Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, California

Well, unfortunately and fortunately, this great adventure did not come with easily accessible WiFi. So, we do not have regular posts here. But instead, here is a summary of this great trip. Lots of photographs and artwork to follow.

After a peaceful night of sleep in a campground, lulled to sleep by a wild river and singing crickets, we climbed the winding road toward the higher elevations of this park, the views were spectacular: snow on rocky peaks, wildflowers in bloom, and western birds singing. As we climbed higher the air smelled dry and clear and the trees got bigger. As we approached the “Giants’ Forest” we were in awe. Huge red barked sequoia trees reached up for the sky so tall we couldn’t see where they stopped. Light filtered through the canopy and gave an atmosphere of the primeval.

Pulling over by the roadside in a random spot to admire these giants gave us more of an opportunity for contemplation than stopping at the next stop – the General Sherman tree. This tree is the largest (by sheer volume) of any of the Sequoias. Given that people love to say they’ve seen “the biggest” “the tallest” “the oldest” of anything, this tree was heavily goggled at and photographed. It was impressive but so were the other “noble trees” (as John Muir called them) in this forest.

Jer and Jo (and some peeping Tom) among the Sequoias

On one beautiful morning we drove through this grove and, with the sunlight rays coming through the giant trees, there was, just waking up and soaking up some sun, a black bear. It was a beautiful picture.

There's a bear in there. Really.

The bears in this area are fairly used to people. This is not such a good situation for the people or the bears. People start to think they’re almost domestic and act stupid, like getting too close for a photo. This often leads to a bad encounter and the bear usually gets the blame for any attack. The bear might be killed because of such an encounter for fear it will attack again. But it’s the people who need to be educated on how to behave in bear country.

Mule Deer

Snakefly

One of our gorgeous high country hikes took us to an area known as Mineral King. It had once been a hotspot for the mining of silver. But the mines stopped producing and at one point the National Forest Service owned it and took bids for development. Disney almost won the bid to build a huge skiing complex in this glacial valley. Luckily, the public outcry prevented this and the area was acquired by the National Park. All I can say is “power to the people!” It is gorgeous.

We drove our rental car up and up and up a less-than-well-maintained mountain road full of hairpin turns. The road turned into dirt and we passed a ranger station at one point, then headed up to a parking area at the start of the trailhead. Wow! I thought I was in the Alps. We were in a green mountain valley at about 6,400 feet elevation surrounded by steep rocky mountain peaks. Some still had snow on them. There were long narrow cascading waterfalls coming from the high peaks down to join the river that ran through the valley. There were wildflowers everywhere and all kinds of birds. It was paradise.

Cascading Waterfall

Mineral King, mountain valley

We hiked up a trail that promised about a 1,600 foot elevation climb to a glacial lake, called Eagle Lake. We started up slowly, taking it all in. Jeremy stopped frequently to take photographs. At one point we heard a deep, resonating, periodic hum. After trying to locate it in bushes and trees, we finally saw a well camouflaged bird in a fir tree. It had a huge body and small head and moved in time with the hum so we knew it was the origin of the sound. It was a grouse and it was either telling other grouse to get lost or trying to attract a lady grouse.

We continued to climb higher and came across some deep sinkholes. These were on the map but it didn’t explain if they were natural or human made. (We knew from Colorado that miners often sunk sinkholes to find a vein of ore.) One sinkhole swallowed up a mountain stream. The hiking map said, “no one knows where it goes”. Creepy. A ranger later told us there were many marble caves under the ground and sometimes they collapsed so this might be the source of the sinkholes.

Wildflowers in bloom

We came out almost above treeline to a boulder field and were still in awe at our surroundings when I spotted a black bear above us on the rocks. Thinking it was a young one, I was anxiously looking around for Mama. We started making noise to scare it off. Ultimately, I think my top-of-my-voice rendition of “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” made the bear decide to turn in another direction. So, let that be a lesson to anyone in bear country. Learn how to sing that song off key and nice and loud!

High Mountain Photographer, bear's perspective

Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park are right beside each other with one road leading into first one, then the other. The road ends in Kings Canyon, and then there is wilderness. As magnificently vertical the trees of Sequoia are, the amazingly horizontal surround of the treeless canyon is another breathtaker. This time we drove down, down, down the hairpin turns, avoiding lizards on the hot road, admiring the flowering yuccas on the hillsides and ending up driving along a roiling river. There’s a campground and visitor’s center down here, too, but in the summer, it is hot! We drove to the end of the road and took the 9 mile round trip trail to Mist Falls, a wide, loud waterfall spraying hot hikers with mist. A great place for lunch.

King's Canyon by the River

Mist Falls

There were many trails out from this canyon. Some went to the John Muir Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail (famous from the book/movie, “Wild”). We saw a few hikers signing up for back country permits to camp in the surrounding wilderness. On our trail we came across 3 young guys who said they had been hiking for 80 miles. They were dragging. We finished our hot hike, had showers at the privately run lodge in the canyon, and headed back up and out. The light on the walls of the glacier carved mountains was amazing and it was obvious why John Muir called this the “Range of Light”.

We were hungry for refreshment and stopped for ice cream at the one stop on this road. There had been some hand painted old “ice cream” signs on the way down. The Kings Canyon Lodge was a main building with a gas pump and a bar (and ice cream) and a bunch of rentable cabins. This building was full of dead, stuffed local wildlife that looked like it had been around since John Muir came through. The ice cream was good and the owner was grumpy.

For 10 nights we camped at a high elevation campground among the big trees. We woke up with the birds, went to bed with the smell of campfires, learned some things (or didn’t) from the rangers, and got inspired by this beautiful land. Now we’re back in New England and will start sorting through photographs and working on some artwork so we can share our explorations.

Climbing to the Buck Rock firetower

The Photographer and the Marmot

Raven and Range

Big City Lights - Shanghai

Thurs., May 14

Shanghai! Wow! This is an exciting city. The first thing that struck me was the architecture. There are so many funky modern buildings. The second thing that struck me was all the stylish people – especially the women. Classy. We went to the Shanghai Museum which housed beautiful collections on 4 floors of Chinese ceramics, scroll paintings, jade, calligraphy, etc. I particularly liked the gallery of the art and craft of the Chinese minorities showing masks, clothing, pottery, and everyday objects from the non-Han people of the different areas of China (Tibet, Mongolia, Taiwan, etc.). China has 56 minority groups.

We were treated to lunch in a private room of a fancy restaurant by a colleague of Luo Ling’s, an administrator of the Great One (the company that coordinates sending the students to Tufts). Another amazing meal where the dishes just kept coming. Then we walked around a shopping area that was designed like a European neighborhood. We ran into a British guy who lived there who directed us to a beautiful park designed like a French garden. It was a beautiful sunny day and people had music and where waltzing, kids were riding scooters, people were fishing in the pond. We had a lovely afternoon of just walking. Luo Ling took us to the famous area of Shanghai, the Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar, which is a network of streets with buildings designed like grand old style Ming constructions. There were restaurants and shops and lots of stuff you don’t need but that’s fun to look at. And a great place to people watch. We had dinner here at an amazing dumpling restaurant. I can’t say enough about the food here! The Chinese are very fond of food and every area and city has its specialty.

Luo Ling Photobomb

Porcelain in the Shanghai Museum

Tibetan Masks in Shanghai Museum

Yuyuan Bazaar, Shanghai

By the time we were done eating dinner it was dark and that is when Shanghai shines. Wow. This city has more lights than Las Vegas. We walked to an area called “The Bund”. It is a big financial district and there are many buildings built in European styles as Shanghai used to be home to trading and finance of France, U.S., England, etc. The Yangtze River runs through the city here and up on the river walk you can see the whole expanse of the city. Every building is vying for the glitziest lights. Flashing colors, moving messages in lights, animations all on the side of skyscrapers. And because this area is teaming with people, companies take advantage of advertising on light bedecked boats that travel back and forth on the river in front of the river walk. It is mesmerizing. I could have looked at it all night. I can understand if you grow up in such a vibrant place that the idea of moving to the country or a small town might seem “out of it”. Where are the people? What is there to do? I think of some of the students I teach who get accepted at U. S. universities away from cities. That would be an extra culture shock to them.

Big City Lights, Shanghai

In "The Bund", Shanghai

Friday, May 15

Day 2 in Shanghai we went to the Expo Center which was far from the city center and created in 2010 when the World Expo was here. It’s kind of a sad monument to what happens when a city builds too much for one event and doesn’t plan for the use of those building once the event is over. There was a ticket booth but barely anyone vying to get in. The one redeeming building, though, was the China Pavilion also known as the China Art Palace. This upside down pyramid of a building houses a fantastic art collection. Large oil paintings dripping communist propaganda, modern abstract sculptures, traditional Chinese paintings…It was huge and there was so much to see. We only got through one floor. The highlight was the animation of a scroll painted by Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145), depicting life in a town by a river, Along the River During the Qingming Festival. The artist painted all the details of everyday life – people eating, children playing, merchants, fishermen, horses, a camel caravan, etc. It’s detailed. Well, an animator brought it to life. You walk into a dark room and projected on one long 12 foot high wall is the scroll about the length of a football field but now all the people and animals are moving! And there is sound. At one point the day turns to night and all the lanterns come on in the houses and on the streets. It is magical.

"Comrade's Orphan"

"Along the River During the Qingming Festival", Animated

Then, we had the flight from hell. Considering we’d been getting on and off planes for the past week (6 flights total when this journey is complete), I anticipated that one of them might not go smoothly. We were supposed to fly from Shanghai to Wuhan around 9 but the flight was delayed. The weather (heavy rain) in Wuhan was too severe. We were falling asleep in the airport lounge when they announced boarding around midnight. As the plane approached Wuhan the turbulence started. The pilot made the decision to fly north and land temporarily at another airport. When this was announced, the uproar was surprising. Everyone was yelling in Chinese (we were the only foreigners on the flight), clearly pissed off that the flight was diverted. But I was glad! I thought the pilot made the right decision. They wouldn’t let us off the plane and we sat for about 45 minutes and took off again for another try. The turbulence as we approached Wuhan was SO bad, I honestly didn’t think we were going to see the city our students are from. Dying in a fiery blaze with a bunch of people who didn’t speak my language and three coworkers was not really how imagined going out. I focused a prayer at the pilot and prayed we’d make it through. The plane was being thrown up and down and side to side. I’ve never been in something that bad. Obviously, we made it and touched down in Wuhan. I wanted to applaud the pilot! Whew. Lived to see another Chinese megacity.

Of course, by now it was 7:30 in the morning and we hadn’t slept all night. We got an hour’s reprieve after we got to the hotel before we were whisked off to our student’s graduation ceremony at Wuhan Foreign Language High School! It was so great to be part of this. Our host, May, the woman who had been paying for this whole trip, placed a student next to me and each of my coworkers and demanded they be our translators. May is a 70 year old commanding business woman. She is very nice but you don’t argue with her. The students, and everyone else, have a lot of respect for her.

After standing to the Chinese national anthem, the graduation ceremony only lasted about an hour. Then the parents of one of our students took us to lunch in another private room in a fancy restaurant with dishes of food that kept coming. Trying to keep up conversation with people who don’t share your language is difficult but we had our students to translate and I tried to keep up a conversation with her parents as they were very nice and buying us lunch! They were typical of the parents of many of our students, I think, in that they were fairly well off (we had their driver take us to lunch!).

Wuhan Foreign Language School Graduates

Lunch with Students and Parents

The Food Keeps Coming

Later in the afternoon, we attended a “coming of age ceremony” for the students who had turned 18 this year. This was held outside behind a banquet hall on a platform with a flower arch and a master of ceremonies. We were ushered into the front row of the rows of chairs and again, May gave us each a translator. The MC announced each student who came up and walked through the flower arch with his or her parents, down the aisle and came up on stage. In the announcement was some description about each kid. “He is considered the smartest in his class”….”She is a wonderful artist”…. Some of the descriptions were reaching – “He is unique.” “She wears high heeled shoes.” I had to chuckle at these because they were said of students that were….not the brightest bulbs and really didn’t try in class. I looked at these few and thought, “yeah, that’s about what I’d say about that one”. There was a cake on a table on the stage that the Director and the President of the school cut in half symbolizing the students breaking away from childhood, May pushed us 3 teachers up on stage to open a big bottle of champagne and pour a champagne fountain for the students, and then the students had to recite an oath of sorts about being good citizens, respecting their elders, etc. And, of course, more food followed.

Student, Cyril, who Loved my Class

It was all very touching. During the meal afterwards, students kept coming up to our table and telling us what they learned from us. It’s what makes this job rewarding and made me really glad I came.

"Coming of Age Ceremony" for the 18 year olds

Saturday, May 16

Today we are sightseeing in Wuhan and then I head out alone to Beijing and on to Boston. I am not looking forward to flying again after that last incident but I am very much looking forward to getting home.