Brian Smith's Photos

Picking up from Three Rivers, the second leg of the trip headed up into Sequoia National Park itself, then turned south the next day for the long drive back to LA through the Mojave and the Angeles National Forest.

An early start out of Three Rivers, with a Great Blue Heron working the shallows, a Buckeye Tree and an Oak Titmouse along the road, before the climb up into the park proper began.

Once inside the park, the day was spent working up through the giant sequoia groves – a Clarke’s Nutcracker and a Lodgepole Chipmunk among the trees, granite domes opening up at the higher elevations, and a Common Raven watching over it all before the light started to fade.

The final morning started with sunrise back down in Three Rivers, a Wild Turkey along the road, and the Kaweah River running low and clear before the long drive south.

Then the long haul south – a stop at the Voyager Cafe in Mojave, looking out over the airfield’s rows of mothballed airliners, and a last break in the Angeles National Forest before dropping down into LA to close out the trip.

Sequoia groves, mothballed airliners, and one more stretch of California mountains before the trip wound down back in LA. Part 3 to come.