Yosemite National Park, Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Today we drove to Yosemite National Park.  It is still winter in that part of California- well, there was snow in the higher elevations.  The Mariposa Grove is a group of giant sequoias on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.  We walked a 2.1 mile trail through this peaceful grove.  The size of these trees is truly amazing.  The Giant Grizzly sequoia is 96 feet in circumference and 27.6 feet in diameter at the base.  Branches of this Giant Grizzly are 7 feet in diameter, larger than the trunks of most other non-sequoia trees.   Many trees had evidence of being in fires but they continue to survive. It was a very pretty day with bright blue skies and a few puffy white clouds but it was in the upper 40's in the Mariposa Grove and warmer at the campground (low 70's).  Last night the temperature dropped down into the 30's but tonight is to go to the low 40's and warmer weather is predicted for the coming days.