[pct-l] too bad there aren't any giant sequoias along the pct or jmt

[David Hough reading PCT-L]

Giant sequoias live in isolated groves around 6000-7000' in the western
Sierra Nevada, far from the crest.

But the High Sierra Trail, which connects to the PCT and Mt Whitney, starts
at Crescent Meadow in the Giant Forest.    70+ trail miles gets you to
Cottonwood Lakes on the east side.     That was long on my bucket list -
starting from the higher east side -  but old age has beat me to it and I am
no longer up for 70 mile backpacks.

But I was willing to try to dip my toe in last week.    With all national
forests closed, the options were Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia, but
Yosmite requires reservations even for day use.   At the last minute
I made an expensive reservation to stay at the last available Sequoia lodging - 
Wuksachi - close to the wilderness permit office in the Giant Forest Museum.
Driving hard I got there just before they closed at 3:30 and got a walk-up
wilderness permit to hike from Crescent Meadow to Nine Mile Creek on Sunday,
returning Monday.    In younger days I would have pushed on to Bearpaw Meadow
or Hamilton Lakes but there was a hint of smoke in the air from a couple
of small fires that had started the day before, but they were small and
several miles away.    It was ominous though that the road from Giant Forest
down to highway 198 had just closed.

The next day I got to the Giant Forest Museum and found the road to Crescent
Meadow closed.     Likewise the Wilderness Permit office was also closed and
nobody answered a knock on the door, even though it was supposed to open at
7am.    The smoke was definitely thicker.    All the hints added up to the
same decision, so I drove back to Grant Grove in Kings Canyon.    The 
information rangers there could not account for what had happened, but
suggested I could use wifi near the visitor center to make reservations for
camping or lodging if I wanted to stay the night.      recreation.gov was
unresponsive but I got a tent cabin at John Muir Lodge.

There I learned that Sequoia National Park had closed completely at noon -
all wilderness, lodging, and camping reservations cancelled and visitors
and non-essential employees expelled.     I learned later to my amazement
that somebody had cancelled my wilderness permit reservation and arranged a
refund of the fee from recreation.gov.

I spent the next three days near Grant Grove, enjoying the giant sequoias.
The trails tend to be short, but there are many of them, so you can keep busy.
Every so often a cloud of dark smoke would blow overhead from the growing
fires but the air was usually pretty breathable.

As many others have observed, there is something uniquely magnificent about
a giant sequoia grove, different from every other kind of forest, even coast
redwoods.     It's like being in church - or a cemetery or an ICU - it seems
impolite to be noisy.

The giant sequoias, centuries old, stand in
great quiet dignity, each one unique - like a gathering of saints, each
with ancient wisdom to relate to those with ears to listen.
They've all seen hundreds of fires - what's one more?    Yet there's reason
to believe that the current global-warming fire regime in California is a
bigger challenge than they've ever faced.  

A week later the fires have grown stronger and reached the Giant Forest.
General Sherman is now protected by aluminum foil.

https://apnews.com/article/fires-environment-and-nature-forests-california-environment-43cae98d06ca3c3e299fae24998f0928

The wind is supposed to change today, reducing the threat to Giant Forest,
and increasing the threat to Three Rivers, the first town down canyon.

The point here, especially for PCT hikers from far away, is that the
giant sequoias are as important a feature of California as Yosemite Valley
and Mt Whitney and well worth visiting if you can manage it.    They are part
of the logos of the Park Service and the Sierra Club.

Aside from Giant Forest in Sequoia NP, the big accessible 
groves are Redwood Mountain
and Grant Grove in Kings Canyon NP, Mariposa Grove in Yosemite NP, and
Calaveras Big Trees state park further north.      All are far from the PCT.