Central California Trip ~ July 10, 1996

We left Yosemite Valley through the Yosemite Tunnel and visited Mariposa Grove, our first look at the immense Sequoia trees. We saw the "Grizzly Giant" and other trees, including one you could walk through.

The "Grizzly Giant" in Mariposa Grove, California.

The path goes through the trunk of one of the Sequoias in Mariposa Grove, California.

From there, we continued down Highway 41 to Fresno and then Highway 99 on to Visalia. We checked into our Visalia Motel, eventually turned on the television, and were shocked to find out that a section of the rock face near Glacier Point in Yosemite had broken off and dropped into the valley, killing one person and seriously injuring several others! The estimated 80,000 tons of rock fell to the ground at over 170 miles per hour, causing an air blast that mowed down a large section of tall pines. It impacted the ground with an equivalent of a 2.15-magnitude earthquake! In addition, the dust and debris clouded the entire valley and made the air quality so poor that the valley area of the park was closed down for a while. In the end, we were very lucky that we got to visit the park and left, literally hours, before that happened.

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