Frolick & Finnley: California Dreaming : Part Two

The point of going to Sequoia National Park was to see the biggest tree in the world - in the world! The drive from Humboldt was going to be a long one and I actually started the drive for once. It was a calm drive in the beginning probably because we drove part of it the last time we were there. We got to go through parts of the Valley of Giants this time which was nice. It was sunny out for once so it was cool seeing the Redwoods in this kind of weather, much more pleasing to the eyes.

It was funny we also ended up going to the same rest stop as we did the last time without knowing and getting subs from the subway there again. We thought about stopping by one of the vineyards along the way, but all the lodging was too expensive and it wasn’t long enough of a drive anyway. The last hours of the drive sucked major though because we got stuck in San Francisco traffic and boy what a nightmare. We must have been stuck for at least 2 hours. We ended up stopping in a town right outside of Yosemite for the night to take a much needed shower and a good nights rest before it was time to camp again.

The next day we headed to Sequoia. It was a longer drive than expected because the campground we were going to was on the complete opposite side than the entrance we came in through. Right when we got there we were stopped by a ranger who explained that they were having a propane leak and we couldn’t go into the park yet. It took about 15 to 30 minutes and we were let in. However, to my great anger they did not provide a map as they usually do upon entrance into National Parks. So we literally drove blind through the park for an hour and a half looking for this campground because of this without the faculty of GPS nor phones.

When we finally arrived at the campground which was right after some of the scariest mountain roads we have driven on you could imagine the mood I was in. All I wanted was to call my mom and I couldn’t even do that because cell service was nonexistent. I had to use the pay phone which stole my money twice before I finally got through and was only able to leave a message because my mom didn’t pick up. I tried getting over it while we set the tent up. Luckily setup was easy and I was able to talk to my mom soon after. As it turned night we made some dinner and relaxed by the fire before bed. In California we were 3 hours behind normal so we were always going to bed freakishly early.

The next morning we woke up early and headed towards General Sherman. There is a short stair trail into the forest to get there. Finnley and I wandered around like little forest gnomes for a while and basked in the quiet aloneness because we were the only ones there at the time. These trees were ginormous, but even in person you only realize how ginormous when you see a person stand next to one. It was so amazing being next to something so magical and unique in nature. We took a bunch of pictures and enjoyed our stroll through the giants.

We went back to camp and had lunch before we relaxed awhile and went into the town of Three Rivers. We stopped by a building that I saw the previous day that looked interesting. It had a unique shape and turned out to be a hippie store. Of course I ended up finding things to buy and spending too much money there. I got an “Om” symbol silver pendant and a cool tunic. Afterwards we went to this candy/Christmas/ice cream store up the road. Finnley got a chocolate turtle at the Christmas store and we went on their patio to look at the river that ran along the back. To my pleasent surprise they had some friendly kitties whom I needed to touch. There was a little lion looking long haired boy cat who was chill and a little sassy adventure girl kitty who I was really interested in because she reminded me of Lola.

After we went to check out their candy store. There I found a necklace to hang my pendent on and a pretty rearview mirror decoration. Finnley also found one of his favorite things there: cinnamon toothpicks. I was going to go to the ice cream store, but I figured I had spent enough money for a day. We went back to camp, got a nice fire going, and headed off to bed freakishly early again.

Our last day there we started off kind of late and lazy. We relaxed for a while after breakfast before we headed off to Hospital Rock for a short hike. Right next to Hospital Rock is a little trail that heads towards a cave and small waterfall. Finnley of course had to crawl right into that cave. I was scared to, but eventually mustered up the courage and crawled in with him. We also went to a different trail along the river and sat on a rock. When we were done on that side we walked over to Hospital Rock and climbed on top.

Still feeling a bit lazy we went back to the camp site and relaxed awhile before again heading into town. We went back to the ice cream place and I got a delicious homemade waffle cone with some amazing homemade ice cream in it. I still dream of it. We also decided to drive on to avoid boredom back at the camp. We ended up finding a little town where we got service and 4G! Hallelujah! We both got a chance to call our families and do a couple other errands before heading back to camp. Dinner, fire, and bed.