After living in Southern California for years, I finally made the trip to these two National Parks and they did not disappoint. I had a couple of friends who went earlier this year and I took their trips as an inspiration to finally visit these two National Parks that are actually pretty close to home. I almost went on the proceeding weekend when the idea took hold and I got the bug to go. Thankfully I decided to take a week to figure out a game plan which meant a campsite (which were almost all gone) and figuring out what hikes to do and soliciting ideas from those who had already been. It ended up that many campsites were already closed and the few that were still open were mostly booked. I was unable to find a campground for two nights and had to get two different sites. I couldn’t even find a spot for the Saturday night; I had to keep looking to find a opening. The plan came together to leave early Friday morning, get in and do a hike Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and then get a morning hike in on Sunday and driving home Sunday afternoon/evening. I am so thankful I finally got myself in gear and went to go visit these two beautiful parks. I took so many photos on this trip!
2022-10-07 (Friday)
Drove from El Segundo to King’s Canyon National Park (Sentinel Campground) with pretty smooth travel. It was a little weird that google maps took me throw some backroads and orchards after Visalia. But overall make good time, left at 6:45 am and made a stop at McDs in El Segundo and then at a Starbucks in Visalia. I got gas at the last gas station before the park to top off and made it to the campground by 1245 after stopping at the visitor center and some short photo pull outs. Got the campsite set up and then headed to Mist Falls.
Hiked Mist Falls and it went faster than expected. STarted at about 145 and the weather was great. The trail had a lost of So Cal mountain hike vibes at the beginning but further along there were definitely some more forestry feeling sections of the hike and pseudo-Redwood feel. Most of the hike is near a river or stream and the end destination was the falls. You can keep going deeper on the hike and make it a multi-day backpacking but it was just a day hike for me today. I saw a bear on my way up to the falls, it crossed in front of me and then walked up the hill. On the way back down, I ran into a couple who were turning around due to seeing a bear and then we ran into two guys who were waiting because a momma bear and two cubs were on/near the trail. One cub was in the tree, one on one side of the trail and the momma on the other side. We tried making noise with the 5 of us and slowly walking forward but that didn’t seem to make any difference. We back tracked slightly and then I helped lead us through boulders off trail that were uphill that let us walk around the bears. When we got to the other side there were 4 other people also waiting to get through. I then started back and ended up being joined by two of the people I walked around the bears. We took the other side of the creek back to the parking lot and visited. The had actually waited for me when they saw the bear because I looked American and might know what to do. There were from Madrid, one was a Spaniard who was an aeronautical engineer working on airports and the other was a German who is a architect. They are doing a two week jam packed tour of California and it was very enjoyable time talking and learning about them and their trip. Yesterday they were in Sequoia, tomorrrow Yosemite and they had a 3 hour drive. It took about 3.5 hours to complete the hike and so the sun was getting pretty low. This did great some stunning views and we stopped to take pictures several times. We split our different ways at the parking lot
I decided to try to squeeze in Zumwalt Meadow on my way back as it is supposed to be a short hike. It’s no longer a loop as part of the loop was washed out in 2019 from a flood. t was a short (1 mile hike) and was also very scenic. Took several more great sunset shots.
Came back to the campground, pulled everything out and made macaroni pasta with bolognese sauce and added onion and sausage.
While cooking I got to watch the full moon rise and do a little star gazing.
2022-10-08 (Saturday)
Got a slightly later start than I wanted but also stopped to take some nice photos on the way. I stopped by the Azalea campground and saw it was uninhabited, the whole area, so I throw my food, cooking and bathroom stuff all in the bear bin for my area. I also noticed that there were two bundles of wood already in that spot.
I continued on to Wolverton parking lot for Alta Peak Trail and stopped for a couple of more photos on the way, there was an area with a huge amount of fire damage to the redwoods, it was pretty sad. I started the hike around 11 and it was supposed to be about 13.5 miles. I set out at a good pace I think and passed everyone I saw on the trail. The just kept going and it definitely got pretty tough the last mile. I had to take more breaks than I expected and felt either dehydration or the altitude a couple of times. I made it to the top and boulder to the top of the rocks. I didn’t go onto the top rock as it was pretty slanted and there were three guys already sitting up there just waiting. I waited for about 5 minutes while taking pictures but they seemed in no interest to move for others, so I started to make my way back down. The first part of the decent really had my knees hurting, especially my left and then later on my feet started feeling it. I on the way to the peak, I only passed one person who I saw continuing onto the peak (they were almost there) which means I was the last person of the day to start up the mountain (latest start) and was barely not the last person to the top. I did leave 10 people behind me at the top and beat them down. I got to the parking lot again at 6pm; took 7 hrs for the trail and it ended up being 15.5 miles. On the way back down, probably 2 miles out, I saw some deer and the also followed me for a little bit on the trail.
I was behind some slow cars as I drove back to the campsite which was from sunset and took about 45 minutes. It wasn’t completely dark but was pretty close to it as I set up camp, cooked dinner and looked at hikes. The campsite periodically has just enough cell coverage to send a text but not much more. It is a full moon tonight and the moon is really pretty
2022-10-09 (Sunday)
Got up at dawn (after weird dreams and getting to listen to the campsite next to me have a conversation at 3am). Cleaned up and left the campsite by 8 am and went to the General Grant trail and wander there from 0800-0845 with a bunch of great photos. From there a did a quick stop at the General Grant village and then proceeded to drive into Sequoia. Initially I planned to go to Topokah Falls but heard it was probably dry, so I pivoted and decided to go to the Giant Forest Museum. From there a decided to do a large loop that started at the Big Trees Trail then went to General Sherman and Congress Trail. Then over to Tharp’s Cabin and Crescent Meadow, then to Bobcat Point and Moro Rock. I choose not to hike Moro Rock or go over to Tunnel Log but hike back to the museum. The hike ended up being 12 miles in 4 hrs and 53 minutes. It was a beautiful hike with a huge variety of scenery to include amazing trees, a gorgeous meadow surrounded by giants and a great cliff side view over multiple mountain ranges. While sore by the end of the hike, absolutely breathtaking views and variety throughout. There was also a somewhat somber areas of marching through large burn areas but also being awed by the Rees that survived the fires too.
Left the museum parking lot at 3:15pm and made it home by 8:15 with two small stops. Surprisingly smooth travel, definitely twisty-turns roads on the way out of the park to Three Rivers.