The news about the fires in Yosemite National Park has me concerned.  If you never been there, you might not understand why.  Isn’t it just a bunch of rock and trees?  I guess that’s true.

It took me to age 36 to get to a National Park.  Yosemite was my first.  I wish I had gone there sooner, as it changed who I am.

If you’ve never been there and seen the giant sequoias, you might not understand.  Unfortunately photos can’t begin to relay the enormity and grandeur of these monster trees.  At 200-300 feet tall, and hundreds to thousands of years old, it really puts one in their place in time and space.

Wait, stop, think…yes…thousands of years old.  These have survived much of history as we believe we know it.

We learned when we were there that fire actually helps the trees survive.  Fire causes the cones to open, spreading seeds for new trees to grow.  They say the fires won’t hurt the trees, but one can’t help to worry for them.  If you haven’t seen these, please add them to your bucket list.  I suspect they will change you too.

Photos below from September 11-13, 2007. (Click to enlarge photos/open slideshow.)

It’s little wonder how fires can start in California when it looks like this.  This was taken a ways west of Yosemite Valley.

The entrance to Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.

With the rental car for perspective.

Some sequoia cones.

These trees look like they’ve survived a fire or two.

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