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Yellow coneflowers at the feet of giants.
(As always, you can click the image to view it larger.) |
I've been looking for a chance to re-visit the giant trees in Sequoia National park this summer, but fires and heat waves have kept me away. Since a small window between heat waves just opened up, and because there are no big wildfires in the general area, I went ahead and made the pilgrimage.
Even though I've been there before, I felt no sense of recognition on the approach. What had been a forest back then has become a heavily charred landscape that will not be a forest again in my lifetime. But as soon as I got to one of the first groves of giant sequoias I did recognize those trees as old friends. Of course, they are the kind of friends who were special to me, but who don't even remember my name.
After all, they've been visited by so many other beings, all of whom live and die in the blink of a sequoia's eye, who could blame them?
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| Roadside Giants |
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| I ignored the twinge of guilt I felt about climbing up here since it was obvious that many others have gone before me. Without something to give the trees a human scale, it's impossible to appreciate their size. |
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| It was 47 degrees when I arrived early in the morning, and on my way home I drove through 100-degree heat in Fresno -- a difference of 53 degrees in a very short span of time and space. |
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| A Gathering of Giants |
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| Giants in the Grant Grove |
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| Unfortunately, I had nothing good at hand to include for scale, so these giant sequoia cones look a lot like the much smaller cones of coast redwoods. |
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| I was glad to find this meadow again, since I also photographed it back late July 2009. |
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| Spikes of Hedge Nettle |
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| Giant Sequoia Meadow |
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California Coneflower
(Rudbeckia californica)
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| Some of the burned areas had lots of bracken fern covering the forest floor. |
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| Burned forest on the approach to the giant sequoia groves. I'd wanted to visit Crystal Cave, but it's going to remain closed all year in the wake of fires in 2021 and a tough winter in 2023. By the way, Lassen Volcanic National Park has been closed due to the Park Fire. |
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| Although there aren't any big wildfires in the area, there was still quite a bit of smoke in the atmosphere. |
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| The smoke was thick enough to be able to smell it. |
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| Awesome landscape around King's Canyon. |
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