Sequoia National Park

Sept. 27, 2024

I got up when it was still dark in order to make it to my starting location by 7am which was just after dawn. About ¼ mile down the trail was the first of two bears. This one was plump and could not care less that there were humans nearby. I talked to it as I walked past and visited the General Sherman tree, the largest tree in the world by volume. I continued hiking on numerous trails for the next six hours including Sherman tree, Congress, Alta, Trail of the Sequoias, Tharps Log, Crescent Meadow, High Sierra, Huckleberry and Washington tree. Although there are numerous named trees like Lincoln, McKinley, Chief Sequoyah, etc., there are so many un-named huge trees on these back trails. This is a fire prone area and can be good for the sequoias as it removes competition. Most of them have burn marks along their trunks. They fought their battles with fire and have the scars to show for it. After about four hours of hiking, I was getting tired, but the second bear caused an adrenaline rush. The trail came around a big rock and there he was about 20 feet from me. We stood looking at each other for a moment to register what was happening. I put my arms up and started talking to him. He bolted under a fallen log and I thought he went downhill. He did not. My trail went through the tree and he was just on the other side starting to climb uphill. I continued talking and waving my arms. He ran across the trail uphill until he got distracted by some large pine cones. He was busy trying to extract some seeds as I cautiously walked past. I was too startled and did not want to lower my arms long enough to get my phone, so no pictures. By the time I got back to the Sherman tree, there were masses of tourists flocking to the giant tree.