Woke up a little early, had coffee and had a dead battery. Bummer! Too much charging the electronic devices and not enough charging the battery. Whoops. Fortunately, my new best friend, Steve, the campground host had a generator AND a battery charger. 20 minutes later we were on our way.
First stop, the General Grant Grove about an hour away. We needed ice and parked by the general store, got the ice for the Yeti, loaded up Slinky and walked the mile to the grove. The grove was beautiful and of course astounding. But to some people we saw along the way, I think Slinky was almost as big of an attraction as the trees. It was fun for Slinky, she is very friendly with most people and she is always looking for somebody to pet her and it was fun for us.
Second stop, the Cedar Grove about an hour rom the General Grant Grove. The Cedar Grove is just that, a beautiful grove of cedar trees along the South Fork of the Kings River near the end of Hwy 180. Besides the cedar trees, the gorgeous river and what looked like a large and fun campground (it was full when we were there), the drive there and back was stunning as you descended the mountain into a small valley with majestic mountains of various colors across the valley. And as you rightly surmised, the drive back was a lot of fun as well.
Last stop the General Sherman Grove. Slinky was sleeping and the temperature was dropping so we were able to leave her in the shaded car with the windows cracked as we walked the ½ mile to the tree. It was late in the day and not many people surrounding the tree. That including the sun low in the sky made for good photos. The General Sherman the largest of the Sequoia Redwoods at 103 ft. in circumference, about 34 ft. in diameter and over 3,000 years old. An amazing sight.
We arrived at the campground as dusk was settling in. Just enough time to fix dinner and build a fire on our last beautiful night at Eshom Campground.
The dryly majestic sequoias!