Day Fourteen - Big Baldy, then off to Santa Cruz

This trip was not intended to celebrate the inevitability of my genes, although, in retrospect, our choice of peaks seems somewhat suspect...

We followed Generals Highway toward the northwestern exit of Sequoia and picked up the Big Baldy trail just within the western peninsula of Kings Canyon National Park.  It was a beautiful morning for a hike, especially for one gentleman who ran up and down the 4-mile trail twice.

One of the members of our crew was feeling a bit less ambitious and comfortable looking down 8,000 feet than others...

...and another one really wanted to eat an apple...

With satisfied souls, we gathered with Little Red and drove through beautiful central California - miles of citrus groves, artichoke rows, and strawberry mounds; huge red trucks with open-topped hauling beds full of tomatoes and feather-strewn eggs; thirsty reservoirs and placid canals the California aquaduct system; clusters of solar farms - watery mirages, from afar -  and windmill-peppered hills. It is a vast and beautiful world we live in...