Kings Canyon National Park
Hey Guys!! Kings Canyon National Park is usually lumped together with Sequoia National Park but, Kings Canyon is so amazing…it really deserves a post all of it’s own.
We found all of those California happy cows we hear so much about on television. Seriously though, we love this topography! The big rolling hills with little groves of trees here and there…This area of California is gorgeous!
It took us two hours to get to Kings Canyon from where we were staying. The road started out fine…narrow and windy, but paved. And then, the GPS Lady in all of her infinite wisdom decided we needed to be more adventurous and took us down an old forest service road to get into Kings Canyon NP. Truthfully… we loved it! We ended up driving though a section of the park not very many people get to see. Redwood Canyon is home to one of the largest sequoia groves and is one of the largest areas of old growth sequoias.
We had this area all to ourselves as we bumped and bounced our way up the old dirt forest service road filled with deep ruts. We feel like we should have seen a bear. Or mountain lion. Or any wildlife…but, we didn’t. We loved that we didn’t see another car until we were almost into the park. Sometimes the GPS Lady totally messes up and sometimes…she’s spot on. We loved driving through the largest remaining grove of sequoia trees (over 15,000)!
Kings Canyon National Park was originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park. It was expanded and renamed Kings Canyon National Park in 1940.
General Grant Grove is home to the General Grant Tree (in the picture above). At a whopping twenty-seven stories in height, the General Grant Tree is the world’s second largest living tree. Not tallest…but second largest…based on trunk volume. Want the numbers? The General Grant Tree stands at 267.4 feet in height and has a circumference of 107.6 feet. The General Grant Tree is a memorial to US soldiers killed in war and is also known as “the Nation’s Christmas Tree”.
It takes hundreds of years for one of these fallen giants to completely deteriorate. If you get to visit Grant’s Grove take your time and explore some. We found this fallen tree near the trail. As impressive as these giant trees are from the outside…they’re just as impressive on the inside. That’s Jerl’s silhouette at the end of the sequoia.
There’s a little general store and a pretty descent restaurant in Grants Grove. We ate at the restaurant, but I would suggest grabbing something to go at the general store and heading down into the canyon for a picnic lunch. Alex was so hungry he had a big burger and a potpie. Teenagers…
Kings Canyon Scenic Byway takes you to the bottom of the canyon via a road with hairpin turns, steep drop offs, and sheer granite cliff faces. This road isn’t for the faint of heart, but the payoff is huge. At the bottom of the canyon you can stand and look up at the canyon walls that rise thousands of feet up.
We only did a couple of hikes in Kings Canyon. One of them took us on a bridge over the Kings River. The water was amazingly clear and pretty darn cold.
Grizzly Falls is a must stop while you’re exploring Kings Canyon. It’s just feet away from the parking area and it’s a great spot for a picnic! I was standing at our car when I snapped the left shot of Grizzly Falls. If you’re not into hiking, this stop is good place to see one of the many waterfalls in the canyon.
The Kings River flows through the canyon. The road follows it most of the time so you have ample opportunity to gawk at the swiftly moving river. There are some pull-offs where you can get out and take a closer look. Just don’t fall in. Can you spot our red 4Runner in the picture above? It gives you a size comparison as to just how massive this canyon is.
On the way back up and out of the canyon we stopped at several of the vista pull-offs…and there are several! You can see the Kings River snaking it’s way through the canyon in the pics above. See how all of the mountain tops are rounded? That’s evidence that Kings Canyon is a glacier carved valley. With extreme elevation ranging between 1,500 feet to 14,500 feet, Kings Canyon National Park has a wide variety of habitats. Keep your eyes open and you never know what you might find…and always hike bear aware.
We saw some evidence of fires. This one happened back in 1955 when over 17,000 acres was burned. Now, Rangers know more about preserving these wild forests and do a prescribed burn to help prevent wildfires that rage out of control.
It was spring time while we were in Kings Canyon NP so all of the flowers were waking up from their winter nap. I love these bright orange pretties! They remind me of a wildflower called Indian Paintbrush. I don’t know if that’s what these are, but they’re very similar. The purple pretties are gorgeous! It’s hard to tell, but these bushes were huge…and everywhere!
John Muir once said that Kings Canyon National Park is “a rival to Yosemite”. He was right. With it’s multiple 14,000 foot peaks and some of the worlds largest strands of giant sequoia trees…the Kings River and the canyon that is more than a mile deep…Kings Canyon National Park is definitely a rival to Yosemite.
See y’all down the road!
#westernloop2018