Hiking Yosemite

Walking among California’s sequoias sort of feels like being in the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Your neck starts to hurt looking up at what’s considered the earth’s largest trees. They’re found in groves in and around Yosemite National Park, where we just celebrated our 35^th anniversary.

Frankly, nothing there is small scale. Gigantic boulders, humungous waterfalls (roaring now thanks to the winter snowstorms), double rainbows, long drives from place to place. And the magnificent trees. Sequoias are not to be confused with the coastal redwoods, though in the same family, are deemed the world’s tallest trees.

Sequoias are known for their ability to survive. Looking at them, we noticed evidence of fire, lightning, and insects. The few that don’t make it, fall and decompose in the lush undergrowth, providing fertilizer for more growth.

Hiking the groves, I thought of politics. On one hand, the trees represent resilience; they could become the symbol of the resistance movement and offer hope. On the other, I couldn’t help comment that many politicians and policy makers need to spend some time in the national parks to see the effect of climate change.