July 12, 2024 - California
Converse Basin Grove

On the way back from Kings Canyon, we took a dirt road to visit Converse Basin Grove, a grove where about 2,000 of the big Sequoias -- many over 2,000 years old -- were logged starting in 1897.   It was over by 1905 but by then the big trees were gone.  Now only the stumps remain.

Fires burned away the logging debris and created good growing conditions for young sequoias.  Starting in 1955, the Forest Service planted thousands of sequoias.  This grove is now full of sequoias, however they are mostly young ones instead of the giants that reigned for centuries.  In only a thousand more years,they'll be giants.

Here I am standing in Stump Meadow.

 
   
Joe stands atop what was once a massive sequoia tree.
   

The meadow was pretty, but the mosquitos liked it too, so we didn't stay long.
   
 
   
We were driving a rental compact SUV so the dirt road wasn't a problem.  Still, rental cars don't have spare tires, so there is always the worry of a flat tire.
   
Lynnette getting bit by the mosquitoes.
   
The area was sad, in a way.  It was liking walking through a graveyard of sequoias.  But its also a good reminder that we must never allow the cutting down of these beautiful, giant trees again.
   
I get how they cut these massive trees down -- it would take two men a couple of days.  But how did they get them out of this very remove area up in the hills?   This excellent placard tells the tale.
 
Nearby was the General Noble Tree.
   
 
   
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