Kings Canyon National Park: Friday, April 30th

Kings Canyon and Sequoia are jointly administered, are 66 miles long and 36 miles at their widest point! The drive to Kings Canyon from where we were staying was 2 hours along either the twisting road through Sequoia NP or via farmland roads along the side of the National Parks. We decided that it would be too much to do with the whole crew in one day but very do-able for Dave on his own – he loves to drive those kinds of roads, without having to worry about potential throw-ups in the back!

He left around 3pm and spent a wonderful few hours, taking the farming road route out to Kings Canyon and coming back through Sequoia. He checked out the Big Stump, unfortunately it was still too well covered in snow to make out very well, he only knew it was there somewhere because of the sign! He continued on to General Grant Grove to take the short walk to see General Grant Tree – the third largest tree in the world. Also there, is a neat hollowed out Sequoia on its side which he was able to walk through from roots to tip, which has been used as many things in the past few years: a little café, shelter etc.

He took the road to Junction View, which enabled him to get a fantastic view into Kings Canyon. He then drove part of the side road out to Hume Lake; many of these roads are still closed at least for another month due to snow coverage. He had to check in the Visitor Center before he drove the road back through Sequoia, as California law requires all cars to have chains if they’re headed over the mountains. They said he’d be OK as the truck is 4-wheel drive and the roads weren’t too bad; he loved the drive back home but was a little disappointed that a few clouds had come in and he didn’t manage to get as good photos as he was hoping for.