Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park
Date: Thursday, August 18 - Sunday, August 21
We visited Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park for a weekend hiking trip and to celebrate a birthday. The national parks neighbor each other in central California near Fresno, and are typically grouped together in itineraries and official National Parks websites and documents. They are a short 3 hour drive from San Jose, California. We stayed at an Airbnb in a nearby city called Visalia.
Sequoia National Park
We spent the first whole day (Friday, August 19th) exploring Sequoia National Park. The park is filled with giant sequoia trees, including the world’s biggest tree, General Sherman. We started the day on the road at 6:00AM to drive through the south Ash Mountain entrance, which took around 1 hour from our Airbnb in Visalia.
Moro Rock Trail
Our first stop was Moro Rock Trail. Sequoia National Park is expansive, as it took an additional 45 minutes from entering the park to get to the trailhead. The trail is a short 20 minute walk up stairs to a viewpoint. This trail is the most popular trail on Alltrails, which is why we wanted to get it out of the way early in the morning to avoid crowds. We drove right up to the parking lot located at the trailhead, where we were met with swarms of little flies. Reaching the top gave us an overview of the park.
Congress Trail
Our next stop was Congress Trail, a 3.5 mile hike that tours all the large Sequoia trees, including the world’s largest tree, General Sherman. From Moro Rock, the trailhead was about a 10 minute drive. We arrived around 9AM.
Throughout the park, small chipmunks could be seen scurrying around the trail and forest grounds.
Pictures do not do justice for how large the sequoia trees are in person. General Sherman had a few tourists around 9AM. We were able to easily get pictures. By the time we revisited the area around 11AM, large crowds of tourists were present, creating a large line for picture ops.
Fires ravaged Sequoia National Park back in Fall 2021. Burn scars can be seen on various trees.
Many trees were named after American Government positions.
A cross section of a tree cut in the early 1900’s was on display. According to the park, this tree was around 2000 years old.
Macro shots of the tree stump using the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Lodgepole Market Center and Wuksachi Lodge
For lunch, we visited the Lodgepole Market Center to shop, and ate at Wuksachi Lodge. The Wuksachi Lodge restaurant serves standard sandwiches, bowls, and pizzas. The Market center sold various snacks and souvenirs.
Tokopah Falls Trail
After an afternoon break, we began our hike at Tokopah Falls trail. The 4 mile hike is an out and back trail that ends at a small waterfall. The rocky terrain is surrounded by large trees, rivers, and small meadows.
We were pleasantly surprised after seeing a small bear while hiking. The bear seemed to have an ear tag.
After finishing our hike at Tokopah falls, our plan was to visit Foothills visitor’s center. Unfortunately the visitor’s center closed at 4PM, so we would not have made it. The closer visitor center, Lodgepole visitors center, was closed for renovation. We headed back to our Airbnb around 5pm.
Kings Canyon National Park
On Saturday, August 20th, we headed to Kings Canyon National Park. The 2 hour drive to the entrance and to Mist Falls trailhead was beautiful. After driving briefly through the forrest, the road opens up to an incredible view of a canyon surrounded by tall mountains. The layers of mountains were prominent in the soft morning light. We made our way driving through and down the canyon.
Mist Falls Trail
Our main hike for this day was Mist Falls, a 9 mile out and back hike through Kings Canyon. The trailhead was far east of the park, and is a gateway through many trails that backpackers take.
The trail starts through a flat meadow, and transitions through a shaded region surrounded by trees. After awhile under the trees and through some inclines, the trail opens up to reveal incredible views. Surrounded on all three sides are giant mountains that looked huge in person. The views reminded me of pictures you see online of Switzerland, with a few of the mountain peaks resembling Matterhorn. The views felt like views you would see on a multi day backpacking trip, not a day hike.
Grant Grove Giftshop and Kings Canyon Visitor’s Center
After our long 4.5 hour hike, we drove an hour to the Kings Canyon visitor center and Grant Grove gift shop to look around.
General Grant Trail
We then visited General Grant, our Nation’s Christmas Tree. General Grant was very large. On the backside was a scar from a fire.
Our two day trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon was a success. We were able to explore most of the sites we had planned to see, and left satisfied and humbled by the large grand sequoia trees and massive canyons. We are fortunate to be a short drive away from these beautiful parks.