Sequoia NP — Lakes Trail

On Wednesday, we selected the Lakes Trail for our outing.  The trailhead is at Wolverton, just a few miles from our lodging.  Highlights include the Watchtower, marking the beginning of a traverse across the rim of a large granite canyon.  We reached two lovely lakes: Heather and Emerald.  The advertised distance is a bit more than 10 miles, with 2000 feet of elevation gain from the 7400 foot put-in.  Although the trail is reported to be the most popular in Sequoia and we were visiting at high season, it was lightly used on this day.  With a 9 AM start, we only encountered a few others hiking along with us on the way up.  There were perhaps a dozen backpackers leaving as we ascended and a similar number (plus a lot of late-starting day hikers) as we returned in the afternoon.  We ended the day with a visit to nearby General Sherman tree, the largest (by volume) living thing on earth.  It's pictured at the end of this post.  The stats: 275 feet tall, 36 feet in diameter at the base, 2100 tons estimated mass, ~ 2500 year old age.