Seqouia NP 2004

5/7/04 Was on the road at 8:00 a.m. for Sequoia.The traffic through LA was nerve racking stop and go.We arrived at the Potwisha camp ground in Sequoia NP at 3:30 p.m. Got set up on a very non level site, but the pros of the site were lots of shade and parking.We then drove down to the Taylor’s motel. We all went out to dinner at the Gateway Restaurant on the Kaweah River.The food was above average and the ambiance was fantastic as all seats had views of the raging river rapids below.Bill Taylor whined about picking up the moderately expensive tab for all of us, but Linda soothed him by reminding him that all of the rest of the meals would be prepared in the 5th wheel at no cost to him.

5/8/04 Got up at 7:30 a.m. and took Meggie for her morning walk.Bill Taylor cooked cheese omelets, bacon, and toastedmuffins for breakfast.We had exactly the same breakfast every other morning with sourdough pancakes in between.Very good breakfasts, but what ever happened to variety.The Taylor’s do not believe in or practice the saying that VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE.After breakfast we headed up from the foothills at 2,100’ to the alpine heights of 7,000’ to Giant Forest, a 1 hour drive up a gruesome windy, steep highway.We walked around the world's largest tree, the General Sherman redwood.We then had ham sandwiches at the Wolverton Picnic area. After that we drove to Crescent Meadows and did a short 2 mile flat walk along the meadows.Did the 1 hour plus drive home back to Potwisha camp ground.I cooked hamburgers on the Red Devil for dinner.Not my favorite meal.

5/9/04 Stayed at Potwisha camp ground all day.Did a short walk along the Kaweah Middle fork trail that was very beautiful.In the afternoon a bear walked right into our camp site.I started yelling and scared him off.Meggie went crazy and we had to hold her tight to keep her from escaping the leash.One swipe of that black bear’s paw could disembowel poor little Meggie.This made me think twice about allowing Meghan off leash in bear country.We had reports of bears every night in the camp ground.Linda cooked salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, and garlic bread for dinner.

5/10/04 Drove to Grants Grove via hwy 245 in the foothills.Driving through the foothills was still a 1.5 hour proposition.The drive was however quite beautiful passing through ranch country and NFS mixed forest.We toured Grants Grove seeing the General Grant tree.The Sequoia’s looked more healthy here.Returned through the park via Hume Lake.We brought Meggie today and she loved all the attention. At Hume Lake she was allowed to run off leash perhaps 8 miles along the lake shore trail while we walked perhaps 3 miles total.It was a long tedious 2 hour drive home through the park on the twisty mountain roads.The temperature was in the low 50’s but felt very pleasant in the sun with no wind.I made barbequed fillet mignon steaks, fried potatoes, and salad for dinner this night.Linda and Millie did the dishes after all meals and locked every thing connected with food into the bear lockers provided at each camp site.

5/11/04 I drove the whole crew again up to Lodge Pole campground where we hike 3.4 mile round trip hike to TokopahFalls along the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River.The scenery was breath taking all along the trail.I especially liked an area that had granite peaks on both sides of us with many snow patches.The Falls were very pretty and worth the hike.Matt did a constant video of the river as this seems to be the only type of footage he shoots on his video camera.He allows no humans or animals in his video’s.The Taylor family is certainly not a normal group of people.It took us around 4 hours to do this hike. We did not bring food and we were all famished when we got back, so we had a quick late ham sandwich lunch which Linda had made earlier.Got home dead tired around 6:00 p.m.The group had hot dogs and beans (yuk yuk) and I had left over spaghetti and eggplant.

5/12/04 I stayed in camp today with Meghan catching up on my diary and charging all my electronic equipment with the Honda generator.Tried to do a raft trip on the Kaweah river with White Water Adventures, but they did not have enough people to do the trip so will try again tomorrow. In the late afternoon when nobody was about, I took Meghan for a 2 mile off leash walk on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River.Several hard shell kayaks went by on this beautiful solid class 5 section of NP river.Sure wished I was young enough to try this type of kayaking.I cooked vegetable, egg, ham,fried rice on the Red Devil wok for the troops tonight.

5/13/04 The troops all stayed in camp for the last day, except me.I gave Meghan another off leash run going up stream on the Kaweah River. Meghan would alternate between running in the water, rolling or digging in the sand, and chasing lizards.At 3:00 p.m., I did a professional rafting trip with Kaweah White Water Adventures from THREE RIVERS to Lake Kaweah about an 8 mile run of solid class 3 + rapids.Had a great time on the small 5 man raft through some beautiful scenery. The guide did not have oars so the four passengers had to paddle forward or backward and high side or low side as ordered by the guide.It’s the most participation I have ever had on a professional trip.The raft was an Airy 13’ x 4’.It had to be small to navigate through the small passages through the many rock gardens.I think I could have made it with my 14’ Soar only if I picked the proper line.Two of the lines where very tricky to say the least.Linda cooked biscuits and split pea soup for dinner and the Taylor’s loved it.I loved the biscuits with butter and honey.

5/14/04 Got off at 8:00 a.m. on a long day back to San Diego