Moro Rock, seen here, is a huge dome shaped rock in Sequoia National Park. I had heard there is an airy walkway to the top of the rock that is not for the faint of heart. I have no choice, better go check this out.A slightly closer look at Moro Rock. The route snakes it way up the right-hand side and then goes across the narrow summit ridge.As you start off, there are a number of stern warning signs; death by lightning, death from falling. The start of the trail really does not seem so bad.A walk in the park really. Okay, things are getting a bit more interesting now. There is a steep drop off the side of the trail here. When this route was first put up in the early 1900’s, guides would use ropes to help clients reach the top of Moro Rock.
As you climb up the rock the trail narrows considerably and clings to the side of the cliff. Back in 1917, they built a series of wooden stairs up Moro Rock. However, by 1931 the wooden stairs started to fall apart and were replaced with the concrete steps that weave their way through the cliffs and ridges.
Carrying on up the rock. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that somebody decided that adding a handrail might be a good idea. As you can see, they did not put them everywhere.
Sian takes a break before we reach the steep section. It is 300 vertical feet from the start of the trail and 350 steps to the top of the rock.
The trail now follows right up the ridge of the rock. It’s a long way down on either side of the stairs.
And the view looking back down. In the 90’s, three people fell to their death on this trail. I couldn’t seem to find any more recent stats.The trial squeezes through a small crack before emerging onto the narrow summit.On the Top! The narrow summit is flanked by very steep long drops on all 3 sides. The summit is 6725 feet high. The last little bit of the trail. Notice the women on the left hanging on to the sign pretty tight. Due to the exposed nature of this trail, the risk of lightning is very high and numerous deaths from lightning have occurred on this trail.Of course, the traditional summit selfie has to make an appearance!Not surprisingly, the views up here are not too bad. Mount Whitney is off somewhere in that direction. However, its summit is well over 1 mile higher than our current elevation. http://www.tripbagger.com/2019/09/11/shawn-bags-mount-whitney/View in the other direction. Note the winding road on the right side of the photo. Sian and her motion sickness is not looking forward to the drive out of here.Look mom! No hands!What goes up, must go down. Hopefully in a controlled fashion, one step at a time.
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