Established as the nation's 2nd national park, Sequoia National Park is home to the majestic giants, the sequoia trees that live over 3000 years. The adjoining Kings Canyon National Park was established 50 years later and has been operated together with Sequoia since after WWII. Together, they are commonly referred to as SEKI. The giant sequoias are the main event but there are some amazing canyons and vertical rockfaces similar to what you might see in Yosemite, without all the people.
Here's a summary of our 3 day trip at the beginning of May. We were fortunate to have perfect weather and not too many tourists. Beware you can get snow and cold temperatures during this time of year.
Day 1:
Mid-afternoon: Enter Sequoia National Park through the south entrance (Foothills Visitor Center) on General's Highway
Pick one or two pull-outs for overlooks both to the south and north along the switchbacks.
Park at the Giant Forest Museum. Hike the Big Trees Trail (1.3 miles) .
Hike up to Moro Rock and get a panoramic overlook
Take your picture in front of the General Sherman Tree.
Head to Wukasachi Lodge and have dinner at the lodge.
Walk on the trails to the north of the lodge before the sunsets
Day 2:
Early start, head towards Kings Canyon to the north. (drive time from Wuksachi to Road's End is 1 hour-38 min.
General Grant Tree and walk the trails.
Stop at a couple of pull-outs along the road to Kings Canyon Scenic Byway
Grizzly Falls
Drive to Roads End and walk out to Muir Rock and hike to Zumwalt Meadows
Picnic lunch at Roads End
Stop by Roaring River Falls and Cedar Grove Visitor Center (if open)
(note: if Cedar Grove Village is open, consider staying here and exploring the area. That was our original plan, but the lodge was delayed in opening this year and canceled our reservation).
Dinner at Wuksachi lodge again and stay for night 2 (note- there were limited dining options during our trip!)
Day 3:
Back to the Giant Forest area to see Tunnel Log, hike Crescent Meadow
Short Beetle Rock trail at the museum area. Picnic lunch.
Congress Trail (3-mile loop) by the General Sherman Tree.
Topekah Falls loop (4-mile loop)
Because of our last-minute canceled Cedar Grove Lodge reservation, we stayed at Stony Creek Lodge --but this is NOT recommended. a 3rd night at Wuksachi would have been ideal.
We entered Sequoia from the south, from highway 198/ Generals Highway. This is a winding road with many switchbacks. (Pro tip: remember to fuel up and get food/ snacks before you enter the park. There are only 2 places to buy fuel and limited food options--- especially during this pandemic and early in the season).
We stopped by the Slick Rock Recreation Area for a quick picnic before heading towards Sequoia NP. Once in the park, we were winding through the switchbacks when we encountered several people at one of the pull-outs, they were looking back at the hillside and not the view. We soon discovered they were anxiously watching a tiny bear cub that had tumbled down the embankment and onto the road. It was trying to climb back up and without much vegetation to grab onto, kept sliding back down. Mama was not in sight and it was heartbreaking to see such a tiny cub in such a dire situation. We watched until the little one made it over to a more vegetated area and we hope it was able to navigate its way back to the den and mama. Honestly, we kept thinking about this baby bear for days and how we wanted so badly to help the situation, but the right thing to do was not get involved.
Even when there is not a baby bear cub in distress, you should stop at some of the pull-outs for a view from below up to Moro Rock.
A must-see in Sequoia is the area around the Giant Forest and Giant Forest Museum. This was our first taste of these enormous and amazing trees. We walked the Big Trees Trail and marveled at the giants. There are interpretative signs along the way. Learn about how these tall trees live for over 3000 years, grow up to 300 feet tall and require fire to release the seeds in their cones.
The climb up Moro Rock is a must-do. There are steps and railings built into the rock, but the trail is pretty vertical, so be ready to do some huffing and puffing. The view at the top is spectacular.
Remember the elevation is at 6725 ft, so those not used to the altitude may need to take their time. The out-and-back trail is only 1/2 mile but it's 300 feet of elevation gain.
Zumwalt Meadows in Kings Canyon is spectacular.
Grizzly Falls is located right off of Kings Canyon Scenic Byway
It's really hard to capture the beauty of the sequoias. The deep red bark, the enormous trunks (up to 40' in diameter), the feeling of being so very small next to these giants. The resiliency and dependency on fire is fascinating but recent story about the loss of over 10% of the world's sequoia's in the Castle Fire of 2020 is sobering.
We encountered a mama bear and her yearling cub on the Topeka Falls hike. We almost walked by without seeing them, when we heard a loud crack of wood not far off the trail. We stopped and slowly looked around to see the bears about 50 yards off the trail. They knew of our presence but carried on with their scavenging paying little mind to us.
Lodging:
We had planned for 2 nights at Wuksachi Lodge and 2 nights at Cedar Grove Lodge in Kings Canyon. A week before the trip, I happened to check out the TripAdvisor forum on SEKI and found that someone posted about Cedar Grove Lodge postponing their opening until the end of May. They never did notify me of this and I emailed and left messages to no avail---but did see on my credit card charges that they had refunded my deposit. It was frustrating to have this last-minute change –but it did allow us to rethink plans and we added Monterey and Big Sur to our agenda, only staying in SEKI for 3 nights –which in the end was the right choice. The unfortunate part is that we had to stay at Stony Creek Lodge one night, which was a great disappointment (cold room with no temp control, no blanket on one bed, no sheet on the other, hard to figure out how to get staff help, door to lobby had us locked in, dirty bathroom floor, check-out was chaotic because they didn’t know how to run the software reservation system).
Wuksachi was much better from a lodging point of view, but the food was disappointing and it’s the only restaurant in the area so you had to get in line early! (it opened at 5:30 pm).
The bottom line on Sequoia and Kings Canyon is that this place should definitely be on your bucket list. Early May was perfect for us to avoid the large crowds and we timed it right to avoid the spring snowstorms that are possible. This trip to SEKI was a part of a larger California road trip. To read more about the 9-day adventure with my daughter, click here.