charge off; when my entree arrived, due to the tint of my sunglasses, I could not tell that it was not salmon but a white fish, which I started to eat, and then I had to wait for him to replace it. But the views were great and so was dessert.
In the morning, I ran out to get us what turned out to be an amazing assortment of breakfast foods from Sequoia Coffee Co. We then returned to the park. First stop was the ranger station, where Sequoia and I went into the shop and bought allllll the things that said Sequoia.
Sequoia had seen a girl on TikTok climb up the Moro Rock stairs. That’s where she wanted to go first, so we headed there.
Pretty immediately, owing to the altitude, I had an asthma attack. I did my inhaler and continued up the rock.
Views were pretty, but it was not going well. My asthma attack was getting worse, not better. Sequoia and Paul had gone up ahead while I took a lot of breaks.
Sequoia, about one flight up from me, was just starting up a narrow staircase that turned. She stopped and turned around—she wasn’t going any farther. I walked up the flight, encouraged her to go on, and said I would go with her. But she was done. (I can’t say I’m sad, and I’ve been up the rock before, so I knew what the amazing views were like.)
Sequoia and I paused a few times, then waited for Paul at the bottom of the rock (discussing how we would get home if he fell off of the rock with the keys in his pocket).
Our next destination would be the General Sherman tree, but we were checking out other spots on the way.
Then we came upon a meadow trailhead. Paul was wanting to get in more hiking than us, so we decided we’d drop him off at a trailhead with 2.5 miles to the General Sherman tree. I took a photo of Paul in the mirror, joking that it would be the last time we saw him before he was eaten by a bear.
Sequoia and I drove on to the General Sherman trail. It was a half mile hike down to the General Sherman tree, with a steep uphill return. Sequoia and I headed down the trail and I had an asthma attack even walking downhill. We came to the General Sherman tree, half-expecting to see Paul, whose hike would have been more direct than our drive. He wasn’t there, but surely he’d be along any moment.
Narrator: “He was not along any moment.”
We waited patiently. A half hour passed. Paul should definitely have arrived by then.
Another half hour passed, then another. At this point, Sequoia was worried. She knew I’d once encountered a bear while hiking in Sequoia/King’s Canyon, and that I’d seen bears on every visit up until this one.
Whereas Me, I was just annoyed, thinking perhaps Paul had chosen to take a larger loop and it could be hours. With NO PHONE RECEPTION, we had no way of communicating with him or tracking him. We couldn’t leave the meeting spot to go sightseeing because we didn’t want him to arrive and not find us, so there we sat.
At one point, a man approached and said that Sequoia looked like an alligator sunning itself in the Everglades.
I did not share my alligator fear with the man. However, he started up conversation again after a little bit, again mentioning the Everglades.
Me: I am terrified of alligators. (Tell him about our fleeing the Everglades in the night.)
Him: Did you visit (Something) Island while you were down there?
Me: No.
Him: Well, if you ever get ba—
Me: I’m never going back. I cannot tell you how much I am not joking.
Sequoia and I continued to sit and wait. At one point, we decided to walk to the Congress Trail, thinking maybe he’d come off of there. After a while, Sequoia wanted to go back to our meeting place, so we did. No Paul yet.
We headed back up to the tree. More than two hours had passed; it seemed like five.
I then had to go to the bathroom, so we headed down to where there was handicapped parking. Fortunately, there was a bathroom.
We decided to walk to another little area around the corner. From there, Sequoia suddenly spotted Paul, who was looking for us. Sequoia practically ran down to him!
When we get home, I’ll hang it next to the one we took in 2008.
Paul told me how he’d started at the 2.5 mile hike to the General Sherman, thought he was following the trail, walked 2+ miles, and then come upon a sign that said 2.1 miles to General Sherman. When we were driving back down the mountain, he recognized a picnic area he’d hiked by.
At least his hike had been pretty.
We drove to a lodge, where we bought more of all the things that say Sequoia.
Sequoia was miserable from the combination of the carsickness and having spent hours laying around waiting for Paul, so we headed back, stopping at the Sequoia National Park sign.
After we returned to the room, I drove into town, to the post office, to mail postcards. I noticed that I was next to the Village Market, which a park ranger had mentioned that morning. The ranger had told me that the market carried even more cool Sequoia stickers than the park shop. So…I bought more of all the things that say Sequoia.
We didn’t want to return to the hotel restaurant, but we weren’t sure what we wanted to do about dinner. Then, I passed a food truck. We all returned and YUM!
Sequoia was still miserable, but then Paul switched seats with her and she rode up front, which helped. In fact, later she was game to ride just a little ways back into the park to look at the starry night sky.
In the morning, I wanted to take a picture of everyone in Sequoia gear—Paul’s hat, my tee, Sequoia’s sweatshirt. Sequoia wasn’t in the pic, Paul’s hat can’t be seen, and my shirt is mostly covered :/ But more importantly, the picture was taken before Paul got mad at me.
We were stopping at Sequoia Coffee Company on our way out of town, to get more of their delicious food. Paul got a coffee of some sort (I’m not asking him to remind me what kind).
While waiting for our food, Paul had to go to the bathroom. Sequoia had just come from the port-o-potty (apparently, she had to reopen the door, take a deep breath, and hold her breath before going back in).
Paul asked me to watch his coffee, which he had set next to me on a bench. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Kari knocked over the coffee. Well, YOU’RE WRONG.
Soon, they called our number. I picked up Paul’s coffee and went to pick up the bag of food. I then placed the coffee and food on the hood of the rental car.
I began yelling for Sequoia. She was answering, but I couldn’t see her. I’m yelling, “Where are you?” And she says, “In the car.” But she wasn’t in the car.
Because this wasn’t our car.
I realized that I had put our food and coffee on the hood of the car that looked like ours, which Paul had pointed out earlier when I tried to get my purse out of it.
Panicked, I grabbed for the food and Paul’s coffee. I knocked the coffee cup over, emptying the entire contents, which spilled down the shiny white hood of not-our-car.
The people returned to the vehicle at the same time that Paul came sauntering up, all of them to find me standing there, hands full, with the coffee river running down the hood of not-our-car.
The people were nice about the whole thing. Paul didn’t want to pay another $5 to wait for a cup of whatever-his-coffee-was, so we left, with hours in the car, giving Paul plenty of time to be mad at me.
This was very entertaining. Loved the pictures.
Glad you enjoyed it!