Retirement Road Trip 2011: Day 42, Thursday, 10/6

126 miles and still parked in Lyndsay's driveway just outside of Sequoia National Park.

The forecast for today was more rain.  GRRRR. Do I wait it out, because the forecast for Friday is sun, or do I gamble and do a road trip into the Park.  I didn't really want to sit around all day, so I took off.  Best decision I could have made.  You will understand why in a minute.

I wanted to see Kings Canyon.  Sequoia and Kings Canyon are technically two separate parks, but they operate together.  I had spent time in Sequoia with Lyndsay on Tuesday.  I decided to do a big circle route by taking a small road that wound north through the foothills and entered Kings Canyon.  The clouds were hanging really low and rain was threatening.

I entered the park about 9:30, and as the road started climbing over the 6,000 elevation, it started to snow.  I could not have found a better time to see the area.  The combination of white snow, green leaves, and the red bark of the Sequoia trees was unbelievably beautiful.  I toured the General Grant Grove of Sequoias and then followed the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway east for a while.

Then I backtracked and decided to the Generals Highway, which runs south from Kings Canyon through Sequoia.  By taking this road, I was able to check out the General Sherman Tree again.  That's the one Lyndsay and I went to see Tuesday, but it was shrouded in fog.  Well, today it was covered in a light coat of snow, and it was awesome.

I found some beautiful examples of a really bright green lichen growing on some trees.

Zoey got to play in the snow too, so she is a happy dog.  And then to top it off, a rainbow.  I'm parked at a boat launch, sitting in the truck typing up today's activities.  It is more convenient to use my laptop rather than the iPad to make the blog reports and I found a Verizon signal on the Kaweah Reservoir, about ten miles from Lyndsay's driveway.  It is raining, and I'm busy typing when all of a sudden I hear a clap of thunder.  I look up and see a double rainbow on the horizon.  A fitting way to end a wonderful day.

So what's the moral to todays trip?  Just do it!!  Had I waited for better weather, I would not have seen the snow, and I would not have caught the rainbow.  Friday I leave Sequoia and head further south.

More to come.........