In the morning, we packed up camp, ate some oatmeal with our coffee and tea, and bid farewell to our short-term home in the woods. Before heading out, we snapped a great photo from our campsite looking out over the lake. This is definitely a place I would come back to.
This was also a great warm-up for my next trip in a week, where I'm headed back to the same general area, but heading into the Ansel Adams Wilderness within the Inyo National Forest. This trip, I will be taking my wife and my two oldest children, ages 13 and 11. Look for that trip report soon.
On Day 8 of a 16 day epic trip, we arrived at Sequoia National Park in California. By this point, we have driven almost 2,000 miles and had spent 3 days at the beach and 2 days at some of California's theme parks. It was time for a little relaxation and enjoying the great outdoors. This was to be the first trip to Sequoia by anyone in the family. We had no idea what to expect apart from seeing some of the largest trees in the world.
The Big Four Ice Caves are a wonder. Some years almost non-existent,
some years speculator! Every year a little different. This year -
Fabulous. I hope you can get a sense of the scale of the cave when you
see that image I took from a distance. That little speck of a hiker is
Travis approaching the mouth of the beast.
A few weeks ago, Chris and I had the chore honor of hitting the trail for a couple of nights with Rylan.
Below is a quick video we made for Shug, but I thought I'd post it here for other Southeastern Backpackers listeners to actually see that Rylan does exist, and what you can expect if you ever hit the trail with him. Here are a few other pictures from that hike.
The Big Four Ice Caves are a wonder. Some years almost non-existent,
some years speculator! Every year a little different. This year -
Fabulous. I hope you can get a sense of the scale of the cave when you
see that image I took from a distance. That little speck of a hiker is
Travis approaching the mouth of the beast. 
