We had a nice hike at Sequoia National Park, on the Moro Rock trail.
I woke up at 7 today, to take the truck to get a tire rotation. It is due, and I can see the rear tires wearing more than front (evenly, so just due to more effort). I picked a Discount Tire store and got there as they opened. They fit me in, but would take about an hour to do the job, so I went for a walk. Lots, if not almost all, of the local businesses that are not big chains were closed, and most looked closed permanently. This is such a bad part of the pandemic, that so many businesses just can’t afford to keep their doors open and are forced to close forever. What a shame. As we travel, if we have to get food, we usually avoid chains and go for local, but it feels like it’s getting harder to find those, at least right here where we are.
I had a good walk, and the weather was good. I stopped at a few stores on the way, got 2 chain locks to lock a few things outside the trailer, got them at the dollar store hahaha… can’t beat those prices. The truck was ready in about 90 minutes which is right when I was back, so timing worked perfect. From there, I took the truck for a wash, it was this super high tech wash place, but the result… sucked. Streaks of dirt remained on in the middle of both sides, and the trunk bed door was all dirty still… worst wash so far, plus I think it scratched the hood of the truck. Son of a gun. Also, it doesn’t look like the tire guys inflated the tires to spec, so I’ll have to watch it to make sure that’s the case, and later fix it if needed.
Carol was home getting things ready for our trip of the day, getting lunch and the girls ready. When I got back they were all almost ready. Carol had made pasta in her new pan, and is loving it! The pan is so quiet and all the functions she used so far are actually awesome. My fear was that with a multi purpose tool like this that it would just be ok at each type of use, and not great at any… but, so far, she says it’s awesome at all the uses, and quiet! 🙂
We left to Sequoia with the plan to each lunch somewhere there, then hike the Moro Rock trail. The trip all the way close to the entrance was fine, but once we got there, damm…. Traffic to get in was insane… Carol wanted to leave, but I felt we were so close that we should stick to it. Well, I second guessed myself as we got really close and it looked like traffic was crazy inside as well, but it was just an impression. After waiting for just a little over an hour in stop and go traffic to get in, we were in… fortunately, everyone had something to do while we were stuck. Girls were playing with their phones, and Carol was reading a book… Maggie was sleeping.
We had to stop at the visitor center so the ladies could use the restroom, so I just grabbed a picnic table by the parking area for us to eat there. When we were all by the table, I asked the girls to take a selfie of us, and they each wanted to take one, so the results are above 🙂
We ate and had a great meal, the pasta was awesome. Since it was a bit late, we adapted the plan to do a water fall trail nearby and not go all the way up… but, as we drove up, we changed our minds and decided to just go for the original plan, even if the drive back was in the dark. I’m glad we did, the drive up was fine, no traffic and we found parking right away.
As we were hiking the trail, the girls were in good mood, the trail is awesome. The hole thing is very beautiful, with lots of giant sequoias on the way, some with marks from fire. It was just amazing to be walking in the middle of such giant trees. The girls did awesome the entire way, they were chatty and happy, it was great. The trail was amazing. Too bad we had overcast skies and could not see much beyond the trees.
After a nice hike on the trail, we got to Moro Rock (2.5 miles later), which is a massive pile of rocks that peak above the tree lines. There are small steps and a path up all the way, 500ft. Bia and I went first and Bella and Carol were just behind. Bia trucked along, non stop, I was impressed. I thought she would have complained at some point, but nope. We got up there and sat just past the railing, enjoying the amazing… wait… clouds…!! Darn… the best view of the mountains and valleys was all covered up by clouds. We could not see a thing. We sat there for a bit, resting. I was sweating. Carol showed up with no Bella, as Bella didn’t want to continue and stayed on a bench a good amount of steps below us. I went there to get her, prepared to carry her if I had to. She was afraid of the height more than anything. So I talked to her, offered to carry her, told her she had nothing to worry, I always protect her, etc. and we walked all the way up. She was a bit scared but made it.
And as we decided to walk back down, the clouds opened up a bit just enough for us to see the sun setting from way up there. We could spot the mountain range, clouds, etc… it was amazing. It was almost 4:30 so we rushed out of there to not be in the trail when it was too dark. We walked back via the car path (which was closed to cars). Carol and Bia went ahead, as Bella was with me and wanted to take a quick break at one point. It was getting dark fast and the last 20 minutes of our hike were pretty dark. But, the girls rocked this trail, no complaining aside from Bella being afraid of the height, and we had an awesome time. I love the talks we have when we do trails, the places we see, the time we spent together and the memories we make.
There was a spot on the walk back that the trail forked into 3 options, and I was a bit afraid Carol had taken the wrong one since Bella and I never caught up to them, it would be a Carol thing to do. 🙂 But, as we finished the trail, Bella wanted to use the restroom, so we went there. I had to have the phone flashlight on to get there as we could not see the steps. Bella waited in line, and when it was almost her turn… Carol and Bia come out hahahahah… we were just a bit behind them.
No problems driving down in the dark, it’s slow traffic anyway, and we followed some cars, so no worries. Then we went to a Walmart to get phone cases for the girls and some groceries. They are super happy with their cases now.
We got back and Carol did our bedding laundry and cooked a turkey we had in the fridge, prepping it for tomorrow. I put a few things away and got the girls to shower, did so myself, I was tired. We finished, cleaned up, and went to bed. Oh, and the last time I went outside I saw this circle around the moon, it looked amazing so I took a picture.
Really nice day at Sequoia National Park, and amazing time at the Moro Rock trail.