Tree Huggers

Although I come off as a girlie girl, my absolute favorite thing to do is go camping with my boyfriend! We typically go beach or desert camping together so camping in the forest was something new for us as a couple. We would love to get out of the city more often but the trouble is just finding the time for these trips. My boyfriend's work schedule is so unpredictable so that makes it hard for us to plan anything. This time around, we went with his family to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park. We left Friday before the sun came up and returned Sunday night. We also kind of cheated with the whole "camping" part of the trip this time because we stayed in their nice fancy trailer with 4 beds, a full kitchen, a shower, and a flush-able toilet lol.

This post isn't really fashion related at all but more of a little journal of my hiking adventures.

Day 1

We set up camp and went exploring around the campsite, which was right in between a meadow and a creek. Absolutely gorgeous!

Cap: Nike

Tank Top: Emma and Sam (LF Stores)

Bottoms: Adidas (here)

Sneakers: Asics

Sweater: Woodleigh (similar here here)

Obviously we were really roughin' it huh!?! Lol.

 

Hanging out by the creek.

Do you even lift, bro?!

It's Shamu!!! Eddie went swimming with a killer whale...in the middle of the forest!

Grilling some shrimp and veggies for dinner!

Attempting to make s'mores on a propane grill because the Camp Host wouldn't allow campfires for the time being. Major fail.

Day 2

Cap: Nike

T-shirt: Emma and Sam (LF Stores)

Shorts: Nike (similar here)

Shoes: Asics

Jacket: Orage (similar here)

(if you were wondering what the heck I was doing with a snow jacket 

in the middle of summer, it's because the cave was freezing inside)

Enjoying the nice cold air blowing out of Crystal Cave as we wait for the tour to begin.

These pictures don't do this cave any justice! (Tip: tickets sell out every single day so buy your ticket a day in advance)

The beautiful waterfall right outside the Crystal Cave.

Exhausted! Taking some breaks as we hike up the steep mountain after the cave tour.

After the cave, we visited one of the oldest living things on earth...General Sherman!

The boy and I with General Sherman. 

They cut a hole in the trunk of a giant sequoia that had fallen decades ago and made it a walkway...I saw a hole in the center and had to take a peek inside lol

Enjoying some beers while we stargazed. And then we made s'mores on the stove top in the trailer because the propane grill was such a bust the night before.

Day 3

Woke up at 5:30am to head to the Big Trees Trail and had to pull over and snap a shot of the sun creeping over the mountain.

 

Our hike to the Big Trees Trail.

Crawled my way on a fallen tree to the center of the meadow that's surrounded by giant sequoias. Fun fact: this picture was taken right before Eddie saw a bear and told me to calmly get back to the trail so we could hurry up and leave. If he had kept the panorama shot going, we would have captured the bear! I can honestly tell you, my heart was beating a mile a minute when I saw that bear! Luckily the bear didn't see us.

We only managed to get 1/4 of the way through the Big Trees Trail so we were pretty bummed. But we stopped by General Sherman again for some more pictures. This time we weren't fighting with 100 people for a quick picture.

Tree hugging.

We went back to camp and picked up Eddie's dad to go scout out a future camp ground when we stumbled upon more trails.

We parked the truck and hiked up to Buck Rock Lookout...which has to be one of the coolest things I have ever seen!

Climbed the steep steps to reach the lookout tower. Counted 171 steps that someone had to build...8,507 above sea level! Fun fact: back in the day before the lookout tower was built, someone would climb to the top of the rock and keep an eye out for fires. If there was a fire, that person would quickly climb down and ride his horse to the fire and put it out. How awesome is that?!

Note the old 70ish year old man fixing the flagpole on the right!

We went back to camp again after Buck Rock and fueled up on hotdogs and raspberries and hit some more trails. This time in search of the meadow near out campsite. We never found it lol...

So we went back to the creek for a quick dip.

Cap: Urban Outfitters

T-Shirt: Emma and Sam (LF Stores)

Pants: Lululemon (similar here)

Shoes: Keds (similar here)

Jacket: American Apparel

We brought alittle something home with us! Our own giant sequoias! Eddie and I are racing to grow the tallest, prettiest, and biggest tree during our lifetime!