Day 291 – Sequoia National Park

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So this morning I left Kings Canyon National Park and headed south to Sequoia National Park.  On the way, we passed by the world’s largest Sequoia Grove.  The grove covers five square miles and contains over 2,100 sequoias larger than ten feet in diameter.  I wonder who counted that.

As we continued on through the forest, we eventually reached the General Sherman Tree which is the largest tree in the world in terms of volume, 52,500 cubic feet.  There might be taller, wider, or older trees, but no other tree in the world has more wood in its trunk than the Sherman Tree.  Its top is dead, thus the trunk no longer grows taller, but it still grows wider adding wood equal to another good sized tree every year.

Its girth is 103 feet, it weighs 1,385 tons and it is approximately 2,200 years old.  Its first branch is 180 feet from the ground and its largest branch is 6.8 feet in diameter.  If its trunk were filled with water, it would provide for 9,844 baths or one every day for 27 years.  Looking up at the tree for a six-foot human is about the equivalent of a mouse looking up at a six-foot human.  The General Sherman tree is about 1,000 years younger than the oldest known sequoia, but is larger simply due to its location
and ideal growing conditions.

After taking the mile roundtrip to the tree, we moved on to Hospital Rock.  Hospital Rock is decorated with painted designs by the Patwisha Indians.  Their meaning is unknown.  Hospital Rock was given its name in 1873, 10 years after the Indian village was abandoned. Alfred Everton was hunting with George Cahoon, when Everton was shot in the leg upon stumbling over the rifle-set they were preparing for bear.  A doctor treated Everton at this village site, thus the rocks namesake.

Nearby Hospital Rock is another large rock full of mortar holes.  Indian women ground acorns with five to ten pound pestles in these holes. The tribes in this area depended on acorns as their primary source of food.  Each family collected one or more tons of acorns each year.  Before the acorns could be safely eaten, they had to be leached to get rid of the poisonous tannin.  Hot water was poured over the acorn meal in a leaf-lined sand pit until the meal no longer tasted bitter.

Since 1865, no Patwishas have lived in this village.  They seemed to have vanished with their past.  Causes other than war such as small pox, measles, scarlet fever, loss of hunting territory, and broken spirit killed or dispersed the Indians.  In fact, the impact of civilization on Indian cultures and most tribes was disastrous.  From 1770 to 1910, the Indian population of central California declined from 32,500 to 3,125.

After our morning in the park, we headed south to Bakersfield, took advantage of the showers at 24 Hour Fitness, and then turned east toward Barstow…on my way home. Many thanks to all my followers…I will be sure to make a final post upon arriving in Texas…ETB

 

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