Day 10 - Tuesday, Oct 3 - Visalia, CA to Sequoia Park and Fresno

October 04, 2017

Starting mileage: 3518 Starting time: 8:30 am
Ending mileage: 3768 Ending time: 7:00 pm
Travel mileage: 250 Travel time: 9:00 hours

In the morning we filled the engine with the oil I usually carry and plugged the oil fill tube with duct tape and wire - it helps to be prepared!😃On the not-so-quick trip to the Subaru dealer in Fresno and back to Visalia, we passed through Selma, the raisin capitol of the world, so the grapes we see must be for making raisins.

On the way up to the park we passed a number of reservoirs that were very low. The current water level looked like it was at least 200' below the high water mark. Although at this time of year reservoirs are typically low, the vegetation growing along the edge indicates that it has been a while since the water was high.

The route to the southern entrance of Sequoia park is very winding with many hairpin curves at 10-15 mph. We seldom got out of 2nd gear. Major repair work is being done on the road and we were warned of an hour delay due to construction. Fortunately, we only had about a 10 minute wait. As we were waiting, we could see the striking Moro Rock above us.

Our first intentional stop was the Moro Rock where we climbed up to the top which had quite a spectacular view although it was somewhat hazy. From there we went on a walk through the Giant Grove and saw many of the absolutely huge Sequoia trees. Someone ahead of us had turned back as they had encountered a black bear but we didn't see it as we continued on. We saw a number of mule deer who didn't seem very concerned about our presence.

A bit later we hiked into the General Sherman tree, the largest (in volume) tree in the world. The top of the tree at 275' is dead but the tree is continuing to grow.

It was pretty chilly in the park, 41 degrees when we left. It was 71 degrees by the time we got back to Fresno in the evening where we stayed for the night. On the route back to Fresno there are often citrus orchards as far as the eye can see, bordered by the dry brown terrain.