Sequoia Park: Crescent Meadow Day Hike
Dale Matson
Click On Photographs To Enlarge
Crescent Meadow is about two hours from Fresno. You take highway 180 into the park and turn South on the General’s Highway. When you get to the Giant Forest Museum, you park your vehicle and take a shuttle to Crescent Meadow. On the week days, you are allowed to drive to the meadow but space is limited! My son Ben and I arrived at 8am and there will still some parking spaces. The trailhead elevation is about 7,000’.
There was considerable fire destruction along the route from the 2021 KNP lightning caused fire and suppression fires are still being set as I write this. There is also chainsaw work going on. There are pink ribbons that mark the end of some trails. The 65 mile High Sierra trail to Mt. Whitney also begins here.
A short distance from here is also Moro Rock with great views for those who are sturdy enough to make the climb which is exposed in places. https://midsierramusing.blogspot.com/2017/05/sequoia-national-park-giant-forest-and.html
Ben and I hiked about five miles and in places retraced our steps in order to photograph bears. We were both carrying heavy camera equipment in hopes we would spot some bears among the Giant Sequoias. So, we had telephoto lenses for the bears and ultrawide lenses for the Sequoias. I used the Sony A1 with the 200-600mm lens and the 16-35mm f4 lens for the trees.
Seeing the bears was quite a treat and there were lots of pairs of eyes looking for them. We asked everyone we passed if they had seen a bear. Their reports helped in our search.
Tharp’s cabin log fashioned in the 1870s, is quite a cozy place where he lived. He kept livestock in the meadow and I’m sure he had to contend with Grizzly bears in addition to black bears and mountain lions.
I had never seen a Pileated Woodpecker before and understand that it was the model for the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker.
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