Drive to King's Canyon/Sequoia National Parks - June 27

We got an early start to get to the park, but not before catching a glimpse of this on the Walmart door. Good intentions gone too far we think.

Went through lots of agricultural lands and the workers were busy picking strawberries.

 
The coast was beautiful. And we got to see a peregrine falcon at Pismo Beach, as well as seals and the whitest seagulls.

 

We drove along the coast on local roads, looking at housing prices (Yikes!) and enjoying the beach towns until we reached the end of the road, at Port San Luis, where we parked and strolled along the pier.

And enjoyed the seal lions.

Then back on 101 where we saw anachronisms like this.

 And the familiar brown hills.

Finally, we began to climb and the views were beautiful. So many trees were dead because of the years of drought made them more susceptible to pine beetles. Because of the fire danger, increased because of all the dead wood, we had to stop at the Ranger Station to get a fire permit for our camp stove and to be able to have a fire in a firepit. Unlike most places, they asked us to collect and burn as much wood as we could find on the ground.

Matthew found us a great dispersed campsite, just yards away from the National Forest campgrounds. While ours lacked a pit toilet and picnic table, we had the space practically to ourselves.

 We made a great dinner,

Explored our surroundings,

 marveled at the height of these trees and wondered why some grew twisted. The answer, evidently no one knows.

All before enjoying this sunset and going to bed.