The Drive Home

Day 24 5/18

Well Actually much more happened today that I want to write about so yesterday is just guna start today. I got out of the valley and drove and drove and drove. A long day of driving but it went well and I didn't get really tired and feel confident that I will be able to survive the trip. It had always been a slight concern if I would be able to drive for such extended periods of time and keep it up for a few days. I can! I also learned some. I used to always wonder why my parents listened to news and talking instead of music and now I know. It is much more engaging and keeps you mind active. Music so easily melds into background noise that does not good keeping you awake. I have listened to the radio news, spanish stations that were lots of fun and abundant in CA, music, CDs, audiobooks. It has also been fun to just look at the scenery for a time. I have traveled through snowy mountain passes, endless deserts not the sand kind but the shrubby kind, and everything in-between.  I then had my biggest adventure near the end of the day when I went off the big highway, I-80 which I am following from CA to IA, and was making a u-turn but didn't see the roadside reflective post. I backed into it and broke some good sized chunks out of the bumper. 

Day 25 5/19

At first I thought all the lights were fine but actually the blinker bulb had fallen out, but not broken, but I then broke it trying to put it back in. Luckily there was a car parts shop right across the parking lot and I was able to get two new bulbs for under $4. I had noticed that whenever I used that blinker it would blink very fast which got me to check it again. I do not like the GPS it is annoying and gives me directions that I ignore half the time. I do leave it on for the most part thought just to make sure I don't unintentionally go a different route. I meant to stop at Salt lake today to take a break and sight see but when I got into the city it was rush hour and very big highways with lots of traffic so I was to busy to pick an exit to head off in. I also didn't really know where I wanted to go specifically. I am making good progress and am looking forward to my return to Scattergood. I spent a good few hours going through heavy rain alternating with snow as I went over yet another pass. After I had gotten a little ways into Wyoming I was going to stop at the rest area on the map and sleep but it was closed. I drove awhile longer then stopped at a gas station to take a break and decide where to sleep now but as I pulled into the parking lot it was apparent that many people park and sleep at this gas station. So I joined them. 

Day 26 5/20

I didn't sleep very well last night. I have been making improvements to my shotgun bed every night but I can't fix the tilt which prevents me from sleeping on my side very well. Since that is my preferred way to sleep it is difficult and all the outside noise and light doesn't help ether. So I woke up kinda early and let myself take a slow start to the day. I have now been driving for around 6 hours and it is only lunchtime. I may try to make it the rest of the way back today since it is only 8 more hours. We will see though I may take a few hours nap somewhere along the way. It is right at that unfortunate length that is a little long to do today but wont be much tomorrow and sleeping in a bed would be amazing. The road goes on. One thing that was neat is in one stein they had posts that gave the miles and how many seconds it should have taken you to get there from the start. It was very accurate and was designed to check your speedometer. 

Exciting days and now I am headed home

Day 22 5/16

Today it cleared slightly and the sun actually peaked out a bit. I was out for my sunrise photo walk when I saw all this mist rising. I decided that instead I would go to tunnel view and photograph the valley because many of the famous photos of the valley include mist and are from that view. Even though the sun had yet to be visible from the valley floor it was above the horizon at the overlook. It posed some problems with trying to get the photo I wanted but I managed to get some cool ones. I also got some cool ones of the snow covered trees. After that I went back to bed for awhile then spent much of the day working on preparing my photo print order including photos of this trip. I then went out for an evening hike but unfortunately it was cloudy again although most of the snow had melted. I then did more computer work in the car sheltered from the rain before going to bed early.

Day 23 5/17

Today started out normal but boy did that change. I got up and broke camp as I was going to move to a new campground for the last two nights before heading home. I ate, took a photo walk, checked road conditions at the visiter center(the ones I needed where open), then went to the wifi spot to make my photo print order. Making the order took forever because I had a lot of photos to upload and a slow internet connection. Finally I finished and took the shuttle back to my car and started off. Then they day went wild. I couldn't get to my campground because I needed chains to go on that road, Lise didn't want me to drive if I needed chains so I didn't bring any. I made some quick decisions and turned around and was planning on spending one more night in Yosemite valley then leave for home a day early. I remade camp but as minimally as possible so it would be easy to pack in the morning. After some more internet/photo work I watched a movie then went to bed. During the night it started to snow. It had snowed a few days earlier but my tent had been under a tree and was fine but this time it practically collapsed so at around 2:30am I packed up and sleet the few remaining hours of night in the car. I didn't want to drive in the snow in the dark and wanted to see if there were nice photos to be had in the morning. So I don't know when to transition to the next days journal so these two will be combined. My alarm went off at 5:45 just before sunrise. I got up got my hiking shoes on and stepped outside. Everything was snowy but even worse slushy. There were quite a few inches of snow/slush on the ground and many puddles. It was very beautiful so I started driving out of the valley intoning to stop at tunnel view and make some photos. I stopped a few times for photos but then ran into a sign saying that I needed chains to go up to tunnel view. Upset that my wonderful snowy sunrise valley photo with mist was ruined I drove through the valley stopping to photograph regularly. On a side note these three peaks, the three brothers, were beautifully lit but I couldn't find a good view of them :( I then stopped to see if the visiter center was open yet, around 7am, to check on road conditions before I tried to drive out of the valley. It was closed but I drove down the road a little to where there is a sign saying what roads out of the valley are in what conditions, It said that all the roads required chains. That really bummed me out so I went back and parked and will now go check out the visiter center when it opens, 9am, and see when the road will open. I am hoping it will be later today after they have time to plow and the sun comes out otherwhys I don't know what my plan will be. Well in the time it took for the visitor center to open the nain road out of the valley opened so now I am on my way.

Weather and other Cool Stuff

Rivers and Falls

Here is a small collection of my river and water fall photos.

Yosemite Valley

I spent a lot of time getting photos ready for ordering prints that I will display and sell at graduation. It also provided me with a bunch of photos ready for the blog so here are a few of them. These are my favorites of Yosemite Vally and Half Dome.

Life goes on, but now the end is in sight

Day 19 5/13

Well lets see about today. I have started my attack on Yosemite Valley trying to experience as much of it as possible. I woke up at 5am took a sunrise walk to lower yosemite falls, and around the area. Then I ate breakfast at 7:30am around hours earlier then I have been getting up. Followed by a couple more hours of sleep. Then I spent over an hour exploring/trying to find free wifi, I ended up finding some a good length shuttle ride away. Then I made and ate lunch and started on my big hike of the day. I unfortunately started in the hottest part of the day but once I got high enough it got cool. I hiked to upper yosemite falls. The trail climbs around 900m(3000 feet) in about 6km(4miles) one way. It was a very steep exhausting climb but very energizing and beautiful. I also got some time at the top to sit and read my book. I timed the hike so that I would have nice evening/sunset light on the walk back down and spent a pleasant time at an overlook most of the way down the slope. Then it was dinner time and then I drove out to tunnel lookout to make some night photographs of the valley. Next is bedtime, nice warm comfy bed and sleep. 

Day 20 5/14

This morning I took a nice early sunrise walk. I unfortunately just missed some nicely colored clouds over half dome but I did get to see a coyote. I also checked out the cute chapel they have here. It is very heavily photographed and I have looked at many of it but I noticed that the trees are a lot bigger now then in most of the photographs I have seen. After taking the day relatively easily I took another walk. I have again been in a photo motivation low point but gained some of it back on this hike which started out great will all sorts of neat things to photograph, I have noticed when I am not motivated I go micro, but then the I lost the trail and had to hike along the road for awhile then found the trail again only to realize that it was totally wet and muddy in many places. All in all I was low sprites when I got back to the car but I decided I still wanted to go check out under the falls that I had goon by earlier. I had started up the trail when someone warned me that it really rained on you farther up. I decided to wait on that stop so that I wouldn't be wet the whole hike. I then went there right before returning to camp and boy was it fun the trail was a river higher then my ankles and cold and the fall just rained on you. Many sections of trail here get misted on by the many falls but this was like way more it was pouring. I managed to make a couple photographs trying to have my camera out of the ziplock as little time as possible but was very wet and exhilarated going back to the car, o and a little COLD. I ended up getting detoured on the way back to camp by some cool clouds over half dome that I had to photograph even though it was already full night. Finally I got in dry clothes, ate some warm soup, and finished off my smore's with my camping mates. 

Day 21 5/15

Today it snowed. I woke up and decided to not take a sunrise walk since it was cold, snowing and there was no sun to rise. I ended up staying in the tent till almost noon reading and staying comfy and photo-less. I ventured out for a brief stint and got some neat photos but am now kicking myself for not taking advantage of all the amazing photo opportunities. But I did have a good morning not being out in the cold inclement weather. Staying in the tent so late shortened the day considerably but I still managed to take ashore hike, get some neat pictures of the stormy snow covered area, and sometimes brief openings of almost sunshine. Now I am inside warm and working on the computer trying to get ready to send in a big photo order so that I can have prints ready for graduation. I unfortunately don't feel like I caught up very much, or at all, and now am going to head out and see what photos are to be had before it gets dark.  

Wildlife!

I really enjoy photographing wildlife and have done much of it this trip. Here are a few of my better wildlife photographs. I am so far behind on my organizing and editing that I did not follow my usual workflow and I even worse didn't do much touchups on these photos and mostly let the computer to what it thought would look best. I am really crunching because I can't just let myself take a month after the trip to catch up but have to pick out and edit a bunch of photos to print and to use in my final presentation. So if anyone reading this would like to comment on which photos they like best and think I should print I would appreciate your opinion. I will try to get some photos of Yosemite Valley up in the next couple days. well enough talk enjoy! Also I left one out simply because it is in my Photo A Day blog so check it out there.

Since I don't have any more photos ready

I am trying to take full advantage of where I am which means I am sleeping little, a new thing, and not having much, nowhere near enough, time to work on organizing and editing photos. I am planning on continuing to add photos to the blog after the trip is over as I finish organizing and editing them. 

Day 16 5/10

Today I took a nice long hike that involved around 9 Kilometers(5.6 miles), I have re-remembered that I want to do everything in metric, one way and well over 735 meters(2400 feet) of elevation gain. I was a great hike with wonderful scenery that included a wide range of terrain as the elevation changed. One thing I found cool was the ground was totally covered for a very wide elevation by this shrubby plant that never got taller then about ⅓ a meter(1foot), almost slipped there, had neat leaves and woody stems. The hike was supposed to be to this big water fall but although it was big and impressive you never had a close up view of the main section and I did not spend much time peering over the edge into the obis that the fall was hiding in. I instead decided to hike higher looking for a view of the high sierras. Instead I got a good view of the valley I had climbed out of and got to see a sign that told me I could walk to glacial point in 16.1 miles, it didn't give it in kilometers but it is about 26Km, and the valley is just a few more miles beyond that. I enjoyed the hike and all the wildlife I got to se along the way but was glad to get back to camp eat lunch and rest. I have noticed that as all the grand vistas get repetitive I am making more photographs of small details like leaves, plants, flowers, birds, wildlife… 

Day 17 5/11

Today I hiked through the grove of sequoias here. It was nice especially when I got away from the crowds and into the upper grove where there were more big trees. It was perfect hiking weather nice and cool with a light breeze. I hiked past the grove a little ways to a overlook that showed me the valley from a different angle as the day before and oriented me as to where the grove was in relation to everything els. I also noticed that I was at similar altitude as my hike had taken me the day before, 2076m(6810 feet), but had done most of the up in the car. After the hike I went and spent just under an hour in the library before it closed using the nice bathroom and charging my computer. I then went on another hike around the meadow that I had hiked some of two days earlier. Finally I went and listened to a pianist at the hotel before returning to camp to eat lunch, which was really a late dinner(7:30ish). Now it's too bed after some photo work. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight than last night cuss tomorrow I go to the valley, VERY EXCITING! 

Day 18 5/12

What a day it has been. I got up, packed up and drove to Yosemite valley. Let me tell you it was impressive when I drove through this really long tunnel and then wabam a very impressive view. I had no problem getting a campsite and it only cost me $25 for 5 days!. I am seriously wondering how I am going to fit everything that I want to do in the few days I have. For example today after setting up camp I visited the visiter center, museum, art gallery, watched a film about yosemite. Then the real fun started, I took the shuttle then hiked up and down one the the rivers to Mirror lake. it is actually a slightly wider section of river, not much wider ether, but offers some nice reflections. I hiked a long ways much farther than was necessary to get to the pool. I ended up spending over 4 hours hiking and then hanging around the pool waiting to see what the sunset would bring. I ran across many very tame deer and near sunset I saw and PHOTOGRAPHED the moon rising over the cliff bathed in golden light. I then ate dinner planed out tomorrow, it included me getting up for a sunrise walk which I hope I am able to do. Finally I started working on my vision of a doom, cliff, or something siloeted against stars by photographing Yosemite falls under moonlight with a starry sky above. I think I will have to wait till the moon sets to get the silowet(how do you spell that). 

Life goes on, and I write about it

Day 14 5/7

I just got a bloody nose which reminded me of the stories from yesterday that got overshadowed by the eventful hike. First of all before going to sleep I was consuming one more of my reading material this time the USA constitution and noticed that in the amendment ending slavery it is worded in such a way as to abolish any form of forced servitude which in my mind would include a draft. Just something I was thinking of. I am sure someone els has thought of it already and there is probably some legal justification but I don't know it. And the other more exciting story that relates to the bloody nose was that I then fell asleep only to wake up around 11 pm with lots of liquid flowing down my face. I figured out that it was a nose bleed pretty quickly but in the process of stopping it, which I learned how to do in Argentina, I got blood all over the place including totally soaking one of my bandanas. This time I was much quicker about stopping it since I figured out the exact spot you have to squeeze in the late night bleeding. Its funny though because I have never really gotten nose bleeds until now. I blame it on the high altitude and dry air. 

Day 15 5/8

It rained last night and I slept horribly, not necessarily because of the rain. I then got up earlier then usual and started my journey from Kings Canyon National Park to Yosemite National Park. I started by the necessary morning stuff and breaking camp. Then I parked by the visiter center where there is wifi and updated my correspondences and researched YMCAs and laundromats. I ended up not finding a YMCA on my route so a nice shower and hot tub soak was out for the day. I did find a laundromat in the small city attached to fresno, I wanted to avoid going into fresno. I had a fun hour doing laundry and walking around the town a bit. I really still think it is not in the USA but some spanish speaking country. Everyone spoke spanish first english second, the TV was set to a spanish station, there was a spanish band playing in the city park, and many other small things added to this feeling. After laundry I went filled up my gastank, thankfully only 7ish gallons, and drove through the business part of town looking for a grocery store. I needed to stock up on perishables and wanted some ice cream. I finally found one as I was turning around to head back out. I have decided that grocery stores are the worst at advertising what they are, they seem to rely on people recognizing the name and knowing its a grocery. it being a totally different area, country ;), I don't know the names and it has been a continual challenge to track them down. This store was off the the side with a beat up sign saying its name, I forget what it was, and nothing about it being a grocery. Somehow I figured it out, can't totally remember but I think the carts in the parking lot helped, and was able the get the few things I needed and my ice cream, they didn't have many choices in the pint size to I forked it out for a pint of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked. I enjoyed the ice cream greatly although all the cookie dough and brownies seemed dryad out and hard :( I then moved on, ignoring my GPS which did not have in its map the 180 turned into a freeway, which may explain why it took me out of town not on the freeway but along miles of city streets. There were some crazy interchanges, Fresno is a big city, but with good signage to Yosemite, and then the road was back to a nice clear two laner. I made it to Yosemite back up at 4000 feet and made camp. 

Day 16 5/9

I have been writing a lot of words in my journal recently, hum. Today It rained, and snowed, and sleeted, and thundered. It rained most of the night. I then had to get up earlier then I wanted to to check into the campground since I arrived too late the night before. Since I was up I stayed up and went to check out the visiter center. It really is a little town up here they have a gas station, really expensive, a post office, lots(subjective) of houses, hidden away off the main road, a BIG hotel(some around her cost thousands of dollars a night), and what I really enjoyed a library. Since it was raining and I didn't really want to go hiking in the cold rain I stayed in the library most of the afternoon. It didn't open till noon so I visited the historic center for a bit first. It was really neat with lots of old buildings and their stories. Then the library opened and I enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere, warm dry air, clean bathrooms(I got to wash my face), electricity for charging, computers for internet although no wifi, BOOKs (including some that I could buy for a dollar each so I picked out 5, since I am running out of my huge pile of reading material, and gave the library $10 for them), audio books on CD so I ripped 2 to then burn onto CDs for my long drive, and finally a great friendly librarian as is to be expected. After spending most of the day at the library I was feeling really guilty about not photographing more, especially since rainy weather can be very photogenic, I went out to hike around another meadow(swamp). The storm was moving on and the library closing so it was time to photograph.  I got sidetracked by some deer and wandered around a bit then the storm gave way to beautiful clouds hanging over cliffs and snow covered trees. I decided I didn't want to go see another swamp and went around trying to get closer/better views of the snow covered trees and hillsides. I didn't really achieve that but maybe there will still be some of the same snow covered trees tomorrow when the roads reopen. now I have written a lot again and its time for bed, after I start one of my new books :). 

O My! Journal

I just noticed that I haven't posted my journal in many days. Well here it is. If you don't want to read it all skip down to the last one and read it because that was a very eventful day. 

Day 7 4/30

Today was my first whole day on my own, it was extra hard to get up into the chilly morning and a low energy day. I started volunteering for the park by exploring trails and reporting on the amount of snow and fallen trees. I hiked out to Moro dome and realized that that shear grannie pinnacle that I had photographed repeatedly from the foothills was actually climbable. I took the over 400 stairs and had an amazing view from the top. I could see much of the extremely windy road, the great divide, and got a look at some cliffs that I had looked at from below and was now looking at from above. All in all a great hike and view and I plan on returning with the evening light some other day. I then ate a late lunch, read, napped, and then went snowshoeing along the river by camp making pictures of the river and area. All in all a great day that ended with a few hours spent organizing and editing photos, of which I still need to do a lot more, and chilling out with a large group of mountaineers at their fire. 

Day 8 5/1

May is here and still there is feet of snow. I did more trail exploration following a trail through giants forest that was 98% covered by 2-5 feet os snow. it was a great hike and I saw many amazing trees most with lots of burn scars. One of them was totally burned out in the center and I was able to go inside a room larger then my chaletiny at home, 8x8. I then hiked back, watched a 20 minute video about bears in the visitor center, ate lunch, and came to the lodge to try and catch up at least a little on my photo organizing and editing. I have decided that it is futile to try and keep up and am now only trying to maintain a few days lag. 

Day 9 5/2

Today I took a few hikes. First I hiked up the river by camp to a waterfall. It was a hard hike because of all the snow but was worth it in the end because I was able to climb this huge snowfield on top of snow that was at minimum taller than me. I had lots of fun and was very exhausted when I got back to camp. Then after only a short break I went back to Moro rock but this time right at sunset. I took a detour to see the tunnel tree which when the road is open you can drive under. I finally finished my hurried walk and climb and had some fun being on the top of a granite knob. I made many photographs taking advantage of the colorful light. I also tried a 360º panorama that I will try to edit up in photoshop one of these days. I finally ended the day making some sunset pictures and one of the stars. 

Day 10 5/3

I didn't quite make it to my quota of 100 pictures a day, only 96 un organized, but I was driving much of the day and am very excited about some that I made. Today I moved from the snowy peaks and giant redwoods at 6000 feet to a deep valley in the mountains at 4000 feet. I am now going to camp at Cedar Grove for the next 4 days and try to take advantage of easier hiking due to no snow. It is more dry here but there are many small rivers and one really big one that are very beautiful and fun to photograph. One special occasion I thought it would be cool to try and make a photo looking straight down into one of the creeks so I pulled up my pants and waded in. IT WAS COLD. It is very warm down here compared to the snow I just left but that water was still icy. I managed to stand it long enough to set my camera up on the tripod and then scurried out of the water. I then had to go back in to grab my camera and lets just say it got me shaking. It also made me not want to fall into the big river even more that I already didn't want to. Other then that I stayed up later then I should have because I got so into reading the book my grandma gave my family for christmas. 

Day 11 5/4

Today was a somewhat slow day. I slept in very late and then explored around the valley. I food the lodge which is totally closed but I found a nice spot on their porch that has a table in the shade and an electrical outlet, no internet though :(. after editing and organizing photos I returned to camp and took a siesta. I finished one of my photography books, I am wondering if I brought enough reading material, and rested. I took a walk in the evening and discovered that the trails here have yet to be cleaned as I had to navigate many fallen debris. I did finally make it to a meadow and as I approached I saw this black lump in the middle and knew right away that it was a bear. I walked around the meadow and photographed the black bear for awhile then walked back to my car along the road so I could maybe get a ride, not many cars, and it was easier walking. I ate lunch for dinner as I have started doing lately since it is usually dark by then. Now I am off to bed after doing some photo organizing. I am trying to have a bunch of stuff ready to upload when I get internet again. 

Day 12 5/5

Today wasn't a real eventful day. I took a hike that was surprisingly steep and climbed many hundreds of feet. I should have expected it having read in the travel guide that there were some nice steep switchbacks, but I glazed over that and was unpleasantly surprised. It ended up being a fine hike although not a whole lot of inspiring thing to photograph. I have noticed that I don't like dry very much and her it is dry, enough for lizards to be abundant, sandy and rocky. I did meet a group doing some trail clearing which was very exciting because the trails were awfully full of debris. I went back to the meadow looking for the black car but didn't find it till I was on my way back to the car. Even then I only saw it briefly though many trees. 

Day 13 5/6

Today the morning started out normal. I slept in kinda late, got up did my morning stuff, ate breakfast. Then I wont on the hike I had planed earlier. I started up the trail to misty falls. After walking only a short way, and not seeing much to photograph, I was startled alert by a rattle snakes rattle as I almost ran into it. I don't remember making a conscious thought 'hear rattle back away' but I did back away and thinking back remember hearing a rattle. I then photographed it as it relaxed, crossed the trail, and went off into the brush. It was a terrifying and amazing encounter and I was much more watchful of where I was going after that. But I haven't even gotten going on this hike. after hiking around a mile I got to some marshy land and stopped to make a picture of a squirrel off under the trees. I look to my side and jump as I notice another rattle snake slithering along parallel to the trail only around 5 feet away. I proceeded to watch, and photograph, it as it slowly made its way parallel to the path for 20 feet, or so. I then left it to retrace my steps and investigate an interesting sound I had heard while rattle watching. I didn't find anything special but as I was heading back towards the falls I saw what at first I thought was another snake but was actually a lizard. I had seen and photographed some cool black lizards with blue undersides and some small brown lizards but this one was much bigger, different coloration, and very close. I proceeded to photograph it extensively while passing along warning to the other hikers about all the rattlers. I was very pleased with how the hike had gone so far. I had checked off one more thing on the "want to see" list, rattle snake, leaving only mountain lion which I doubt I will get to see. :( I considered ending the hike early since I had already seen so much and had already spent as much time as the entire hike was supposed to take, 2-3 hours. I decided to keep on and further along was told that there was a bear near the trail ahead. I managed to walk right by the bear without seeing it on my way up. I made it to the falls which were big and cool but not especially impressive with all the other falls I have seen on this trip. On my way back down I did find the bear and got to photographing some before it moved off into the woods. Then my camping neighbors walked up and for one of them it was her first time seeing a bear. After talking for awhile I went off looking for the bear, which had vanished into a marsh. i looked long and hard but didn't find it and gave up and walked down the trail. Low and behold a few minutes later I run into the bear making its way steadily down the trail. It stopped many times at logs to forage and I made many photographs of it. I ended up walking with it for over a mile. most of the time I was following a ways behind but other times it would go a little ways off trail to forage and I would get ahead of it. In those cases It would politely ask me to move as it wanted to use the trail. I would usually walk ahead of it and it would follow behind not following me, although it looked like that, but simply using the same trail in the same direction. In the end It wandered off into a meadow and it was late by then so I sadly left it. In summery, I had an amazing and surprising hike that provided many things. Over 600 photographs. Hours of sorting and editing time ahead, especially since I got 447 pictures of the bear. Both my memory cards full. Tired aching body. 5 hours gone by instead of 2-3. Seeing a rattle snake checked off the list. A very hungry belly, I had planned on eating lunch after the hike since breakfast had been so late and the hike was only going to be a few hours lol. The cancelation of my evening photo walk to the meadow to try and see and photograph the black bear I had earlier. Renewed motivation since there still is more out there to photography. And more that I cant think of right now. All in all a very exciting day!

Redwoods

Well finally I have pulled together a few of my better photographs of the redwoods. I still have more photographing to do but these start to show the redwoods. They are really magnificent trees that are proving to be a real challenge to capture in any semblance of there grandeur. I have tried to include a wide range of photographs that show many different aspects of the redwoods I have witnessed. The pure size is a big one, but burn damage, even some enough to make a cave(see below), has also been a constant as well. I also put in a few showing the environment, both human and natural, that the redwoods live in.

Sequoia National Park Foothill Flowers

I finally got a collection of photos from my time here in Sequoia National Park. I hope you enjoy them.