Geoff and I had an extraordinary moment during a not so everyday weekend when I flew out to visit him in Los Angeles between work-related trips. We decided to drive up to the Sequoia National Park to see, of course, the sequoia groves, particularly the General Sherman - largest living tree in the world.
They were amazing as to be expected. What was not expected was an encounter with Moro Rock--which we had never even heard of before.
Moro Rock, as seen here from the Foothills Visitor Center, is a dome-shaped piece of granite topping this peak at 6,725 feet. Pretty impressive and reminiscent of El Capitan at Yosemite.After viewing The General Sherman and several other incredibly massive sequoias with awe and amazement, we pondered the rest of our afternoon in this incredible place. A map showed a loop road to Moro Rock nearby, so we took it.
To our delight, it lead to a trail head onto Moro Rock. Can we actually climb out onto Moro Rock? - we wondered. Let's find out!
Part of the way up, I told Geoff that I didn't think I would make it. We had just finished an hour hike on one of the sequoia trails, it was very hot, and I was rather tired and hungry.
But as we got closer, the thrill was the hook and up we climbed the steps that had been carved right out of the granite. In a very short time, we had indescribable vistas of several mountain ranges and glaciers, as well as the valleys and canyons below that mark this natural wonder.
Suddenly, I didn't feel quite so tired or hungry. And we hadn't even made the top yet.
Once we reached the peak, all that separated us from the 6,000+ below were these white rails. No ranger in site. But oh, what a moment!Way beyond the everyday---and definitely extraordinary.
What made it somewhat spiritual for me was having another real life instance when experiencing something spectacular was made possible with just a little extra effort.
