Park #4: Kings Canyon NP

Generally speaking, our family functions as a "more is more," kind of group.  This may be because I tend to be a "more is more," kind of human in general.  Just ask my Mom and sister about the time we took a girls' trip to Hawaii and I allotted my sister forty-five (structured) minutes of pool time in between riding a glass bottom boat and a quick flea market run.  I had an itinerary.  I wasn't messing around.  That being said, on this trip, the Meyer family made history.  We took something off the itinerary during our trip.

Originally, we had planned to camp for two nights in Kings Canyon and then drive to Sequoia National Park for a day trip before heading home.  We even scheduled a tour of Crystal Cave for 11am.  Then we got to the park and realized that, given the windy roads and the road construction going on, it would be a multiple hour drive between the two parks.  So... we cancelled the cave tour and took Sequoia NP off the to-do list.  And you know what?  I didn't even hyperventilate about it.  While we were sad to miss Sequoia, we know we will see it down the road and be able to enjoy it more as a stand alone trip, just as we were able to enjoy Kings Canyon in much the same way.

Speaking of Kings Canyon... Ryan and I decided that it is kind of like a mini-Yosemite.  There is a river, a canyon (obviously), waterfalls, and gorgeous views--just all on a smaller scale.  With the smaller scale, you also get smaller crowds.  We hiked to and from some spots without passing more than 2-3 people.  It was relaxing and beautiful--which is all we hoped for in a weekend trip.

We arrived in Kings Canyon late on Friday night and found our campsite.  We camped in Sentinel Campground.  Sentinel is in the Cedar Grove area of the park and is located a few miles from the "end of the road," in Kings Canyon.  Cedar Grove is about a one hour drive from Grant Grove--the main sequoia grove in the Kings Canyon side of the park.  If you want to spend most of your time in Grant Grove, you should stay in one of the campgrounds further up the road.  If you want some great camping with a more secluded vibe, the Cedar Grove area is awesome.  We learned that Sentinel became a "reservation only," campground at the start of August.  As such, there were still some bugs to be worked out.  While we had no issues, there were over a dozen campsites marked as "reserved," that no one every showed up for.  Sheep Creek campground neighbors Sentinel and is first-come-first-served.  More camping information for Kings Canyon can be found here.

Hanging out at camp in a Spiderman hat and a Junior Ranger vest.  As it should be.

We began our full-day in the park at the Cedar Grove visitor center.  This visitor center is very small (about the size of a small family room) but is staffed by Rangers who can help you with questions and recommend hikes for your group.  We got the rundown on what to see during the day with three kids in tow, picked up some Junior Ranger packets, and learned about a "bug hunt," Ranger program happening that evening.  From there, we were off.

We ended up driving towards "Roads End," and doing several stop along the way.  First we walked out to the canyon viewpoint--which is essentially a spot in the middle of Kings Canyon.  

Following the canyon view walk we headed out to Knapp's Cabin.  The cabin is actually more of shed, previously used for storage of goods by a wealthy guy who, back in the day, came out for epic camping trips with friends.  While the cabin is cool, the better part of this stop was the walk down to the river.  As with most local rivers this year, the water was higher than normal and not safe for swimming, but the views were still awesome.

Our last stop for the morning was at Roaring River Falls.  The falls are at the end of a 1/4 mile paved walkway.  The falls are quite pretty and are surrounded by granite walls that the kids "needed," to climb.  They ended up scrambling up the rocks and exploring various slots and had a great time.

The Meyer family camping rule is, if you can get there on a dirt road, you take it.  We ended up driving the old river road on the opposite bank of the main road.  It picks up right before the stables and is only a few miles long.  It was a fun drive and, if we had known, we would have brought a picnic as there are several turn offs to park in and enjoy the river from.  

We stopped at the Cedar Grove Village for lunch.  Kings Canyon is a small National Park and the Cedar Grove area is also on the small side.  The lodge has a store and a snack bar for food but there is no sit-down dining option or cafeteria.  The lodge does have a few rooms for anyone wanting to stay in the area but not interested in camping.

After lunch, Henry took his afternoon nap--that kid loves his sleep, and, like any good Mom, I joined him.  Ryan and the girls played games until nap time was over and then we walked the paved bike trail between Sentinel and Sheep Camp.  While the river was too high to swim, there is a creek between the two campgrounds that is about 1-2 feet deep and perfect for wading and cooling off.  Be warned though, the water hasn't traveled very far since melting so it is cold.  Ryan dared the girls to dunk their whole bodies.  They did it.  He dared me.  I laughed at him.  

After a bug hunt (the kids found a scorpion with babies!), biking riding, and dinner, we made some s'mores and called it a night.  After packing up camp on Sunday we bid farewell to the Cedar Grove area and drove out to Grant Grove.

A stop at Grizzly Falls on the way out of Cedar Grove 

While in Grant Grove we learned some cool history.  As it turns out, Sequoia NP was the second National Park established.  A week later, Grant Grove was declared the third National Park.  Later on, Grant Grove was enlarged to include the area we know as Kings Canyon NP today and it was renamed.  More on the history of the parks can be found here. Grant Grove is certainly a cool place.  The area includes a loops trail through the sequoia groves (including a fully handicap accessible outer loop) as well as a fairly large village area with lodging, groceries, dining, and a visitor center.

If in Kings Canyon NP, you really need to walk the trails that run through Grant Grove.  There are burned out, hollow trees to climb through and lots of towering sequoias to marvel at.  The most famous of which is the General Grant tree.  After trekking though the grove, we had lunch, and hit the road for home.  Although we were sad to reduce our trip down to one park, we were glad we did.  It allowed us time to enjoy more of Kings Canyon with the knowledge that we get to come back and enjoy the sequoias again on a second trip!