We headed south to Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Park after Yosemite. We stayed at Sequoia RV Ranch about 4 miles from Sequoia National Park entrance. Unfortunately, the campground in the park did not have sites big enough for our bus(we need at least 45 feet in length), but it was nice to have hookups(water, electricity and sewer) since we dry camped in Yosemite.
We started our first day at the second oldest National Park, Sequoia. We stopped at the visitor center and looked at the exhibits and our kids picked up the Junior Ranger books then we headed to the Giant Forest Museum and the Big Trees Trail. We were so surprised that we started in the foothills at about 1700 feet elevation and as we followed the road up the mountain to the Giant Forest Museum and Big Trees Trail how the landscape changed to coniferous trees around 5,000 ft. We visited the museum and attended a ranger led program then we did a short hike through the Big Trees Trail.
Next, we headed to the General Sherman Tree, which is the world’s largest tree by volume. It is also very old, somewhere between 2,300-2,700 years old.
- Driving through Tunnel Log
Our final stop of the day was Moro Rock(granite dome rock-6725 ft elevation). It was only a 1/2 mile hike to the top, but the 400 steps made it a nice little workout. I have to say that having our kids with us, helped me to not freak out over how steep it was at some points of the staircase. We got to the top just in time to see the sun setting. Definitely worth the scary parts! 🙂
Day 2
Scott hurt his back in Yosemite, so unfortunately, he rested and our kids and I headed back to Sequoia to hike Crescent Meadows and tour Crystal Cave. Crescent Meadows had a nice hike that passed Crescent Meadow(John Muir called it the Gem of the Sierras) into the woods to a little cabin that was built into a downed sequoia. Kane loved seeing the little fish swimming in the small stream. We took our time on this hike and so on the way back to the jeep, I had to play a round of tag to get Kat to run, so we would not be late for our cave tour. 🙂
Kane was really excited to see Crystal Cave. We had to hike 1/2 mile down a winding path. Kat was a little concerned after the tour guide told us to watch out for the bear, the bees and poison ivy. “Crystal Cave is a treasure-cavern of ornate marble polished by subterranean streams and decorated with curtains of icicle-like stalactites and mounds of stalagmites” per the website. The polished marble was beautiful!
Day 3 – King’s Canyon National Park
We headed to King’s Canyon on our third day. We took a shortcut, so it only took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes from our campground. Since 1943, both parks(Sequoia and Kings Canyon) are managed under one superintendent. There is a grove of Sequoias(the third largest in the world, General Grant is located there) that actually was the General Grant National Park(it became a NP on October 1, 1890(6 days after Sequoia became a NP). In 1940 it became King’s Canyon NP and included the area east of there(this area comprises 90% of the park). We stopped at the visitor center and our kids turned in their Junior Ranger books and earned their badge. We then headed to the General Grant Grove of sequoias.
We found out that you gotta drive the 30 miles(1 hour drive) passed the General Grant Grove to get to “Kings Canyon.” It is breathtaking! We followed the winding mountain rode down, passing a narrow vertical-walled gorge before reaching the valley floor. We headed to almost the end of the road to Zumwalt Meadows Hike. We had a picturesque view of the Kings River with huge cliffs rising above it. We followed the trail along the river to a large suspension footbridge. We continued through the woods briefly to reach the Zumwalt Meadow loop. We followed the trail around the meadow to a slope that we had to climb which was made by small blocks of stone then over a rocky slope at the foot of immense cliffs. It truly was so beautiful! It reminded me alot of Yosemite with it being a glacial carved valley with granite cliffs. Such a blessing that this land is protected, so we all can enjoy it! The Sierra Nevada Mountains are amazing!! One thing that I did not know is that Mount Whitney is the highest peak(14, 505 ft.) in the continental USA and it is located in Sequoia. Unfortunately, you can’t see it from any road in the park. You have to backpack in to see it! Next time!! 🙂
