Sequoia National Park

After a quick breakfast on Monday morning, we headed south into Sequoia National Park. On the way to our first stop, the Lodgepole Visitors Center, we smelled the smoke from some prescribed burns. They purposefully burn frequently now because fire is good for the forests; giant sequoias actually need fire to thrive. So we pulled over at an outlook and checked out the smoky view.

After the visitors center, we went to see the General Sherman Tree. It's the largest tree by volume in all the world. Here's Matthew standing in an area the size of the tree's footprint.

The half-mile trail to the base of the tree descends twenty-eight stories. It was an easy walk down, but we took our time coming back up. 

If you go to Sequoia, you must come away with the requisite General Sherman family photo. :)

The Giant Forest section of Sequoia NP is really beautiful. You wouldn't believe how many giant sequoias are in this grove; it's a gorgeous blur of dark green and brown. We made a visit to the Giant Forest Museum, where you get a good education on these very special big trees. 

On the way to our next destination, we were driving through the grove when I saw something move up on a hill. "There's a bear!" We'd been looking all over for one since we had arrived. Bear sightings are pretty common at Sequoia, so we were happy to see one that was a safe distance from us. Miraculously at that moment in the drive there was a turnout on the road, so Brian pulled over and was able to get some photos using the telephoto lens.

After all that excitement, we headed to Moro Rock. It's a granite dome rock formation with a view of the park, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the Great Western Divide. Though only a quarter mile long, we climbed 350 steps from bottom to top. It was a challenge at almost high noon with the sunshine, but the 360 degree views were unbelievable.

On our way to Crescent Meadow, we drove the truck through Tunnel Log like all tourists do.

By then we were famished, so we picnicked beside Crescent Meadow.

Afterwards, we put our leftovers in one of the bear boxes and then began our hike. Matthew is pointing out our trail here. I kid! We did a two-mile loop.

John Muir called Crescent Meadow the "Gem of the Sierras." I agreed. And here are more of those lovely ferns and giant sequoias.

There was a deer far off in the distance, too.

After a long, hot walk, we finally came upon Tharp's Log. Hale Tharp discovered the Giant Forest and lived in this downed log. We couldn't get a good photo because too many people were sitting all around it, but it was a neat little shelter.

Here's the Chimney Tree. ...Because it resembles a chimney. It's completely hollowed out.

This fallen tree has been turned into a trail to cross the meadow. Walking across the meadows are not permitted unless you use proper paths.

Truly a gem!

After the three hikes in the hot sun, we went back to the visitors center to cool off. We watched a twenty-minute movie about bears and looked through all the exhibits. Then we made the one-hour drive back to our campsite in Grant Grove.

Though we ran into more people in Sequoia than Kings Canyon, the park never felt overcrowded. It's as massive as the trees, so there's plenty of room for everyone to spread out. We spent an exciting day in that park and were able to see quite a bit of it. Everything from the trees to the sweeping views to the meadow was spectacular.

Kings Canyon National Park

Early on Saturday morning, we left Phoenix for a stopover in Bakersfield, California. Though not a popular summer vacation destination, we found an RV park with full hook-ups at a reasonable price to stay the night after driving for eight hours. The idea was to get within two to three hours of Sequoia/Kings Canyon so that we could secure a nice campsite at one of the first-come/first-served campgrounds in Grant Grove. The roads in SeKi essentially form a giant letter C. Grant Grove is right in the middle of that C, so we were hoping to find a place to stay in that central location.

The plan worked. We left Bakersfield around 8 am and drove two and a half hours up the steep road to the parks. After perusing our first-choice campground, Azalea, we found site #84 met our standards: long enough driveway, easy to back into, level, and relatively private. Although some low-hanging branches left a scratch on the top side of the trailer as we drove around the campground, we brushed it off as part of the experience. Camping is an adventurous activity, so trailers can't stay perfect forever. It wasn't anyway. The previous owners left some scratches, but this one is uniquely ours. Yay for our first scratch! We won't purposefully try for more, though. We set up shop and had some lunch before heading out to explore. Here are a few shots of our site. Notice the bear box. When camping in bear country, all food has to be kept in the bear box. Unless you have a hard-shell RV. Then you keep it in your trailer. The box is mainly for tent campers because bears can very easily tear open cars if they see food in them.

As soon as we were settled in, we headed over to see the General Grant Tree about a half-mile away. We were so excited to see the giant sequoias. We'd seen photos, but nothing prepares you for their scale. You really have to see them in person to appreciate their size and might.

The kids climbed through this fallen tree, too, and within moments Matthew scraped up his leg.

We walked through the Fallen Monarch. It was once used as a home and also a stable.

After that one-mile hike around Grant Grove, Matthew got his leg cleaned up and coated in Neosporin. He was done hiking for the day!

So Elizabeth and I went back to the grove. We hiked the North Grove Loop, a two-mile trail through the giant sequoia grove. We were able to get up close to the trees this time.

We also took note of the smaller things of beauty.

 

 We loved the lush, green ferns on the forest floor.

It was a pleasant hike with my sweet girl. The only disadvantage was that we descended first and had to climb our way out of there. The temperature was in the 80s, but the shady trail gave us some relief from the sun. I also had the car keys clipped to my belt loop to alert any wildlife that we were not sneaking up on them.

After dinner, we drove up a narrow road to Panoramic Point. It was a little hazy from some prescribed burns going on in the area, but it was still a grand view.

Another day we drove down into Kings Canyon. The Kings River is mighty. You can't even raft in it because it's so dangerously powerful. The water is constantly rushing and roaring. On the way down the winding road, we stopped at an overlook for our first views of the river.

We also stopped a moment because Matthew was getting a bit green in the car. He was reading and that didn't bode well for his tummy. Thankfully, Brian had some Dramamine in his Camelbak, so in a few minutes Matthew was up for a hike.

 The 26-mile road down into the canyon is hard to stomach for some.

At the base of the canyon, you're surrounded by high granite cliffs. It's known to be a smaller version of Yosemite, and we were so impressed with Kings Canyon that we couldn't imagine how Yosemite could be any better. The first thing we did was hike a loop around Zumwalt Meadow. Every photo I'd seen of this place and everything I'd read about it led me to believe this would be one of the most beautiful places we've ever seen. And it was very pretty. However, it was also infested with mosquitoes. I'm forever grateful for the little kids hiking out as we were starting our hike who said, "Turn back! There are too many mosquitoes!" We did turn back to get the bug spray out of the car. Thank goodness, otherwise we'd be covered with more welts than we got. I walked the whole way with a water bottle in one hand and the bug spray in the other. We reapplied several times, even to our clothes as the mosquitoes were biting us through our shirts. I'm certain it was our fastest 1.5-mile hike to date.

Even with the bugs, it was worth it. The surroundings were spectacular. It was a beautiful area, but it would have been more enjoyable without all the constant buzzing around our heads and swatting away with our hands. We did pay it forward and by warning hikers who were just starting their hike when we were finishing. They turned back for their bug spray, too.

Next we drove to Roads End, literally the end of the road in the canyon. We walked a few steps to the river and sat on Muir Rock. This has to be one of the most serene places in all the country.

Though I could have stayed at Muir Rock forever, we moved on to Roaring River Falls. It was about a quarter-mile hike to the base of the falls. The water was very loud and powerful, and there were lots of people climbing on the rocks around the falls. We stayed on the rocks that weren't close to the water because it really isn't safe to climb closer. The rocks are slippery, and if you make one wrong move you can be washed away.

I stayed downstream from the kids at all times.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

To be fair, I wasn't the only one. There was another family on the rocks. The dad splashed the mom playfully with some water, but she had a conniption fit about how that wasn't funny at all and now her shoes were slippery and, and, and.... She had a lot to say and even the roaring falls couldn't drown out her displeasure. We had seen them earlier at the meadow, and when Brian and I looked at each other he said, "I think the bugs did her in." :) But, thankfully, all four of us managed to stay safe and out of the water.

Next up was Knapp's Cabin, a roadside attraction. It was used as a storage shed for an entrepreneur outdoorsman who led back country tours into Kings Canyon in the Roaring 1920s.

There was also a great view of the canyon there.

The kids got their Junior Ranger badges right before our picnic lunch beside the river.

On the way out of the canyon, we stopped at Grizzly Falls. While Roaring River Falls were short and wide, this one was tall and skinny. The clouds moved in during this visit, too, and we were even sprinkled on for just a few minutes. It was refreshing and really cooled down the air, but by the time we went back to Grant Grove, the skies were sunny and rain was nowhere to be found.

Once we returned to Grant Grove, we went to the Visitors Center to buy some postcards and collectible patches and magnets. The kids relaxed with an ice cream from the village market while Brian borrowed the WiFi at the John Muir Lodge to map out our route to Yosemite the next day. 

The last thing on our list of things to see in Kings Canyon was the Big Stump Trail. Long ago, people cut down giant sequoias to use as lumber (for which they turned out to be horrible) or to prove to those as far away as NYC and London that trees this big really do exist. The stumps are sad reminders of how destructive man can be.

We were really impressed with the peacefulness of Kings Canyon. It's gorgeous and, maybe because it was the Tuesday before July 4th weekend, really wasn't busy at all. It is quite a drive to get down in there, but it's so worth it. It's easily one of my favorite places, and if I ever get into backpacking, that's where I'd want to go.