Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.

Sequoia NP was established in 1890. Only Yellowstone NP is older.

Entered the park at the Foothills Visitor Center near Three Rivers, CA. This is the south entrance. The gate house staff said the Park Service advised, but did not require, a 22’ limit on the size of vehicles driven on this part of the Generals Highway. We’re 27’. She said motorhomes like ours enter here all the time. On we went. Stopped at the Visitor Center for information on accessible trails for Carol. The lady pointed out several she thought we could do unless they were still covered with snow. The part of the road with the 22’ length recommendation wasn’t much really. I’ve driven on much narrower and winding roads in North Carolina and Utah.

Lots of snow still on the ground. We enjoyed it. A nice change for us. Gopher just loves the snow. Runs through it, rolls in it, eats it. Tonight it’s supposed to drop down into the high 20’s.

Besides various overlooks, our first stop was the General Sherman Tree. This is the largest living tree on Earth. There is one species of tree that lives longer and three species that grow taller, but for sheer mass, none is larger. In all the world, sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, mostly between 5,000 and 7,000 feet of elevation. The General Sherman Tree is an estimated 2,200 years old.

Sequoia Facts: Height: to 311’. Age: To 3,200 years. Weight: To 2.7 million pounds. Bark: To 31” thick. Branches: Up to 8’ in diameter. Bases: To 40’ diameter.

There was a nice museum at the Sherman Tree site. We set out on another walk through a grove of Sequoia’s but had to stop because of the snow on the trail. After that we drove to the Montecito-Sequoia Lodge area for lunch then on to our campground. We camped at the Azalea Campground near the Grant Grove Village Center. There were only about 10 other campers in the entire place. That is one of the really things about traveling off season. No reservations required. This is a very nice campground. It’s obvious that when the campground was laid out, a major effort was made to save as many trees as possible. We walked up to the Grant Grove Village area. There is a Kings Canyon Visitor Center where we watched a movie about the park and looked through the museum. Poked around the gift shop & grocery store. Bought two post cards for Izzy & Finn.

We were going to stay another night but Carol was cold and said she had seen enough big trees. She was ready to move on. J

In the morning we drove to the General Grant Sequoia Grove. Gopher & I walked around. Carol stayed inside. It was 34*. Left about 9:30. Our destination was the Dos reis County Park near Stockton. That puts us about half way to the California Redwood Coast; our destination