Sequoia National Park

When I was in Sequoia three years ago - It was summertime. It was warm. The place was filled with tourists, I swam in the river all day - I had trouble finding a place to camp because every campsite was taken....

Visiting Lodgepole the day after Memorial Weekend (the weekend that they opened) was radically different - And colder. A handful of campsites were occupied (most of them RVs)... Matt and I scored a prime location next to the river. Unzipping our tent every morning, was like opening a present (which is appropriate, since Matt's birthday happened while we were in Sequoia - Happy 27th, buddy!).... Matt and I visited the largest tree in the world (the General Sherman tree), we drove through the Guardian Trees, we hiked the river to Tokopah Falls - Matt seemed to enjoy the Mountain Man thing and I enjoyed it too... But lack of proper clothing sucked.... Thin sweatshirts, a pair of jeans, a hat, flipflops with socks in fifteen degree weather? - I slept with my clothes on, mummified in my sleeping bag - I was scared to fall asleep, scared of hypothermia, scared of having my nose turn black with frostbite and fall off... We stayed for two nights, but when the rangers drove by and informed us that the temperature was going down another ten degrees... We broke camp and headed south....