We can't believe we almost skipped this!

We are officially into the "fly by the seat of our pants" portion of our travels! After finishing our Utah Redemption Tour, things have been a little touch and go. We've tentatively chosen to continue our travels out west while we line up more repair appointments and eventually make our way back to New Hampshire to figure out our next steps in planning for our future cabin life. Because so much is up in the air, we can't exactly plan our travel route ahead of time. Instead, we're operating on a rolling basis. The pattern has looked something like this:

1. Post-adventure fatigue sets in, causing us to seriously contemplate heading back home immediately
2. We cautiously decide to stay out west and go somewhere where we can slow down and regroup
3. After feeling sufficiently replenished, we cautiously plan a more adventurous destination
4. The adventures fatigue us, causing us to once again seriously contemplate heading back home immediately

Our post-adventure fatigue set in after Utah, at which point we planned to head to Paso Robles in an attempt to slow down and regroup. After Paso, our plans were up in the air once again. Throughout our week there, we paid close attention to our energy levels and morale. Soon we needed to make a decision of where to go next. Even if we chose to stay in California for the time-being, it's a big state with all kinds of options, from grand adventures in incredible national parks, to quiet downtime on a farm, to bustling city life in LA, San Francisco, or Sacramento. What would keep the burnout at bay?

In hopes that our Paso regroup would ignite a new fire for adventure, we set our sights on Sequoia National Park. On and off, I'd mention going to Anthony and even research some nearby campgrounds, but ultimately we'd say no because it would just be too big for us to handle at this point in time. Sequoia and its sister park, Kings Canyon, take up 900,000 acres of California's Sierra Mountains, and the wilderness in this area is challenging. Even the closest campgrounds to the park would be an hour away from the main attractions because the drive to get there would include a twisting, steep set of switchbacks into the upper elevations of the Sierras. Timing is one thing, but the weather is another. Recovery from winter takes a long time here, and spring often brings continued snow and ice, or when the temperatures warm, mudslides and even wildfires. These seemed like a lot of potential obstacles for us weary travelers to endure.

Another pattern has come into play during these deliberations. We say no to the big destination, but then talk ourselves out of our decision because "But we're here and we're so close and if we don't go now it could be YEARS before we get another chance!" We call that "Last Full-Time Year Syndrome." So I book ourselves a campsite, knowing full well that we might cancel it if we're not feeling up for the adventure, which is an almost-certainty because we're le tired.

But then we justify it further with "But we've already booked the campsite, so why not just go and then we'll slow down and regroup."

And that's how we ended up at a site at Three Rivers Hideaway, just a few miles outside the entrance to Sequoia National Park.

Sequoia's magnetism was strong. We had visited the Redwoods during our West Coast Road Trip in 2018 and fell in love with the majesty of that forest. Ever since then, we envisioned how incredible the Sequoias would be, nestled into the mountains. We knew this park had the potential to be one of our all-time favorites. But that meant we wanted to do it justice. Visiting Sequoia when our hearts aren't quite in it, just to check it off our list, would be inexcusable.

From the archives: Our Redwood Forest visit

The beauty of RV life is that we don't need to pressure ourselves to cram a bunch of adventures into a short amount of time. We can spend several days near a national park, reserving some for the park itself and others for rest, work, errands, or whatever else we need to do to stay sane. Of course, the longer stay poses a new problem: the pressure to do more because we have more time here, like we must take advantage of it. We try really hard to ignore these impulses. When we used to go on our whirlwind road trips, we simply fit what we could within our time constraints. Sometimes this was a few small activities, and other times it was just a hike or a drive. At the end of it, we were happy and satisfied with what we did, because we made lasting memories. Why not approach our national park visits the same way now? Focus on making memories by planning 1 or 2 activities. Then, if we have the time and energy to do more, it's just bonus.

This helped make Sequoia more manageable. We decided that our biggest must-do was to see General Sherman, the world's largest tree by volume and a landmark we've had on our bucket list for a long time. Since General Sherman was over an hour from our campground, we didn't want to just walk the half-mile, see the tree, and immediately walk back to the truck. Instead, we planned a nice long hike. We found this trail on All Trails, which we loved for its distance and the various features we'd see, but also for its flexibility. If for whatever reason we weren't up for trekking all 7 miles, we had options for shortening it.

We drove in early on Sunday, May 4. The temps were cool and the skies were overcast, which for us is an ideal combination for a walk in the woods. It would probably also deter some of the crowds, not that we expected too many anyway, being that we visited very early in the park's shoulder season.

Generals Highway, the park road leading into Sequoia and Kings Canyon from CA Route 108, gains over 5000ft from the entrance gate to the General Sherman Trail parking lot. The switchbacks are no joke, but neither are the views. We may have only planned one main activity in Sequoia, but we got a nice scenic drive anyway. The morning fog was rolling through the mountains and the Kaweah River was flowing wildly in the valley below. The wildflowers were blooming, creating a canvas of yellow, purple, pink, and white against the green grass. We spotted deer grazing on the side of the road.

The parking lot for General Sherman fills up quickly, but we were some of the first to arrive. We wanted to meet Sherman before the crowds poured in, so that was our first stop. There is a viewing area part-way down the trail and then a walkway that circumnavigates the tree's massive trunk. Not only did we luck out by only needing to share the tree with a small group of people, but everyone was extremely respectful, hanging back so we could all get photos. Except one guy who missed the memo and blocked our view, but he eventually moved.

We then headed to the Congress Trail, where we hiked among more of the giant Sequoias. We reminisced about our last time hiking the Redwoods, noting how powerful the trees are, withstanding nature's wrath for thousands of years. Their wildfire scars show their strength. Then, when they do fall, they serve as nurse trees for various other species, as their large size prolongs their decomposition process, allowing for new life after death.

We laughed as we remembered the time I hid inside one of the tree trunks and waited for the hikers who were a ways behind us, and as they approached, greeting them with a "Helloooooo" from inside the tree, and them laughing because they had no idea I was in there.

Although a bit muddy in areas, springtime is a great time to hike these trails, because nature is coming alive again. The snow was almost fully melted, except for a few shaded areas of the forest. The streams were flowing, making for lively cascades and fun water crossings.

We continued onto Trail of the Sequoias, which was mostly a hike through the forest, but did have moments of views of the distant mountains.

Eventually, the red bark of the sequoias dissipated and were replaced with evergreen trunks covered in green moss.

We chose the 7-mile loop because, looking at the All Trails map, we saw that we would get to pass through various landscapes, from the sequoia giants, to the moss-covered woods, to the meadow. We'd also get to see a couple historic sites along the way. Tharp's Log overlooks Crescent Meadow. This cabin was built by Hale Tharp, the earliest documented European Settler in the area. He built his cabin out of a fallen redwood trunk, adding a window, entryway, and stone chimney. Resources were limited, and so Tharp did his best to utilize what nature gave him. He raised cattle to sell beef, and they grazed on the meadow grass.

Further up the trail, we came to the Cattle Cabin. In the 1880s, Tharp entered a partnership with two stock men, John Jordan and Ed Fudge, to buy 830 acres of land from the federal government and use it for their cattle operations. This cabin became their summer residence and storage space for several decades until the government bought it back as an addition to Sequoia National Park.

More groves of giant sequoias let us know that our hike was coming full circle. After a final uphill that granted us more peeps of mountain views, we arrived back to General Sherman, now surrounded by a lot more people.

Our long hike meant that we were able to get lots of solitude and truly enjoy the tranquility of the forest. And when we say "solitude," we mean from people. In actuality, the forest was bustling. Much of the hike, we stayed quiet so we could hear all the different bird calls. We saw tons of birds, squirrels, and chipmunks searching for fresh food after the snow thaw. We also saw a yellow-bellied marmot enjoying a moment of fresh air outside his den.

But the best wildlife sighting of all came at a surprising time, once we were out of the forest and out of our solitude. This black bear was brave enough to hang out near the entrance of General Sherman Trail, only the most popular trail in the entire park. We couldn't believe his level of chill! He paid no mind to all of the enthralled spectators, nor did he act like he wanted food. He just went about his business, eventually crossing the trail, skittishly running from the nearest people, before stopping once again to go back to his routine. The best part of this whole experience, though, was that no one did anything dangerous or provoking. Everyone kept their distance, gave the bear space when he moved, and besides the one man who thought it would be good to meow at the bear (???), no one taunted it. For the most part, everyone just stood there with their eyes wide and jaws dropped. No one expected such an easy sighting! I, of course, sprang into action, trying to finally capture a good shot of a black bear after failing several times. Thanks to a little bit of courage and a lot of camera zoom, I succeeded.

We were really happy with our choice to put on some distance and see a lot of the park's features in one hike. The terrain was on the easier side of moderate for us, which allowed us to cover the miles in decent time. However, you don't need to cover this much ground to see what we saw. Most of the best features were no more than a couple of miles from the trailhead. You can see the groves of sequoias and some of the water cascades a short distance on the Congress Trail. Go in the other direction on the Congress Trail and you'll find the Cattle Cabin, and not too long after, Tharp's Log. You can also start from a different parking area to see Tharp's Log and Crescent Meadow. There are plenty of ways to make the hikes shorter and take just one or a combination, while still seeing much of what this part of the park has to offer. And who knows, maybe you'll only need to walk 40ft to get the best wildlife sighting!

Our hike was over, but the adventure wasn't. We still needed to drive the hour-plus out of the park, and at some point during our hike, the fog went from fluffy and rolling to dense and shrouding. Getting down off those switchbacks was a doozy!

This experience taught us that our all-or-nothing attitude wasn't working for us. If we feel overwhelmed by the prospect of a national park, we don't have to skip it entirely. We can go and enjoy whatever amount of adventure we're able to. We may not have strict time constraints anymore, but we have other constraints that are just as important to consider. We have travel fatigue. We have jobs. We have chores and taking care of our senior dog.

But we also know that we can't have an all-or-nothing attitude with our overall travels this year, either. We shouldn't pressure ourselves into throwing a bunch of big dots on our travel itinerary just because this is probably our last year as full-timers. We will still have future opportunities to see the places we miss! Sequoia, however, was well worth pushing through the overwhelm. We had a feeling it would be.