MONDAY 25 APRIL 2016
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK
COLD COLD COLD (Little Feat, 1974)
Nothing overly profound in these lyrics apart from how they described today.
About 9 pm last night, a fierce electrical storm swept across the High Sierras and dumped about an inch-and-a-half of snow in 30 minutes.
It meant last night was pretty damned cold in my tent and today was even colder.
Top temp today folks in Sequoia National Park of 34F. (That's 1C!!!)
A multitude of snow storms passed throughout the day, the final one of which at about 3 pm halted me along the Generals Highway in Sequoia at the very posh Wuksachi Lodge.
Not having chains on my tyres and like most people getting about today, I was largely unprepared for this extremely cold snap in the middle of spring.
But I guess, it can always happen when you're at 7000 ft elevation.
It's a shame because any hiking plans I may have had for today were out the door from the outset.
Unfortunately the amounts of ice and snow on the roads also made driving conditions dangerous and eventually impossible, so luckily for me Wuksachi Lodge came up on my right and I pulled in.
I enquired about vacancies in passing but to no avail.
It is an expensive place and not somewhere I'd normally choose to stay, so no biggie here.
I did take the opportunity however to jump in out of the freezing cold for an hour or so and use the wi-fi.
By 4 pm, the snow had eased and the sun was out, briefly at least.
So I took the chance to get back on the road with the ease in conditions and the activities of the snow ploughs who were out in full force.
The original plan was to take the Generals Highway back north to Grant Grove and maybe book a cabin there for the night but back out on the road, they had closed it to the north which left me with 2 options - sleep in the Dodge Dart at Wuksachi or head south.
A Parks employee actually came out of the lodge behind me and in an exchange through open windows, tipped me off to head south through to Three Rivers as it was about 5000 feet lower and conditions could only improve as the altitude decreased.
So this is what I did.
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THE EXCELLENT GIANT FOREST MUSEUM, SEQUOIA NP |
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