We left off in Joshua Tree, headed north to Sequoia National Forest to check out the Trail of 100 Giants. It was a beautiful and easy walk through giant sequoias, some dated to be 1,500 years old. Double bonus: It is dog friendly! So Joon was able to get out and walk the trail with us. It was a perfect place to stop, stretch our legs, get a little exercise, and eat some lunch before getting back on the road.

It took us a lot longer to get out of the forest than we were expecting… because a couple miles on windy and steep forest road feels like it takes hours. So if you are planning a trip through Sequoia National Forest this year, give yourself some extra time to take it slow! After some anxiety-filled miles in the forest, we dropped back down into the sweeping hills of California. We drove a lot that day and saw so many different landscapes; it was amazing. I have saved all the videos as well as some other photos taken during the trip on my Instagram in case you want to see what I am talking about! They are saved in the highlight titled West Coast. We found a spot to camp for the night at a trailhead right outside Sequoia National Park where we got a little sunset hike. We mostly use the iOverlander app to find safe and legal places to park our van at night, which we used to find this spot!

A relatively short drive into Sequoia National Park took us to our first stop of the day: Moro Rock. An easy to moderate walk up 350 stairs to sit atop this large granite dome. You could see everything from up there; it was spectacular. The picture below is just one snapshot of the view from the top of Moro Rock. As you can probably guess, this trail is not dog friendly, so Jason stayed back with Joon while I hiked up first. Then Jason took his turn while I made lunch in the van. Even just sitting there amongst the giant sequoias was an incredible experience. These trees have been here for hundreds of years… makes you think about the things they know and the answers they have.

After some lunch and a little rest break we left to hike to the General Sherman Tree, which by volume, is the largest living thing on Earth. It is hard to capture just how giant and magical these trees are. We also stopped by the Tunnel Log - you have seen the pictures of cars driving through a fallen redwood tree. Yes, well, the van was a bit too tall for that… Thankfully we were able to back out and turn around without a problem because ripping the solar panels off our new van just didn’t seem like the best idea.

We got back in the van to continue our trip north to a long awaited stop: Yosemite National Park. We stopped somewhere in the Sierra National Forest for the night and it was definitely one of my favorite camping spots. Joon was able to get some playtime in with Jason (and vise versa 😉) while I made us some dinner. I have been searching iOverlander and for the life of me I cannot find this spot we stayed in… so it may just have to stay hidden.