Once again, I heard the call of the wild and responded. This time, I headed southeast to Sequoia National Park, the country's second-oldest national park created on September 25, 1890, where I fulfilled a long-time desire to see The General Sherman Tree, the world's largest living tree (by wood volume).
On the 4 1/2 hour drive from the Bay area to the park (on hwys 101S, 152E, 99S and 198E), I passed several towns like Los Banos, Fresno, and Visalia and saw many orchard groves, farms and processing plants for almonds and citrus fruit along the flat valley. The entrance to the park is near the town of Three Rivers, pop. 2,600 at an elevation of 800 ft (or 244 m).
It dawned on me, as I was driving into the park, that autumn season is now upon us. For those who don't know, one of the perks of living in the SF Bay area is its almost-year-round beautiful weather - sometimes we get as much as 10 months of sun a year. During Indian summer (i.e. now), we get warm summer-like weather in autumn in the Bay area. So it was an unexpected treat to be in autumn conditions in the park. Still, I was told that the weather in the Sierras is unpredictable and that pleasant weather can turn hazardous and nasty within a day's range. There was a tire chain advisory for the park when I arrived the evening of October 28. Snow had fallen in the upper elevation during the day (the day before, it was dry and sunny).
