Sequoia National Park Day 2- July 9th

What a difference a day makes! Today was a much better day for us that did not involve any cars. We got to know our campground a lot better today and get oriented to the park. We slept in this morning and then got up and had a big breakfast. After that we went over to the visitor's center in our campground. We checked on a few things we were interested in doing and then we saw a movie about bears in the park. We also went to the market next door and of course there was ice cream that we had to partake in…why not have ice cream at 10am, we are on vacation! Then we headed back to camp. All in all the campground is nice…a little older and more run down than I expected (the park is the second oldest in the US, established in 1890) and the campsites are close together but the scenery makes up for it. We are surrounded by giant trees and granite mountains and our campsite is near a roaring river that I can hear gushing right now as I type. So after our trip to the visitor's center we came back to camp for a small lunch and then it was off to our first hike. This hike was right off of our campground which made it so nice and convenient. The hike is to Tokopah falls and it starts with a walk right along the river. The hike continues with mostly forests and of course the occasional meadow (my favorite). The kids took some dips in the river on the way up and we made lots of stops just to gaze at the smaller falls. Then you come to these giant granite boulders you have to walk through and right beyond those is the Tokopah Fall which is huge and gorgeous. It provided a great mist for us to cool off with and have a snack. We saw a marmot up there which is an animal that looks almost like a beaver, it was really cute. Then we came back down and back to camp for dinner. Then it was a campfire, some chats with our new neighbors and some smores. We then headed over to the amphitheater for the nightly ranger talk which was about fires. The ranger was fun, he made us sing a campfire song in the beginning that got louder and louder to the point we were all shouting and making crazy hand motions! The talk was interesting and the kids found it fascinating that forest fires can be good for the forest. On our way back to camp in the dark we practically walked into a deer which thrilled my deer lover Leah. Then it was off to bed. Can't wait for tomorrow, we get to see the biggest tree in the world!