It was a usual Sunday evening and we (Anu, Ranga and family, Priya, myself and Ramesh) had just returned from Livermore temple and were talking what we would do the next week. The following week was indeed Valentine's day and a long weekend for some of us for the President's day. We all thought why not visit the Giant Sequoias and the Kings Canyon NP (SEKI). Priya had not seen snow at all and I had not seen it too for a while now. It was decided that we would go to SEKI and make it a day's trip. We would return the following evening.
The group was to leave in 2 cars - Anu, Ranga, Radhika and Anu's mom in their car & Priya, Ramesh, Venkat (Ramesh's friend and colleague) and myself in my car. The Itinerary was all set and the plans were drawn. We would leave San Jose at 5:30 am and leave SEKI by 6 pm.
On the whole the trip was a memorable one. For some it was the best Valentine they had. The pictures we took were amazing and here they are. Enjoy and looking forward to more such trips and merriment.
Date(s): February 14, 2004. Album by Karthik Nagaraj. Photos by Priya, Anu, Ramesh and Karthik. 1 - 10 of 89 Total. 1346 Visits.
Hi kutta....wonderful job!!!!Just loved the pics, comments and your creativity.Also, i liked the videos. They were amazzziiinggg! I was overwhelmed watching the videos and the pics one after another. Pics are very informative and all your hardwork is truly and sincerely appreciated!Keep up the good work sweetie! - priya, Thu, 19 Feb 2004 2:31AM
Hey..COOL!! specially the videos :-) and descriptions deserves REAL COMPLIMENT!! .. (btw..I am Venkat's and Ramesh's team-mate in India :) ) - Avni, Wed, 18 Feb 2004 10:37PM
Hi Folks, I have finished the album and hoping that all of you like it. This time I have about 7 videos. Please wait until the videos are downloaded and then play it. You could experience stop and play the first time, but thats ok, video needs to get fully downloaded and then played. I have denoted some of the pictures as [WALLPAPER] to have you guys pick them up for setting them as wallpaper on your desktops. Also I have 5 panaromic shots. Please ask me how to print them out, I can help you out with that. Enjoy folks ! - Karthik, Tue, 17 Feb 2004 7:31PM
enlarge 74KB, 800x608 1 Thats where we were heading to: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. They are a part of the Department of Interior's National Park Service. SEKI is one of the hosts for the Giant Redwood trees in California. It's brother Yosemite is about 100 miles North.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks occupy a portion of the western slope of the southern Sierra Nevada, the 400-mile-long mountain range along the eastern edge of California. The parks have a tremendous elevation range, from about 1,360 feet (412 m) at park headquarters in Ash Mountain to 14,491 feet (4,417 m) at the summit of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous 48 states. (www.nps.gov)
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are at the heart of the largest contiguous wilderness area in California, and 85 percent of park land is designated as wilderness. The parks are also a designated unit of the International Biosphere Preserve Program. (www.nps.gov)
enlarge 314KB, 800x800 2 The complete map and Itinerary: Our plan was the following. Visit the Kings Canyon and then visit the Sequoias. We would leave San Jose taking US 101 S towards Gilroy. We would then take the 152 E. The 152 E would take us to 99 S and then 180 E would take us straight to Kings Canyon entrance.
Following 180 E, we would enter Sequoia NP and continuing on that would take us to the entrance of the park and would get us out of the park onto 198 W. 198 W would lead us to 99 N. Following 99 N would take us to 152 W to Gilroy. 152 W would have an exit onto 101 N and that would lead us straight back to our home.
The journey one way would take us about 4 1/2 hours - 215 miles. The journey inside the park was about 30 miles.
We left @ 6:45 am and were proposing to arive there by 11:00 am atleast.
Why dont you guys navigate along and see?...
enlarge 30KB, 800x600 3 Kings Canyon and Sequoias, HERE WE COME!!Early morning sky @ 6:45 am. Amazing orange color - feels as though the sky is on fire.
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enlarge 27KB, 800x600 4 Another shot at the sky. This was taken on 101 while we were driving.
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enlarge 37KB, 800x600 5 152E scenic drive. The best part of this drive was that we were driving very close to the mountains.The mountains in central California are not very high and look very timid but check out the ranges in the Eastern part and the coastal part - they are menacing!
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enlarge 32KB, 800x600 6 152E Scenic drive - San Luis Water Reservoir. San Luis Reservoir was constructed as a storage reservoir for the federal Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project. It stores runoff water from the Delta that would otherwise flow into the ocean. The water arrives through the California Aqueduct and the Delta-Mendota Canal, and is pumped from the ONeil Forebay into the main reservoir during the winter and spring. The Los Banos Creek Reservoir was built to prevent storm runoff from flooding the canals. (www.parks.ca.gov)
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enlarge 95KB, 800x600 7 We decided to pullover to the San Luis recreation area to have breakfast. All of us were starving. Anu had made wonderful Upma. You can see Ramesh and Venkat getting ready to have their breakfast. Ramesh had just woken up from his sleep!
enlarge 42KB, 800x600 8 San Luis Reservoir - a shot against the sun. Cant help it if the sun rises in the east and we were driving on the east...
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enlarge 65KB, 800x600 9 Anu and Ranga taking out the Upma and pickle. Anu's mom is helping Radhika put on the jacket as it was very chilly that morning. Eventhough, the weather looked very sunny, it was too chilly and windy for Radhika to remain without any coat. Priya had already secured her warm place inside Anu's car.
enlarge 60KB, 800x600 10 There she is - Radhika with Priya and myself. This place was a nice stop area except for one thing - no rest room. Well, the good thing is we did not have any other cars in the parking lot. As a result, we enjoyed eating and ate AARAAM SE.............
