Friday 10 August 2018
Today we hike Sunset Loop Trail. As we eat our blueberry muffins I watch some tiny chipmunks stuffing their cheeks with the flowers or fruits of a brushy plant on the edge of our campsite that is protected by long thorns. A few minutes later a covey of quail wanders in. Although I am sure they will disappear quickly, I retrieve my camera and binoculars anyway. When I turn around I am surprised to see them picking their way right in front of our picnic table. I later identify them as mountain quail. They are uncommon and usually seen crossing roads or trails early in the day. O, studying his trees book, points out that our site is located in a grove of Sierra white fir. The day is off to a good naturalist start!
After breakfast we drive north towards Grant Village. The road temporarily leaves the park and travels through both private land and national forest. We are pleased to see there is cell reception here. That will make it easier to call Dad tomorrow.
The Sunset Loop begins across the road from the visitor center. It winds through open forest and boulders, and switchbacks its way down almost 1000 feet to a creek. As I stop to photograph some tiny white flowers (later identified as gayophytum diffusum, a member of the evening primrose family) I hear tapping in the trees above. I am able to snap some photos of white headed woodpeckers. We saw them on last year’s trip while we were at Eagle Lake in California on our way to Sabrina Basin. Soon we arrive at Ella Falls, a pretty little waterfall which is said to be really spectacular during spring snow melt.
Now we start climbing back up the 1000 feet that we lost on the first part of the trek. We end up on a forest road where we begin to see the monarchs of the forest, Giant Sequoia. These trees are awesome. Sunset Loop passes by the Grant Loop, home of the 1700 year old Grant tree, named in honor of Ulysses S. Grant. This is the second largest tree in the park. The largest is the Sherman tree which we hope to see tomorrow. Along the Grant Loop we see some young sequoias and get a close-up look at their tiny needles. A sign points out that 3 of the first 4 national parks protected sequoias. Sequoia cones are embossed on rangers’ hat bands and belts. We finally return to the visitor center and then to camp. After a week of relative inactivity it feels good, but exhausting, to hike again.