Our Bear Encounter At Sequoia National Parks

After a exploring the King Canyon and a long night drive, we arrived at our hotel near the Sequoia National Park. It was late at night and we were very tired, yet the first question my mom asked, is if there are bears around that we might see. The receptionist told us that his friend saw a bear 3 blocks from there. For some reason, it made my mom happy.

Next day, early morning we headed to the Sequoia National park to see some more of this beautiful nature and of course the huge General Sherman tree. But first, we had to climb the Tunnel Rock and take a better look at the view from up there.

As we started our way towards the Sherman Tree trail, we started to notice more of those Sequoia trees. The entrance was full of people, but when entered the trail it was less crowded. When we walked our way on this trail we felt like mice walking between giants.

The exhibits along the trail explain the natural history of the giant sequoias and the General Sherman tree, which is the world's largest tree by volume. Those trees can live up to 3,000 years, and they keep growing until they die. The most surprising fact about those trees is that heir thick bark is unusually fire resistant, and fire can actually help those trees to reproduce.

On our way, there was a road sign to slow down for wildlife. The oddest thing is that less than a minute after we saw that sign, a bear cub ran across the road only a few meters in front of our car. Obviously, I didn't manage to take pictures of it, as it ran very fast and disappeared behind the bushes. I actually couldn't believe it happened, my mom's (dangerous) wish to see a bear in nature finally came true.