King's Canyon (24-27 May 2001)

The trip had been in the planning pretty much since I was in San Diego in February and hung out with Drew and Henry and Soo Sun. We got to talking about doing this trip and on Memorial Day weekend, the plan came to fruition.

We had started with a small group, just the four of us and Drew's family, which has a long history of camping in the Sierra Nevadas. Drew's mom and dad, his sister, and his brother were expected, making a group of eight. His mother backed out, though, but somewhere along the line we picked up four others. The final group ended up looking like this:

Ian Ng - Me. Hard for me to have a vacation without me.
Andrew Warner - "Drew" is a close friend from Cornell. He was someone I'd seen a few times Freshman year, but it wasn't until Sophomore year that I really got to know him, when he lived in the room next to mine.
Henry Lee - He lived in my suite in dorm in my Freshman year and it's been a close friendship ever since. We've been through a lot and grown up a bunch together.
Soo Sun Choe - Henry's girlfriend and a close friend from late Freshman year all the way through the end of college and beyond.
Mr. Warner - I tend not to think of parents as having first names. Alas, it means that I've forgotten Drew's dad's name.
Lorena Warner - Drew's sister. She's married since, so she's no longer "Warner," but during this trip, she was.
Lauren Moreno - Lorena's friend, going back to high school.
Paul Warner - "Paulito" is Drew's brother, still in high school.
Una Kim - Another friend from my days at Cornell. She, Henry, Soo Sun, and I all lived in the same house Junior year. Drew subletted for the summer.
Nancy Nguyen - Drew's friend from San Diego, whom he met through a number of other mutual friends.
Chris Clark - Nancy's friend from Texas, who was living and working in San Francisco at the time.

The trip started on Friday, 23 May, for me. I flew in to LAX shortly before noon, where I met up with Drew, Una, and Nancy. We picked up Una's rental car and grabbed some lunch at the In and Out Burger, which was a new experience for me. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent picking up the supplies that we needed for the trip and getting ourselves packed up and ready to go.

Of course, it wouldn't be a complete trip without some kind of mishap to befall on a certain someone and, sure enough, late in the evening, a palm tree out on the street in Santa Monica, where Henry and Soo Sun live, dropped some of its fronds on Una's rental car. A frond doesn't sound so bad, but remember, we're talking about a pretty big tree and the base of the fronds are pretty much solid blocks of wood. Fortunately, the damage was minimal, but it was still an interesting experience waiting for the cops to come around to file a report. Of course, I wasn't the one that had to deal with the rental company. Poor Una.

With the stuff with the rental agency squared away, we headed out to King's Canyon, just north of Sequoia National Park, in the Sierra Nevadas.

Saturday, 24 May 2001

Driving to King's Canyon

We started a little later than we really wanted to, but that's hardly expected from a bunch of night owls like us. We were off and running, though, through the spring heat of the Southern California desert until we reached Fresno. We stopped for lunch at an In and Out burger joint. As it was described to me, all of the ingredients are fresh, never frozen. Could I taste the difference? Not really, but the burgers were good for fast food standards.

	The first of the pictures was taken outside, just after lunch. You can see Henry standing in front of some kind of fire that was started over on the other side of the fence. We had no idea what kind of fire it was but we didn't really have time to hang around and gawk either. Off to King's Canyon!
	This was taken while were were ascending into the Sierra Nevadas. Looks like it's just your typical forest fire on the top of one of the "hills." It was amazing how long it took for us to actually drive by the fire. We'd seen it for miles before we even got near it.

Grant Grove (King's Canyon National Park)

We arrived in King's Canyon around mid-afternoon and promptly stopped off at Grant Grove for just a taste of the kind of wonders we would see in the next few days. This particular site was a short trail up to the General Grant tree and it was pretty easy walking. The weather was warm, warm enough to want to have less clothing. It was fun, though, and a nice way to ease into the climate. We had, after all, climbed several thousand feet in a matter of hours, having started at sea level in Santa Monica just that morning.

	A stand of sequoias visible from the parking lot. This was the first good chance that we got to see the sequoias up close and unimpeded by surrounding growth. At the time, I thought this was damned impressive. Little did I know that this was just the tip of the iceberg.
	The General Grant Tree is not the largest of the sequoias, but it's clearly one of the more notable ones. This one's true distinction, though, is that it is "The Nation's Christmas Tree." It wasn't Christmastime when we were there but supposedly the tree is decked out in all the holiday fare when the Yuletide season rolls around.
	Nancy standing with some lovely blossoms. This was on the trail leading up to the General Grant Tree, which was a nice little walk in itself. There was a fallen sequoia that had been hollowed out from decay and erosion with all of the tourist traffice. You could walk through the hollowed out tree upright, as if it were a giant corridor.
	Nancy and myself seated on a log railing at the base of a sequoia. This was just outside the fallen tree trunk, with the railing keeping people from climbing up on top. It seemed as good a place to rest as any. Note the pale-ass arms on the guy who'd been spending all of his time in Cleveland.

By the time we were done with exploring Grant Grove, it was getting to be pretty late and the sun was setting, which really made the next part of our journey a challenge. After all, we'd yet to set up camp, having been delayed by about three hours that morning due to the snafu with the rental agency and Una's rental car. At any rate, we found our way to the greater campsite easily enough, but finding the individual campsite was quite amusing as we looked for the little makeshift signs that Drew's dad had left for us. We made it there safely, though, and got the tents set up before we were totally immersed in darkness.

The first night was very relaxed as we settled in and the less familiar of the group got to know each other. It really was a great bunch of people we had collected together for the trip and the fun that would be had over the following days were proof.

At this point, I was still getting used to the altitude, having risen from about sea level to 8,000 feet above it in the span of just a few short hours. Headaches galore. I did what I could to sleep it off and was thankful to wake up the next morning sans headache, though the familiar lower back pain didn't go away.

Sunday, 25 May 2001

Descending into King's Canyon (Sequoia National Forest)

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we all piled into Drew's dad's van and one of the cars for the drive down into King's Canyon. The road down was windy and was almost a terror to drive as Drew's dad was so enthusiastic to show us all the sights that he took his eyes off the road a lot. Scared a lot of people in the van at the time, but in retrospect, it was really pretty cute. It was clear that Drew's dad was enjoying himself greatly. It's so nice to see someone with such great passion about something.

	A view of King's Canyon on Rte. 180 on the way down into the canyon.
	A view of myself with King's Canyon in the background. This was taken on Rte. 180 on the way into the canyon.
	A view of King's Canyon on Rte. 180 on the way into the canyon.
	The meeting of the Middle Fork King's River ("Middle Fork," the river coming down from the upper left) and the South Fork King's River ("South Fork," the river coming in from the right) of the King's River. The river flows out toward sea to the lower left as just the King's River.
	The view up the King's River at the base of the canyon, where Rte. 180 crossed the river.

Grizzly Falls (Sequoia National Forest)

Once we reached the bottom of the canyon, we drove along the upstream along river's edge on Rte. 180, eventually stopping at Grizzly Falls for lunch. There was a decent amount of play time, of course, as shown in the pictures below.

Grizzly Falls is the endpoint of the outflow of Grizzly Creek and the little tributaries that feed into it before it empties into the King's River. It's not a terribly large falls, but the many rocky outcroppings made it rather beautiful to view. Given the hot day, it was a wonderful relief to be able to stand in the cool spring runoff and dip our caps in the falls.

	Grizzly Falls
	Grizzly Falls
	Me at Grizzly Falls
	The base of Grizzly Falls.
	The top of Grizzly Falls.
	Nancy wading out toward the base of Grizzly Falls.
	Drew and myself, giving the anime V at the base of Grizzly Falls, after drenching their heads in water.
	Close detail of some of the trickles of water to the side of the falls.
	Looking up at the top of Grizzly Falls from its base.
	Grizzly Creek, above the falls.

Bubb's Creek Trail (Sequoia National Forest)

After lunch, we drove down to Road's End, which is the end of Rte. 180 in the canyon. At the end of the highway, we stopped to hike Bubb's Creek Trail. This was the first real hike since coming up into the mountains, although it wasn't a very strenuous one. It was mostly flat land, starting off with rather open areas with a receded treeline. It made for spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.

As we moved further away from the trailhead, we moved into more and more trees, eventually hiking through some pretty well shaded areas with lots of growth and a totally different ambience. There were a lot of little creeks here, offering a lot of soothing white noise as we padded along. At one point, on the way back, we stopped at a place where Drew's dad, Lorena, Lauren, and Nancy all jumped into the water for a swim. Considering how cold the water was, I didn't dare do it. Of course, I'd eat those words the next day.

	A sequoia near the trailhead.
	A closeup of a rock on the trail. When I took the picture, I could have sworn that I was trying to snap a picture of an animal hiding on the rock. I can't find it. Can you?
	A view of the mountains from the trail.
	Henry, Soo Sun, Chris, Nancy, Drew's Dad, Paul, Lorena on a bridge.
	Nancy overlooking Bubb's Creek.
	Me, miming inside a burnt out tree.
	Lorena inside a burnt out tree, with two extreme examples of cones that she found in the shadows of the pines.
	Lorena, Lauren, and Nancy at creek's edge, about to take a dip in some pretty cold springtime water.
	Lorena took the plunge, while Lauren and Nancy look on.
	Nancy, Lorena, Lauren, and Drew's Dad after their swim.
	The evil trees are coming to get us!
	Me, dwarfed by the trees and the mountains.

After all this fun and excitement, we hopped back into the cars and drove out of the canyon, returning to camp in King's Canyon National Park. The evening passed quickly with making dinner and then the usual gathering around the campfire with idle chitchat and s'mores.

Mmmm, s'mores.

Monday, 26 May 2001

Tokopah Falls (Sequoia National Park)

Since Drew's family were working with just the long weekend, they had to strike camp this morning in preparation for their trip home. Breakfast was split between eating and helping them break camp, which went along well enough. It was well into mid-morning before we were done and late-morning before we were on our way for the day's activities. First up, climbing Tokopah Falls in Sequoia National Park near the Lodgepole rest station.

	At the base of the trail up Tokopah Falls. Nancy, Soo Sun, Una, Chris, and Drew. Myself and Henry in the foreground.
	Part of the falls toward the lower end.
	Me, near the top of the falls.
	At the top of the falls, Soo Sun and Una (Lauren hidden behind them), Drew, Nancy, and Chris.
	Una, Lauren, and Drew's Dad. Drew's Dad is trying to lure out marmots.
	Playing with marmots.
	Playing with marmots.
	Playing with marmots.
	Playing with marmots.
	Nancy and Chris playing with marmots.
	Out of all the pictures I took, this one's probably my favourite. Taken at the top of Tokopah Falls, I think it captures a lot of the beauty of the area while at the same time retaining the tranquility and peacefulness with Lauren resting in the picture.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Tokopah Falls. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	Lauren, relaxing at the top of Tokopah Falls.
	Lorena, on a rocky outcropping over part of the falls.
	Lorena, climbing back up from the outcropping.

Giant Forest (Sequoia National Park)

Unfortunately, Drew's dad, Paul, Lorena and Lauren had to leave after the trek back from Tokopah Falls. It was Memorial Day and they needed the time to get home, since they weren't taking the extra day that the rest of us had planned for our trip. We said our good-byes and they headed home, while the rest of us headed south from Lodgepole to check out Giant Forest.

Giant Forest is a very impressive stand of sequoias, with some easy trails to walk and lots and lots of the largest trees I have ever seen. Giant Forest is also where the largest (by volume) tree in the US can be found: the General Sherman tree is huge and it is absolutely astounding that anything could grow to be that large.

	Sequoias in Giant Forest.
	A deer in the forest.
	Henry, Soo Sun, Nancy, Chris, Drew, Una, myself, and one big ass tree.
	Sequoias in Giant Forest.
	Henry and Soo Sun, sharing a quiet moment.
	Me, in a burnt out tree.
	Me, in a burnt out tree
	Me, "puking" in a burnt out tree.
	The top of General Sherman.
	Me, at the base of General Sherman.
	The middle section of General Sherman.

Since we were near Lodgepole, we stopped to take a much needed shower and refresher from all of the running about for the past three days. After all that grime and sweat, it was heavenly to stand in a nice warm spray for a few minutes, even if the effort to share soap and shampoo around was somewhat comical. Sent some post cards off here and then the bunch of us headed back to camp.

The one and only night we spent in camp without the rest of Drew's family and Lauren, we hunkered down to try to eat up as much of the leftover food as possible. We ended up making something that looked like a chaotically improptu chop suey. It was good though, in that kind of "I'm starving and will eat anything" kind of way. Once the sun went down and the fire was stoked up, we settled in to a quiet evening of campfire talk and fun little games, including some group storytelling. It was bizarre, to say the least. I think anything with a character named "Chris, Sexual Outlaw" can be considered bizarre.

Or porn.

Tuesday, 27 May 2001

Mule Trail Ride (Sequoia National Park)

In the morning, the first order of business was breaking camp. This was done in a fairly orderly way, seeing as how we'd had some practice the previous day helping Drew's family strike their tents and pack up some of their things. Again, we tried to eat as much of the morning food as we could and put out the fire before heading out.

A subset of the group wanted to go try out a trail ride that was offered in the area, so Soo Sun, Nancy, Chris, and myself went out for the trail ride, while the others went to Lodgepole to relax a bit before we started the trip "home" to Los Angeles.

Apparently, the novelty of riding a mule got the better of me as I didn't take many pictures at all on this ride, even though we saw several deer and a pair of black bear cubs along the way. Most of what we saw wasn't terribly impressive. It was all woodland stuff, but I really wish I'd stopped to take the pictures of the black bears. They were all cute and fluffy and were chasing each other around. The guide said that he'd actually been a little fearful because he thought the mules would have bolted if the bears had come any closer instead of continuing along the ridge where they were playing. Being the ignorant cityslicker, I had no fear.

The top and lower left pictures are of me, sitting on a mule who's name escapes me, some fourteen months after it happened. The picture on the lower right is the view from my spot, fourth in line. Ahead of me is Nancy and ahead of her are Soo Sun and the guide. Behind me was Chris.

Moro Rock (Sequoia National Park)

After the trail ride, we rejoined the rest of the group at Lodgepole, where we prepped ourselves for the remainder of our trip. Our plan was to leave the park going southward, passing by and stopping at Moro Rock on the way out. As Drew put it, the views from Moro Rock were supposed to be spectacular. We weren't disappointed.

	The Continental Divide.
	The Continental Divide.
	Looking east from Moro Rock.
	Views from Moro Rock.
	Views from Moro Rock.
	Views from Moro Rock.
	Nancy at the top of Moro Rock.
	A warning sign at the top of Moro Rock.
	360 view from the top of Moro Rock. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Moro Rock. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Moro Rock. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Moro Rock. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Moro Rock. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Moro Rock. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	360 view from the top of Moro Rock. At some point, I will try to connect all of these pictures together.
	Me, Soo Sun, Drew, Nancy, Chris, Una, and Henry at the top of Moro Rock with the Continental Divide in the background.
	Soo Sun, Chris, Henry, Una, Nancy, myself, and Drew goofing off on Moro Rock.
	Nancy on Moro Rock.
	Me, "peeing" off of Moro Rock.
	Me, on Moro Rock.
	Me, on Moro Rock.
	The slope of Moro Rock. Unfortunately, without a frame of reference, the sheer impact of the depth of the drop is lost.
	Moro Rock, from the car, on the way down the mountain.
	Moro Rock, from the car, on the way down the mountain, and on the way home.

The drive back was pretty uneventful. I rode shotgun in Henry's Civic with the sunroof open, resulting in a rather interesting mismatch of unburned ear vs. slightly tender ear. Picked up a nice passenger side tan while we were still in the mountains, but we had to roll up the windows and turn on the A/C by the time we hit the desert.

We stopped for lunch at a roadside barbecue place and picked up some rather tasty berries and fruits from a nearby stand to take with us. At this point, Una and Chris parted company with us to drive north to San Francisco while the rest of us headed south to Los Angeles.

When we got back to Henry's place, we said goodbye to Drew and Nancy, who continued south to San Diego. The three that were left in Santa Monica -- Henry, Soo Sun, and myself -- took another much needed shower (separately) and hopped out to Sasabune for a glorious sushi dinner.

And the next afternoon, after driving through UCLA for a quick car tour, I was shipped back to the Penal Colony on the icy wasteland planet of Ohio.

(Okay, it was almost June and it wasn't that bad, but as far as I'm concerned, Ohio's always an icy wasteland.)

Crouching Tiger Hidden Beaver

Tourist Attractions

A Life in Pictures