On our second day, we returned to the Sequoia Forest to hike to the beautiful Seven Tea Cups. This was the third time the group had hiked to the Tea Cups. In prior attempts, they did not get as close as we did this time. We started at a different location, and the gate was closed to campers. We found out later that they were filming a movie, so we had to walk an additional mile. An SUV is definitely required to drive the rough road when the gate is open. It was a very hot day with minimal shade. After walking the road for a few miles, we had lots of creek crossings and nice big pools to dip in. We then continued on our cross-country route to our destination.
After a few miles of ups and downs, we finally arrived atop the beautiful Seven Tea Cups.
Wow, the views were spectacular!
This is at the top of the Tea Cups, but as you can see the force of the water will pull you in very fast, then you will end up in the Kern River below.
After our second huge creek crossing, we followed a path of pink flags that someone meticulously placed. This helped us out significantly and made our cross-country trek a lot easier than trying to negotiate our way through thick brush. It still was a tough climb but we all made it safely. It took us 5 hours to reach the Seven Tea Cups, and we had lunch under a huge rock. After resting for an hour, we hiked a different route back to the main fire road and avoided a few steep climbs. This same route provided more stream crossings for us to cool off.
Another exciting part of the trip back was the jet fighter planes flying above us, but we were too tired to take pictures.
Initially, this hike was supposed to be 6 miles out and back, but it turned out to be 9-mile loop hike. By far this was the easiest of the 3 attempts to reach the top of the Seven Tea Cups via different routes. We were all very grateful for the water in the streams and the pink flags. A big THANK YOU to whoever did this. It is very easy to get lost in this area.
