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August 25th - 27th
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As August was coming to an end it only seemed appropriate to make a last attempt at a "summer" camping trip.


So we saddled up.


Packed the car until it was uncomfortably full.


Cranked up the AC.


And hit the dusty trail.


Four hours later we had arrived to the Sequoia National Park.


Home of Mount Whitney.


The highest summit in the contiguous United States.


With an elevation of 4,421 m (14,505 ft.) above sea level.


Also home of the Sequoiadendron giganteum...


...or, Giant Sequoia. (Commonly referred to as "redwoods")


The largest trees in the world, by volume, they grow to be on average 50-85 m (165-280 ft.) tall and 6-8 m (18-24 ft.) in diameter.


After making camp at ol' site #142...


...we stored our food in "bear-safe" cabinets and hunkered down for a rousing game of Monopoly.


Followed by stories of eerie nature by campfire.


And by stick, cooked delicious treats consisting of compacted graham squares, covered with a melted cocoa bean extract, and topped by an oozing gelatin and dextrose concoction.


The stars shone bright that night. Old Father Moon Beam was smiling down on us.


We awoke the next day, bright eyed and bushy tailed. It was time to explore the forest of giants.
Well...Giant Forest if you want to get technical.


After meticulously planning our hike (glancing at a map for less than 2 seconds)...


...we began our journey into the woods.


With the foot-paths barely marked, it was up to me and my expert tracking skills to lead group.


I knew we were heading south...because I could see the moss on all the trees I was taking pictures of.

Expert.

Fact.

True story.


Sooooo much wood!!!


That's what she said.


We hiked along.


Mere midgets standing in the shadows of nature's titans.


At first the trees were so...mammoth...they almost seemed fake. Yet after being around them long enough, it was hard to imagine the size of normal trees.


Fuckin' hippies.


Along our hike we even got a glimpse of a fully matured Dirt Shrew popping it's head out from it's burrow.


Ex. A: The endangered Dirt Shrew (baby).


Hiking further into the forest we were witness to Smokey the Bear's public enemy #1.


Forest fire.


Chris' eyes began to water. Then, sobbing, he began to tremble so hard that he knocked over the very tree he was leaning against.


Smokey the Bear has a new enemy.


The trunk of the tree was blocking our path.


So with hatchet in hand, and coonskin on head, we pioneered our way through it.


Only to discover a beauuuutiful oasis.


We then took turns to fill our humps with water.


It was then that I had spotted the once-thought-extinct Blue Giant Jay Cardinal Hawk.
Bigger than a man's head, he swooped down and landed on a nearby branch. He then began bobbing his head towards the West of us, as if trying to tell us something.


Over in the distance we spotted a glow. A holy glow.

It must be a sign.


After hiking hundreds of miles. Braving the harshest of elements. And facing nature's most fearsome creatures. We had finally reached the pinnacle of human existence.
We had laid eyes upon THE General Sherman.


The LARGEST tree in the WORLD. By volume.

There it stood.
83.8 m (275 ft.) tall.
31.3 m (102.6 ft.) around.
2,700 years old.

All 1487 cubic meters of it.


The next day...


When we woke up we decided to explore some more of the forest around our campsite.


Following a nearby creek upstream we came to this rocky oasis.


Complete with super-awesome waterfall.

Now with MORE water!


The source of the stream feeding the falls was most likely melting snow from the mountain peaks above.


Because it hadn't rained in weeks, and the water's temperature was 0 degrees Celsius at most.


The water filled tiny pools formed in the rock...


...forming one thin stream to produce the falls...


...which then ended in this large pool...of very very cold water.


Somewhat...slimy...greenish...very very cold water.


Watching as people could hardly bear sticking their feet in the water, due to it's icy cold temperatures, it seemed only natural to plunge my body in it.


While nearly blacking out from the sudden temperature change, I experienced what was quite possibly the closest I've come to a heart attack.


Quickly my body became numb. Euphoria set in.


Shrinkage was at a maximum.


Much like swimming in the ocean, after a minute of being fully submerged it didn't hurt at all to have my legs in.


Ahhhh. Fresh mountain air. Fresh mountain water. Fresh Mountain...sun.




Nature's paradise was all ours.


Once boredom set in at the pool, we decided to make our best efforts at being a human damn.


Laying down across the thin stream of water that fed the waterfall, we successfully defeated nature. Once again.


A video documentation of our Man vs. Nature victory.


Looking around for further ideas...


It had seemed we'd sufficiently maximized the amount of fun that could be extracted from this area.


Taking another moment to relax...


...and sunbathe...


...it was time to move on.


We followed the water further upstream.


Weaving through patches of more forest.



With my expert tracking skills once again honed in on spotting "tracking" moss, getting lost was not an option.


Until we got lost. Then. It was our only option.


For the trees had run out of moss!


We continued to follow the stream.


Nature's rocky playground gift to us.


We kept walking...


...and walking...


...and walking.


Hobbling along, it was only a matter of time before a bear confused us with injured animals.


Nature. Was starting to seem less exciting.


Even super pretty yellow flower nature.


"Let's head back home," Valerie yawned.

And back home we went.


The next day...


We woke up and cooked delicious campfire bacon. Complimented by chorizo that was extremely cooked on the outside, and extremely UNDER-cooked on the inside.

We were then eaten by bears.

The end.
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This post is dedicated to Photoshop's "Photomerge."