California is different to the rest of the United States, to the enjoyment of some and the consternation of others.  The lifestyle, culture, weather, economy, diversity and politics make it stand out from the other 49 states.  Silicon Valley, Hollywood, the Golden Gate, the beaches, the redwoods, California is different.  If California was an independent country it would have the 5th largest economy in the world.  It is also a very large state and no matter how much you travel around the state there are always new things to discover, which is perfect for us because we were on the road to discovery again.

Our three days in Yosemite were truly memorable but we were planning to head a little further south and explore more of the Sierra Nevada mountains that form the spine of California.  We had our eye first on Kings Canyon National Park, a place we thought we’d been to but when we arrived we realised we had not.  How are those memory banks going?

After dropping down into the stinking hot Central Valley we wound our way back up into the mountains and entered the park in the late afternoon.  Kings Canyon is famous for, amongst other things, the giant sequoias which are found there in a few large groves.  We had just seen a major grove of these natural monsters in Yosemite so we had set a high bar but what we found in King’s Canyon was wonderfully better.

Amongst the biggest of the trees was the General Grant tree, reputed to be the third largest in the world by volume with a diameter at it’s base of 40 feet (12 metres) and a circumference of 107 feet (33 metres).  We stood at it’s base and gazed upward, totally overwhelmed that something alive could be so big.  In fact, the General Grant is a relatively young tree at only 1,700 years, half that of the oldest known tree.  It has weathered countless storms, fire, drought and everything else thrown at it but still it stands tall and proud.

To walk amongst many trees approaching this size was just an awesome experience and made both of us feel quite small.  And to top off the day we drove out to Panorama Point to have a helicopter view of this huge national park.  The smoky haze blocked out the last range of mountains but we got the idea – this place is massive and the word wilderness does not do it justice.

We camped that night in nearby Sequoia National Forest up on a ridge with great views and not another person within many miles.  The next day we followed the paved road down into the bowels of Kings Canyon itself.  The park is named after the canyon which is named after the Kings River that dissects it after glaciers carved it out eons ago. 

The narrow winding road made it’s way back and forth across this rugged terrain until we hit the bottom and followed the beautiful fast moving Kings River as it crashed over glacial rocks and pooled in a few wider spots. 

We stopped for endless photos, admired two waterfalls, did a couple of short walks and generally lapped in this wonderful setting in this remote hard to reach canyon.  It wasn’t in the same league as Yosemite but definitely national park worthy.

We retraced our steps and set our sights on Kings Canyon’s neighbour and sister park, the more famous Sequoia National Park. But we ran out of time and finished the day in the nearby Sequoia National Forest (same as the previous night) at a beautiful spot surrounded by tall trees with a babbling brook nearby. 

Sequoia National Park is most famous for…wait for it…can you guess…yes, sequoias! And the bigger the sequoias, the better.  So we headed straight to the biggest tree in the world by volume, the General Sherman Tree.  This gentle giant, standing tall and proud over the last 2,200 years, has a base diameter of 37 feet (11 metres) and is estimated to weight a staggering 1,385 tonnes.  And the crazy thing, it’s not growing any taller these days but it is still growing fatter, adding to it’s massive girth in measurable amounts each year.

But Sherman wasn’t the only superstar of the forest.  We walked and drove amongst many of these amazing beasts, in total awe of their size and what they’ve gone through to get here today.  Most of the older ones have survived more than 80 fires which the sequoias need to help open their cones and drop more seeds. 

We left the park on the road heading out to the south, following it’s super-steep and switchback path until we ended up back in the stinking hot Central Valley.  We had originally wanted to cross the mountain range just south of the park and head up the eastern side of the mountains but closed roads due to forest fires forced us further south, through first rich orchard and then endless pecking chickens pumping for oil until we hit the regional city of Bakersfield and turned east.

Eventually we made our way to Highway 395, the main north-south artery running east of the Sierras, and camped in a volcanic lava field in 42°C/107.5°F, just north of the Mohave desert.  The high temperatures and hot wind made it a tough night.  We sure do know how to pick ‘em. 

We had a long driving day planned up Highway 395, our new favourite highway in America, and unfortunately didn’t have the time to devote to all the worthy stops on this desert-mountain byway. 

We did do a short walk across the lava fields to see a waterfall over the lava that hadn’t flowed for eons and we stopped opposite Mt. Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4,420 metres) the tallest mountain in the continental United States, towering over everything else from it’s perch on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We also stopped for a picnic lunch on the shores of one of the beautiful alpine lakes in the Mammoth Lakes area, near the famed Mammoth Mountain ski resort, and stopped (again) at Mono Lake, the super-saline lake with no outlet on the edge of the Great Basin which features the crazy cool tufa limestone towers which are primarily made of calcium carbonate and rise from the water like mysterious monsters.    Mono Lake’s unique environment supports many species and is a fascinating place to visit.

We ended up in Carson City, the handsome little capital of Nevada, and went out for dinner in a Mexican restaurant to celebrate our anniversary.  Last year we were in Istanbul and this year it’s Carson City Nevada.  Sometimes it just happens that way.

After camping at a trailhead with views overlooking the city we made the short drive over the Mt. Rose summit and descended back into the Tahoe Basin but not before we did a great little three mile/five kilometre walk through Tahoe Meadows at about 8,600 feet (2,620 metres) and a stroll and lunch in bopping little King’s Beach, a popular holiday spot for North Lake Tahoe.  But soon enough we were back at the family home, catching up with everyone and once again spoiling ourselves on beautiful Lake Tahoe.  As we should.