Trek to the Nation's Christmas Tree

This weekend, M & I visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Unlike last weekend's trip, which was spontaneous, this trip was planned well in advance, so we were able to reserve a room at the Wuksachi Lodge, two miles from Lodgepole, Sequoia's main visitor center. Considering Saturday's nighttime temperature dipped to 16 degrees Fahrenheit, I was happy to have a warm place to sleep.

One of the things I wanted to do while at the parks was visit the General Grant Tree in the Grant Grove area of Kings Canyon. In addition to being the third largest living thing in the world, the General Grant Tree is also "The Nation's Christmas Tree". To celebrate this designation, a local chamber of commerce has led a pilgrimage to the tree and held a ceremony at its base on the second Sunday of December every year since 1926.

Since we wouldn't be able to attend the official pilgrimage and ceremony, I thought it would be cool to do our own "Trek to the Tree", perhaps with something symbolizing the spirit of Christmas.

Of course, this idea only occurred to me as we were driving to the park on Friday, somewhere between Los Banos and Clovis. The odds of finding a store selling simple decorations seemed slim. Unless Lady Luck blessed us with a Christmas miracle, ours would be one sad little trek.

By the time we entered Fresno, I had given up all hope. We hadn't seen one convenience store along the way. I was positive Lady Luck was ignoring us.

That's when M suddenly pointed and said, "Hey, look, there's a Dollar Tree!" Those dingy green block letters never looked so good.

Four dollars and thirty-three cents later, we had a 15-inch wreath, a bag of fake cranberries, and two Santa hats. Some assembly was required, but M did a fine job of decorating the wreath.

For thirty minutes, we had the grove and giant sequoias to ourselves. We took our time wandering along the Grant Tree Trail. It was difficult to walk without stopping and staring up in awe at the colossal trees.

When we reached the General Grant Tree, I placed the wreath on a post in front of it. There weren't choirs singing or balloons on parade or dignitaries making speeches or celebrities lighting trees, but in that moment, without any of the pageantry, it felt like Christmas.

Before we left, we removed the wreath, just in case a ranger came along and thought we were trying to deface a national treasure with cheap decorations.

We drove down Generals Highway, checked into our room, dined at the lodge, and retired early in preparation for the big hike on Saturday.