By now we were pretty much done with rocks and so headed for trees!! In California we visited Joshua Tree, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks.  

Joshua Trees are really more like Cactus than trees.

In Sequoia National Park we saw lots of bears.  

This cub climbed up this tree and then seemed confused as to where he was and why.  There was quite a crowd watching and photographing him.  Most of the bears had been tagged by the park service and, we were told, were not likely to approach humans.  Although their coat is brown they are black bears.  On our last hike here we saw a very LARGE bear that was not tagged, we took just a few shots and then headed for the car.  All of the parking lots, and camp grounds had bear boxes that the rangers suggested you put any food in.  We watched a video that showed bears destroying a car to get to food left in it.  

The ages of the General Sherman, General Grant and other large sequoias are unknown, but it is estimated that these giants are between 1,800 and 2,700 years old. They have seen civilization come and go, survived countless fires and long periods of drought, and continue to flourish -- inspiring yet another generation of admirers.

It was good to see Green for a change.  When we arrived in Sequoia it was 70 degrees out side the park and dropped to the 40's at the top.  We stayed in the lodge here and were glad we did.  The road was only 25 miles long but the speed limit was 10/15 MPH and with good reason.  The whole thing was was one switchback after another the elevation change was over 6k feet. 

The first bear I saw was walking on this trail.

We hiked up to see a waterfall and found the view looking back much more interesting.  It was a nice hike though.

This is King's Canyon where the fog was so thick you could hardly see 10 yards out.

But the fog made for interesting shots.