The Sequoia Sequestration - Day 3

Day Three took a turn for the mellow. I charred some pancakes for everyone's breakfast and instituted another forced march around the meadow. Somehow I suspect there was less complaining on the Trail of Tears.

After a solid 100 yards it's time for a rest.

Asking for 200 yards is a little much, don't you think?

We had to go back to the camp to recover from the fatigue of it all.

Given the less than enthusiastic mindset of my hiking troop, my lone goal for the day was looking a little doubtful. I had read that Kings Canyon harbors some of the nicest caverns in the Sierras and I was very keen on seeing one. Boyden Cavern was one I'd read about and it was just up the road, but I suspected that trying to pull it off with my weary road warriors would be a recipe for disaster. But then I considered the alternative: We could stay in the camp all day. Sitting around the picnic table with "I'm bored!" run on an auto-loop for five or six hours seemed to tilt the trade slightly in favor of "I'm tired!" run on a loop in the car. At least in the car you had convenient cliffs you could plummet over if things got truly unbearable. So we loaded up Goldie the Great and headed over to Kings Canyon.

Imagine driving this road with the Jurassic Park Theme blaring!

Fortunately for Stacy, we arrived just after a tour had left, so we had an hour to kill while Stacy got her sea legs back. Meanwhile the kids played on a rocky slope dropping down into the tumbling Kings River, which contributed significantly to Stacy recovering her sense of adrenaline.

Eventually all members of our party were ambulatory and our tour was called to order. We had a substantial little hike up a steep incline to get to the mouth of the cavern, and from there we passed into the great dark beyond...

The cavern was pretty spectacular. All kinds of stalactites and stalagmites and funny wavy shapes and flows. We learned that a stalactite has to hold on "tight" to the roof, whereas a stalagmite someday just "might" make it all the way up! Our tour guide, Nicholas, was a college kid who looked to be about 12; he stumbled joyfully through his presentation, and was so "Aw shucks" cute that you couldn't begrudge him. He took a special shining to Stacy and seemed to deliver his entire wide-eyed presentation to her alone. The rest of us could have been stalagmites.

 At one point Nicholas brought us all to a large room with little wooden benches about 6 inches off the ground. He had us sit down while he explained the history of the cavern and its various nuances. Then he asked if we knew what total darkness looked like. Then he showed us. It looked roughly like this:

It was pretty amazing how almost tactile the solid black was. You felt closed in and smothered by it, even though you knew you were in a big open space.

The famed "Upside Down City" stalactite formation

Being a bit of a claustrophobe, I wasn't sure I would handle the cavern if it got cramped and tight, but while there were a few squeezes here and there, it was entirely manageable and a great diversion. Contrary to all expectations, the kids were mesmerized from moment one and happy and interactive. N was bubbling over with comments and questions, which Nicholas blissfully ignored as he explained the cavern's finer points to Stacy.

Nicholas makes sure Stacy gets down the hill safely...

Back to camp and it was pasta in a sauce spiked with bacon, some more s'mores, and then an hour or two of dice games with Stacy, L and N and my two other recently acquired children. Nick and I cleaned house, skunking the rest of them, and as a result we were bestest of buds for the entire night. No soft side was to be found when it came to the crowing of Nick's triumph over his adversaries.

Daddy and Nick putting the pain on the also-rans.

The third night must have finally found us weary.  There were no giggle fits and hours of silliness after hitting the tent.  By the time my time lapse shot was up, no one in my family was!