Even though we left Yellowstone later than we wanted to, we made pretty good time getting to Sequoia. I had no idea what we were in for…
If you haven’t gathered from the photos, the camper is kind of hard to miss. However, upon arriving, the ranger at the front gate didn’t say anything. So I asked her if there was somewhere we could leave the camper while we drove around the park. She directed me to the first campground, Potwisha, which was supposed to have an overflow lot. After looking around for 15 minutes in the campsite, to no avail, I parked it in a pad that said it wasn’t reserved until the following day and left a note to call if there was an issue. This was more or less pointless, since like most other parks, there was virtually zero service for much of the drive.
I’m so happy I asked, because soon after leaving it, we came upon signs that said towing and vehicles over 22 feet weren’t allowed past that point. The hair immediately began to stand up on my neck. This would mean only one thing…this was going to be a scary drive. However, there was no backing out. Mom wanted to see big trees and I had wimped out yesterday. Time to face my fears. Eeeeekkk!
We entered at the Foothills Visitor Center at the Ash Mountain entrance. We took the Generals Highway drive which is about 17 miles, but it was 15-25 miles an hour the entire way and switch back after switch back, rising from 1,700 feet to about 6,700 feet in that short drive. So it took us about 45 minutes to drive it. On that drive, guard rails and wall barriers were apparently optional. Not sure what the determining factor is for when they put them in and when they abruptly stop on extremely steep drop offs, but it’s terrifying. I had to cut mom off from making fun of me early on and explained that she could say all she wanted when I got back to Boston, but now was not the time to say “awww…do you need another napkin for your sweaty hands?”
In the end, the views and the big trees were so worth the drive, hyperventilating and shrieking.
Bears seem to be a big problem up there in the trees, because there were signs EVERYWHERE about not feeding them, approaching them, or leaving anything even in your closed and locked car. Apparently they will pry your car doors open to get to food and/or drinks. Crazy! We didn’t see any.
Again, Luna wasn’t able to go on the unpaved paths, so we walked around the visitor center and a few short paths where there were some cool things to see while Mom went on a short hike to see some big trees.
The drive down was pretty terrifying too, but we didn’t have much choice but to take it slowly and make it down.
Dad is tracking me on “Find my Friends” and sent me a message that I didn’t receive until I was down the mountain, but was pretty funny:
“Do you have the camper with you on that road!? (scared and concerned emojis included)”
“Getting mighty bold daughter.”
Not so bold, Daddo, but made it through! Glad I sucked it up.
On to Vegas!
Lesson of the Day: Research the drive before you arrive, especially if you are towing. I feel like the rangers should ask if you are camping at the park if you pull in towing, but I suppose I should have researched a bit more.
L&K Take America 