Shower the people

                SEQUOIA, it was a frozen, hostile wasteland, and there was much work to be done to survive the elements.  After boring a hole through the ice to set up our tent… If you know what that reference is to, then I salute you.  But seriously, I have been camping for as long as I know, ever since I was just a wee lad, but last night was the first time I have ever had to shovel a foot of snow out of the way just to pitch a tent.  It was the first time I’ve had to break a trail through the snow to get to the bathroom as well, and in my socks and sandals no less.  Let’s just leave it at this; setting up camp wasn’t very easy. Once done we all felt pretty accomplished though, and after a quick dinner of fried spam and ritz, we hit the sack tuckered out from our polar toils. 

                I woke this morning with Dan already having heated water so all I had to do was gather some instant oatmeal packets and I had a quick, awesome breakfast.  Having seen the sequoias the day before we all piled into the van and hit up the Grant Grove Visitor Center to try and put together a plan for the day’s activities in Kings Canyon.  On the recommendation of a friendly park employee we decided to make a 9 mile loop out of the Hotel Creek Trail and the Lewis Creek Trail.

                We made our way to the trailhead near the Cedar Grove Market and parked close to the showers that awaited us at the end of our hike.  Seeing as most of us haven’t showered for a solid seven days now we didn’t want any obstacles between us and the steaming torrent of hot water that would wash away the grime of a week of adventuring.  Before showers, however, we had a mountain to climb.

          This was no simple walk in the woods either.  I would be tempted to say that this mountain didn’t even want to be climbed.  We have probably climbed more switchbacks in the past seven days than I have climbed in the whole rest of my life put together.  We agreed that it feels like each hike seems to get harder and harder.  For obvious reasons we are hoping that this trend does not continue for the entire duration of our trip.  Despite this hardship I’d be willing to say, now that I am comfortably reclining in my sleeping bag, that the view we enjoyed at the Cedar Grove Overlook was worth the trouble of climbing a few thousand feet.  Just when I thought that I couldn’t climb any more, I didn’t have to and I was greeted with a sprawling vista of Kings Canyon and the surrounding snow-capped peaks.

                Kings Canyon is a park that often escapes people’s notice.  We were discussing this today and we came to the conclusion that it is probably because it simply doesn’t have anything really unique about it.  It’s surrounded by parks that all offer something different and I think guests often skip Kings Canyon in favor of Sequoia and Yosemite.  Regardless of this, though, Kings Canyon is stunningly beautiful.  The canyon is full of cedars and alpine meadows, and is ringed by tall granite mountains.  A beautiful blue green mountain stream rushes right through the middle of it and all of these parts come together to create a landscape that reminded all of us of something out of Lord Of The Rings.  The hike to see it all was difficult, but I think worth it.  With this in mind I hope these words will help remedy Kings Canyon’s previous anonymity.

                After our hike it was time to treat ourselves to ice-cream and a much anticipated shower.  Suffice it to say, it was glorious.  We soon made our way back to camp enjoying the sultry tunes of a Mr. James Taylor and cooked up a mean spaghetti dinner.  Now we’re all laying in the tent hiding from the cold and enjoying a plethora of good books.  Tomorrow it’s on to Yosemite and for the description of that adventure I’ll have to leave you in the capable hands of the talented Dan Snyder.  Have a wonderful day!

Josh