We just had five glorious days of camping in the wilderness - Sheep Creek in King's Canyon National Park. We pitched our tents here: waking up each morning to a sweeping canyon view, falling asleep each night to the soothing sounds of the rushing river.

To just be here, to sit and think, read, pray, meditate, write... to soak up the quiet and isolation... to watch the sun rise over the canyon walls each morning and play in the river each day, was absolutely awesome. To be surrounded by such majestic beauty that daily shouts its praise to The Creator was a pure joy!

There was a small forest fire that had been going since July from a lightning strike - they were allowing to smolder and burn the 100 year old underbrush and extra timber. When we arrived, we saw a few "hot spots" that were burning along the road - nothing huge or alarming, the firemen sat in trucks next to it, just keeping an eye on things.

The campground was nearly deserted. It seems the fire had been pretty bad a few days before we got there and many people left. So it wasn't hard to get a gorgeous spot! :) We weren't sure if we should stay or try to drive back to Grant Grove and find another site. But, since the smoke wasn't apparent when we arrived, we decided to try it out for the night. Turns out the smoke settles in the canyon during the night - so we did have a difficult first night trying to sleep with the smoke in the air. Next day - it was windy, clear and beautiful - with no hint of smoke, so we decided to stay - so glad we did.