Magik in Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon National Park

I'm here camping by myself (again), but having some really interesting experiences. Im at Kings Canyon National Park. It would be difficult to explain how very beautiful it is here. There is a wildness and a joyfulness.

I had a humming bird encounter this morning. The little fuck startled me when it burst out of nowhere and checked out what I was having for breakfast. They are so hyper. It swooped around my table, just feet away from me. It hoverd there for a moment and looked me right in the eye, decided that I had nothing good for humming birds and flew off .

I saw the largest trees in the world today. It is a giant sequoia called The General Sherman. The sequoias are the biggest things alive on the planet. They are cousins to the redwoods, not as tall, but bigger around.

Yesterday I went to Grants Grove, which was the first place I saw these big trees. It bothered me that there is a parking lot built right next to the grove, but the trees were so huge that I had to go there and see them. Up the trail is the third largest tree in the world, the General Grant, so that's where I was headed. Some of these giants are right at the edge of the parking lot. I went to them first. They are huge. I put my hand on one, to say hello. I closed my eyes. I felt like I was part of the tree, as tall as the tree, the height, the breeze through the branches. He shared this with me. He showed me in the most generous way.

These trees are happy and want to share. They were saying "hey, come here!" to everybody, but no one else was listening. Aries liked them right away.

Today I'm doing a 10 mile hike through the woods. Right now I'm sitting in a grove of trees on a trail where there are no people. What an amazing place. The forest is at work, plants, insects and animals all doing stuff. It feels healthy here. The sequoias drop small but heavy pine cones constantly. These cones open if there is a fire. The branches are way up high on the tree and then there is nothing but trunk for a long way down. Consequently you don't always hear them coming till they hit the ground. It is peaceful (other than the occasional dropping pine cone), although I'm finding that I'm not really alone here. There are bees who think that I might be good to eat. I've explained that I'm not for eating, but they won't listen to me. They have been with me since I started writing and are very persistent. I've seen several different types of birds, including the humming bird that surprised me this morning. There are red tailed hawks and ravens, lots of ravens. I saw a baby deer today on the dirt road that leads to the trailhead. The big trees are all interested in talking to me so I have made a point of stopping every so often to say hello.

On the trail I passed an area where it looked like there was a forest fire a few years ago. The bark on some of the big guys was burned to charcoal in places. There are lots of babies growing there now, little seedlings ready to grow for the next two or three thousand years. They're all Giant Sequoias...Aries explained that he was a giant sequoia too. Ummm. The little trees were very impressed with him. I saw the most amazing view of the Sierras Mountains on that trail.