More to see than trees at Sequoia National Park
The sign says there are 400 steps to the top of Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park, but I quit counting after 50. I want to concentrate more on the spectacular view that is expanding as I climb higher and higher. It’s also an excuse to stop for a few seconds to let the oxygen reach my leg muscles. Then I realize that this staircase, constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, is pretty darn amazing, too.I try to imagine workers cutting into this giant, dome-shaped granite rock and hauling hundreds of pounds of concrete up its face so future visitors can enjoy the splendor of the Eastern Sierra at nearly 7,000 feet.
Once at the top, I think about our busy day.
Earlier, we spent several hours with naturalist Tara Hostnik, an education assistant with the Sequoia Field Institute, who led us a 4-mile hike to Tokopah Falls. The trail parallels the scenic Marble Fork of the Kaweah River and passes “Sequoia’s Half Dome” — the Watchtower. Less well known, it is still a formidable hunk of granite, rising to nearly 9,000 feet.
Hostnik is a virtual encyclopedia of all things Sierra/Sequoia, and along the way, she pointed out wildflowers with playful names: whiskerbrush, Torrey’s blue-eyed Mary, pine violet, pussy paws, larkspur, cinquefoil and crimson columbine.
“Of all the flowers that exist in California,” Hostnik explained with relish, “over half can be found in the Sierra Nevada, and 20 percent can be found in Sequoia.”
The field institute is a branch of the Sequoia Natural History Association, a nonprofit that raises money for Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks and Devil’s Postpile National Monument. In addition to offering guides, tours and courses, the association makes possible the regular free presentations at Wuksachi Lodge. For instance, on the previous night, Hostnik led a free astronomy program just outside the lodge, using her laser pointer to show participants various constellations hanging in a coal-black, unpolluted sky.
Hostnik also portrays Alice Eastwood at a weekly park barbecue that features characters from Sequoia’s past.
“(Eastwood) was an ambitious woman from Colorado who published the very first plant-identification guide of the Southern Sierra Nevada while hiking along the South Fork of the Kings River,” Hostnik said. “She was considered John Muir’s botanical tutor.”
Back on the trail, we scrambled over boulders to get close to the falls, which cascade about 1,000 feet over the granite cliff. We paused for a rest and watched a lively marmot watching us chugging from our water bottles, then headed back to the trailhead.
The cool, rustic comfort of the Wuksachi Lodge lobby was a welcomed haven after our hours on the trail.
Before dinner, we gathered with other visitors for another free association presentation. This time, we met Mattie Hildebrand, portrayed by recent college grad and musician Alexandra Medina from Visalia. Hildebrand journeyed to Sequoia in the late 1800s to join a socialist colony called the Kaweah Commonwealth that had been established on parklands before they were nationalized. Hildebrand was a music teacher, and after Medina performs a monologue in Hildebrand’s voice explaining her socialistic ideals, she lifts her violin to her chin and fills the lobby with music from her violin.
Our four days in Sequoia National Park made us realize that, though the park is best known for its enormous trees, there are many other must-see attractions and wonders of nature. There also is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic crew of docents who can enhance and deepen visitors’ experiences.
For more information: Wuksachi Lodge: www.visitsequoia.com/lodging.aspx. Sequoia National History Association: http://www.sequoiahistory.org/.
Sequoia National Park: http://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm.
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- UC Santa Barbara graduate Alexandra Medina of Visalia portrays teacher/pioneer Matty Hildebrand in the lobby of the Wuksachi Lodge. Hildebrand, a music teacher from San Francisco, was lured to the Sequoia area by the Kaweah Commonwealth, a Socialist colony established in the late 1800s. Free history and nature programs are staged nightly, thanks to the Sequoia Natural History Association. Photo by E’Louise Ondash.
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- Emma Krasov of San Francisco wanders through a cathedral of giant Sequoia trees and provides perspective on the biggest living things on the planet. Some trees weigh more than 2 million pounds and are nearly 2,000 years old. Photo by Jerry Ondash.
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- A visitor stops to catch her breath about halfway up the 400 steps that take hikers to the top of Moro Rock, a mammoth granite dome that provides panoramic views of Sequoia National Park and beyond. Early wooden steps were replaced by these concrete ones in the 1930s built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide jobs during the Great Depression. Photo by Steve Mullen.
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- Tara Hostnik, an education assistant with the Sequoia Field Institute, stops along the trail to Tokopah Falls to talk about some of the wildflowers. The institute provides guides, tours and some free education programs that inform visitors about the natural and human history of Sequoia National Park. Hostnik also presents an astronomy program every week at comfortably rustic Wuksachi Lodge, the park’s only lodging. Photo by Jerry Ondash.
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- A portion of 1,000-foot-high Tokopah Falls is a welcome sight for hikers on a warm day. The popular 4-mile trail follows the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River and also passes by the Lodgepole campgrounds. Photo by Jerry Ondash
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- A hiker stops along the trail to Tokopah Falls in Sequoia National Park to contemplate the Watchtower, an enormous granite spire rising to nearly 9,000 feet. Photo by Jerry Ondash
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