Today, in Sequoia National Park, we begin the day with a waterfall hike, Tokopah Falls, the largest falls in this park. What’s better: hiking to a waterfall or mountain peak? It can be a tough call, but not this time. I would easily prefer to go back to Little Baldy. By the way, Josh is calling me Little Baldy now. Tokopah Falls is a 1,200 foot waterfall, but I am a bit disappointed. Maybe it’s the sun, the waterfall is completely out in the open. This may sound strange, but I am getting tired of perfectly sunny days. Day after day, it beats down. Not as hot or as humid as it could be, but it continues to beat down. I desire to get in the pool at the bottom of the falls, but there are signs that say no swimming (and we always follow the signs, ha, ha ). I love creeks, and the water would be refreshing in this sun. The trail is dusty and dry. Yes it was a pretty falls, but this felt just like a destination hike. We get there. We see it, get a good photo, and then we return. It is so easy to make life a sequence of destinations, accomplishments, going from one activity to the next. Somehow, to me, life seems to happen in the in between. Amber really enjoyed this hike, so it may have been just me, but this one felt only like an accomplishment.
On the flip side, I love driving through the Sequoias. Today we traveled farther down in Sequoia to Crescent meadow. A tree across the road has been cut so that cars can drive through. Of course, the tree is massive and we needed a picture. The true treasure of both Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks are these towering trees.
We also saw another yellow bellied marmot, in fact it ran across the road like a squirrel. I came very close to running over it. That would have crushed Amber and her love for this creature.