Last night we flew into San Francisco and stayed at one of those airport hotels. Nothing fancy, but it had a Denny's in the parking lot! In the morning we had a pretty darn good breakfast at Millbrae Pancake House, a spot that's been open since 1959. The inside was like a time capsule of wood paneling, cozy booths, and western-style wallpaper. Even 30 minutes after opening they were pretty busy. I got their standard buttermilk pancakes and Hans got the Swedish pancakes. We met our goal of "filling up" before a long day of driving. On our way across California we picked up mega-huge sandwiches that were going to double as lunch and dinner later.
Highway 140 was closed do to wildfires so we did not get to enter the park through the regular entrance and we missed out on the scenic drive through Arch Rock. Instead, we entered the park through the Big Oak Flat entrance. It was just as well since we were going to spend the night at nearby Hodgdon Meadow campground. After receiving a briefing about the bear boxes at each camp site from a Park Ranger we set up a limited domicile. We were going to be there for just one night. The location was convenient but there was virtually no privacy as each site was crammed together.
We drove to the parking area for the Tuolumne Grove hiking area. Along the 2.5-mile out-and-back trail are about 20 mature giant Sequoia trees. You have to hike a bit from the parking lot to get to them, however. The trail descends by about 500 feet. As we began our hike we encountered several other visitors who were trekking back up the hill and having to take several breaks to catch their breath. The overall elevation at this place is already at 6000 feet, so if you're a sea-level dweller like us it's a little tough.
There were a few fallen trees that you could walk up to and really get a sense of how huge they are. At one point while we were walking we heard a child's voice say "hello!" and it was coming from one of the hollow dead trees. I said "Hi, do you live here?" but there was no reply. When we came around a bend we could see that kids and brave adults could shimmy quite a way through one of the old dead trees.
There is a "tunnel" tree on the trail and it was made after the tree itself died and broke away. The trail we were hiking used to be a road for tourists to drive on and their vehicles could easily pass through the tunnel.
The hike up was slow for me as I took my time but I was never completely out of breath. Back at the campsite we enjoyed some tile-game time and a California chardonnay along with some Goldfish crackers.
After dark I set up one of the cameras to do some night photography. It was very dark down in the trees and I had to really look hard even with a headlamp on when a stealthy raccoon shambled through the neighborhood.
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