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We have a free day to explore since we had expected to be hiking today. The view of King's River from our campsite is great.
After a very pleasant morning taking a walk, we take a scenic drive along the King’s Canyon Highway. It’s an amazing road, mostly in the National Forest. We stop to admire the views several times.
At one point, we pull over onto a side road and notice an inconspicuous sign commemorating that this was the site of the greatest stand of giant sequoias, which were all chopped down in the late 1800s, except for one. Apparently, this one remaining giant is somewhere in the area. Dean said he saw a sign for it when he was driving to pick me up yesterday, and I am curious, so we head over there. We drive a few miles on dirt roads through a grimly named Stump Valley (which is just what the name suggests - all that remains of the once magnificent grove) to a parking lot for the Boole Tree (named after the property owner who had the grove chopped down!). It’s a one mile hike with 500 feet of elevation gain - sounds like a breeze! As we walk that one mile, I have a sense of pilgrimage towards this one remaining ancient tree, and when we arrive, I am moved and impressed. We spend some time there.
It’s nice that no one else is around. I think a lot about the attitudes back then when this grove was cut. Did they not have a sense of reverence and awe? I suppose this one remaining tree (which apparently was the largest) indicates that they did. A sign tells us that the Boole tree is over 2,000 years old.
After that we find a spot to have lunch in the forest and Dean spends some time on the phone with his family. There has been some drama while we were away - his older sister was admitted to the ICU in Phoenix with the Corona Virus. Dean gives her a call and she seems to be recovering well back at home.
We find a campsite in the National Forest as near the General Grant Tree as possible for the night. Our plan is to visit that very popular tree first thing in the morning when it’s nice and quiet.
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