If you are a reader of this blog, the obvious question is: “Where did day 4 go?” Good question. I have a good answer. The last two days were climbing on the Eastern Sierras. I ran out of climbs in the top 10. So, on day 4 it took all day to drive through Yosemite to the Western side and drive down to the foot of Sequoia National Park where the next two climbs are. #8 Mineral King and #9 Whitaker Forest.

My destination yesterday was a campground called Sequoia Campground. I had booked a riverfront tent space with dreams of relaxing with my feet in the river and a beer in my hand. However, after driving all day and arriving to 107 degree heat in the afternoon I called an audible.

Basically, this space was just a bunch of dirt and rocks next to the river. It was stupid hot and the forecast didn’t show the temperature dropping munch. Most of the people I saw there were hot, tired, and muddy. I broke down and called the Holiday Inn Express in Visalia. Enough with the roughing it. I had two more big climbs ahead of me and trying to sleep through a long hot night was not going to be helpful in reaching the goal. I tried to find someone who ran the campground to cancel my reservation, but it must have been too hot for them to stick around and run the place. I instead called and left them my cancellation notice.

After checking into the airconditioned confines of the Holiday Inn, and multiple trips to get all my gear up to my room, I relaxed on a real bed and watched the local news. Such luxury! I had kind of heard the last few days that there were some fires on this side of the Sierras, and apparently a large portion of California was blazing! There were some North of where I was staying, but not where I was going to be riding so it seemed I was good to go for the next day. I also checked the weather report and it was clear once again I needed to hit it at sun up before the heat got too intense. I was pretty tired from the long drive and the stress of finding immediate lodging so all combined I crashed so I could be fresh for the big climb the next day.

Today is Whitaker Forest day! #9 on the top 10 hardest climbs in California! I have been looking forward to this climb probably more than any other. It is a very special climb that uses remote roads to enter the Sequoia National Park. Supposedly, I would be riding through one lane roads in the middle of the giant Sequoia trees where most people don’t venture. Very cool!

That being said, in this neck of the Sequoia woods remote can mean wilderness animal friends and that could mean bears and mountain lion. Especially bears around here. Knowing this in advance, I spent the last three weeks tracking down bear spray. Something you would think wouldn’t be hard. Find it on Amazon and have shipped. Well, there were two events that made that very challenging.

First, the past few weeks there have been protests and riots and there has been a run on bear spray as a defense weapon. Second, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have taken to the wilderness to be able to get out and do something. Camping and hiking have become super popular and the need for bear spray was in need here as well.

Fortunately, I was able to call around to a couple REI’s and found some. On this ride I packed a can of bear spray in my jersey and put a bear bell on my handlebars to let them know I was coming. I tried to double up on letting my forest friends know I was in their hood so we could all get along.

After about a 45 minute drive, I found a space next to a ranch to park. I’m not usually into parking in the middle of nowhere if I don’t have to. I’m not really interested in riding until I am spent and coming back to a Subaru Outback with a broken window if you know what I mean. I tried to park so that the rancher could see my vehicle from their house. Growing up with a farmer, we kind of look out for things like that so I put those happy thoughts in my head as I loaded up my gear on my bike for a long day of climbing. 24 miles up and over 6,000 feet of climbing one way to be exact.

As I began the climb, I was mostly going through ranches with horses and livestock. It was hazy. I could tell that even though those fires were not where I was, the smoke was rolling in a bit. Still, it was beautiful and quiet. I barely saw a car until I made it to Generals Hwy which was just the way I was hoping it would be. Big climb, remote, quiet, big trees, epic scenery. A bucket list experience. That was the day I was looking for. I would not be disappointed.

My first turn came at a bar. Closed due to the morning hour and also COVID 19 of course. Bummer, because it could have been a quality treat upon my descent after the big climb. Nevertheless, it was a quality marker to make my turn to the right.

After a small ascent and descent I was at my next right turn. This was the primary entry point into Whitaker Forest with a big stupid clue on the road sign that read Whitaker Forest Rd.

From here, the climb continued through ranch land. Higher and higher elevation ranch land, but mostly livestock and canyons with conifers on the horizon.

As the conifers came more into view, but still in the distance, I came upon a very simple Sequoia National Park sign. I found this terrible interesting. If you did not want to pay the entry fee to get into Sequoia National Park, this was the super secret back way! No park ranger. No fee. No need for a National Park card. Nothing. Just drive on in.

A few miles past this point, the climb came to a cross roads. I thought it was particularly funny that there were so many signs in a place that had so little (none really) traffic. There was the road I just came up, the road to my right and the road to my left. Yet, there were all the signs and arrows!

At this point it was clear I was about to transition into the pines and leave the oaks behind me. A bit concerning because the smoke haze seemed to get a little bit thicker here. I still couldn’t smell it, but I could see it. I knew the fire was long ways away, so I continued on my adventure.

From here, the giants began to appear. First, there was one that was just this big ol’ beast quietly resting in the middle of the pines. I expected to see a lot of them, but instead there would be one or two in the midst of the more expected forest in this section of the ride. They were so big, that they would kind of shock me once the stood out. It was like they were hiding, but weren’t hiding all at the same time. Almost like that scene in Rambo where the lightening strikes and the flash illuminates him and here is there.

By now I had transitioned from blacktop to a dirt road. I had read about this section of the ride and was prepared for it. It was more of a one lane truck trail now winding through the forest. The Whitaker Forest. I eventually came to this monument sign explaining the Whitaker Forest in fact.

Past this sign, I was able to now ride into the full Sequoia immersive experience. Remotely quiet and surrounded by the giants. I came to the realization that only two days ago I was in the ancient forest and now I was in the big forest. The first had the oldest trees in the world and now the biggest trees in the world. All in two days and in the context of the world only a few miles away.

For context, I took these two photos with my bike parked against one of the beasts.

Eventually, I summited onto the Generals Hwy. This took me up to the Big Baldy trailhead before back tracking down the way I came up.

This was an immensely special ride. I visited Sequoia National Park when I was a small kid with my family and it was a lasting memory. The fact that 50ish years later I would be cycling through a remote section of it was an amazing and very fortunate moment that is not lost on me. And, yes later that day I did visit my old friend General Sherman who has stood the test of time, fires, and more. The same General Sherman tree that was here for a little wide eyed boy 50ish years ago and going on over 2,500 years old. What an incredible day. Especially when it ended in the air conditioned comfort of the Holiday Inn instead of a dirty hot tent.