Big Stumps trail

OK, this lazy blogger is ready to show you the last of her summer vacation photos!   On August 31, the day we headed home, we stopped at the Big Stumps trail on the way out of Sequoia National Park.  This was one of the areas logged in the late 1800's.

The night before, we had bought a little baby sequoia at the gift shop.  As it was summer, we couldn't leave the little guy in the car while we hiked, or he'd bake, so Baby Goliath came along in my backpack.

Here he is, being introduced to his giant relatives:

Here's me in a stump - I can't remember if this tree was cut down or if it fell from natural causes, it looks like maybe the latter:

Here I am on the stump of the Mark Twain tree.  This one was cut down to give a cross section to the New York Natural History Museum, I think in the late 1800's.

This is a tree they started to cut down a long time ago and then changed their minds.  It lives on.  There I am at the base looking at the cut:

Here's what happened to too many of the giants as they were felled, they shattered as they hit the ground and were left where they fell.  I'm in this photo, see if you can find me:

And for a happy ending, here is Baby Goliath, at home in Los Angeles, in his new pot.  I expect he'll need a new one sometime in the next 1000 years.  In the meantime, he is surrounded with pointy sticks to protect against squirrel incursions.