Photo Essay: Sequoia National Park's Only Public Cave Reopens (Claustrophobes Beware!)

Sequoia National Park is just one of those places that has intimidated me ever since I moved to California. 

For some reason, I've been able to tackle all the unforgiving deserts—but give me giant sequoia trees, and I shrink away at the enormity of it all. (I feel the same about Yosemite.)

So even though I've been spending 6-8 hours a day on my book—in addition to working full-time—I took the opportunity to join some friends who were headed up north to Sequoia-Kings Canyon for the weekend. 

Their main draw? Touring Crystal Cave after its four-year closure.

There are a few magic phrases in this life that can make me spring into action, like saying "Open Sesame" to a secret passage door hidden in a bookcase. One of them is "never open to the public," and another is "reopened after being closed."

Needless to say, I didn't think twice.

 

A number of natural factors caused the public tours of the cave to cease—first, the 2021 KNP Complex fire, and then the winter storms of 2023. Up until then, it was the only publicly accessible cave in the combined national parks of Sequoia and Kings Canyon. 

 

 

Photo Essay: Beasts, Bagpipes, and Very Good Boys at Idyllwild's 4th of July Parade

I'd been wanting to go to the Idyllwild 4th of July Parade ever since the Idyll-Beast himself told me he marches in it every year.

Besides, I love a good small-town celebration of Independence Day—so a friend and I set out into the San Jacinto Mountains to watch the festivities on "the Hill," under the shadow of Tahquitz Rock.

Photo Essay: The Uphill Battle at Sequoia National Park's Moro Rock

"We're doing what?!"

That might not be what I said out loud, but it certainly was what I was thinking. 

We'd spent the day driving from LA to Sequoia National Park—and I was already battling altitude sickness just from the little walk to the General Sherman giant sequoia tree.

But it wasn't my trip—I wasn't in charge of the schedule, which is how I wanted it—so I had no choice. 

We were going to climb Moro Rock to watch the sunset.

 

Not to be confused with Morro Rock near San Luis Obispo, Moro Rock in Central California's Sequoia park is a dome-shaped granite rock formation that's more for hikers than rock climbers.