Traveling with TODAY While exploring central California this past February, UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY climbed the mountains of the Sierra Nevadas and also came upon a cabin situated in the state’s central valley Entrance to Sequoia National Park built to commemorate a person of great influence on American literature. The first stop was to Sequoia National Park, a park in the southern Sierras that plays host to thousands of giant sequoia trees, including General Sherman. While neither the tallest nor the widest, this towering conifer is scientifically estimated to be 2300 to 2700 years old and is said to be the current largest living tree (by volume) on the planet. Navigating the mountainous terrain of the Giant Forest—using roads cut into the cliffs, up and down 7500 feet—slow and steady was the pace for the day. Next on nature’s beauty bucket list, TODAY traveled north to Mariposa County to explore Yosemite National Park in the high Sierras. While experiencing breathtaking views of magnificent granite cliffs, including El Capitan and Half Dome, thunderous careening waterfalls were forced down to the valley and to the Merced river below. Driving deep into this 1200-square-mile forest, 55 degrees plummeted quickly to 32 degrees, while sunny blue skies with puffy white clouds unexpectedly turned into a General Sherman, the largest temporary blizzarding snow that threatened an otherwise calm weather day. living tree in the world Historical accounts of the park and the works of John Muir (1838-1914), America’s most famous and influential naturalist and conservationist who, in the mid 1860s, was greatly responsible for the creation of the Yosemite area as a national park, were continually shown in A view of the valley and Merced River a theater stationed at the visitors’ center in the main valley of the park. Stretching for miles through California’s central valley, passing countless numbers of cows and acres and acres of grapevines and walnut and almond trees, a side trip west to Toulumne County completed the Half Dome, Yosemite National Park excursion. TODAY explored a cabin dedicated to Sam Clemens, better known to many as Mark Twain, who lived in the area for a short period of time. Restored in 2002, the folklore surrounding the site of this cabin and its dwellers has had an irrefutable impact on American Upper fall, Yosemite National literature as we know it. (see article below). n Park; upper and lower falls together drop 2425 feet
Traveling with TODAY
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UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY
Mark Twain’s Cabin
The Mark Twain Cabin was first built in 1922 to commemorate the famed author’s stay in Toulumne County, California, during the winter of 1864–65. Sam Clemens had come over the Sierra Nevada mountains from Virginia City, Nevada, to San Francisco with his friend, Steve Gillis. Various biographers gave different reasons for Clemens coming to Jackass Hill. No matter the reason, he arrived at this site on December 4, 1864. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, stayed with the other two Gillis Brothers, Jim and Bill, and Dick Stoker (local pocket miners) until about February, 25, 1865. While living on the hill, Sam heard the story of the “Jumping Frog” in an Angels Camp saloon. His version would transform his life. Also, some of the tall tales spun by the Gillis brothers and Stoker would find their way into Mark Twain’s later writings. As a result of the toll that time and the elements took on the original cabin, a local Rotary club, during 2002-05, restored it as its centennial project when celebrating 100 years of Rotary (1905–2005) and dedicated the restored cabin on February 23, 2005. n This information was adapted from a plaque erected by the Sonora Sunrise Rotary placed near the cabin. Summer 2018