When we first made our plans for our California trip, we wanted to make sure that we got in as much of the National Parks that we could.
Upon researching and thinking that we were in the “heart” of the Sequoia National Park and the Monument, we made our reservations here at Wishon Campground-thinking that would put us in the middle of all to see and do.
I had made a list of sites that I would have liked to seen in the area, some of it in the Northern sector and some in the Southern Sector of where we were located.
Getting up bright and early and packing a lunch and plenty of coffee we started our on our one day adventure. After talking to some local and the deputy that patrols the area, we took what they called was the scenic route towards Sequoia National Park.
The “scenic” route we didn’t think was that “scenic”. With the many twist, turns up and down and all we saw was how much CA is in dyer need of moisture. The rolling hills that should have been green was all dead due to lack of snow and rain. And they say happy cows live in CA-the cows we seen didn’t look so happy.
Anyways what seem like took hours (wait-it was hours later!), we finally arrived at the entrance to the Sequoia NP, just to start the twist and turns and the ups and downs once again. But the scenery was well worth it and spectacular! First stop was to tunnel rock.
As we kept driving, we wonder though if we would ever come to the big giant trees, for we mostly saw the common forest trees. Little by little we did start seeing small “giant” Sequoias.
We came across where we had to drive between two large Sequoias, and that was really neat!
On our way to Moro Rock, we came across what was once a log road made from the Sequoia itself. It’s no longer drivable but you still could see evidence of them driving on it at one time in life.
Once we got to Moro Rock, it was time for a small hike for a fantastic view of the whole area. We even could hear an Eagle’s cry from far below, but could never actually spot it.
We didn’t dally too long here, for we still had lots to do and see and time seem to be running fast on us. So we moved on to the next thing. We have yet to see the bigger Sequoias.
We came across a down Sequoia that you can actually drive through! Brian jumped out to get a picture of me driving the truck through. I was nervous-not knowing if I would fit-plenty of room! But if you fear you won’t make it-there is a by pass road to get around it.
Then we came to what was called the Parker Group. Now here was some huge trees!
Next on the list was the Sherman Tree. The history behind it is interesting. The US Calvary guarded the Giant Sequoias back in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s. A former soldier named the Giant tree after General Sherman, his leader during the Civil War.
Moving on at a quick pace, we needed to keep moving and also find a spot to grab some lunch. Now we enter into Kings Canyon National Park. We find a pull-out that seemed nice to eat our lunch. We had to eat it quickly, or the bees might have carried off with our sandwiches. We learned later that the bees and wasp thrive on these giant trees.
We came to what is called the Giant Grove Village, second world largest set of trees.
As we continue on, the road did many switchbacks and we soon was ascending higher and higher. Every now and then there would be pull-offs to get some spectacular view of Kings Canyon!
Next thing we knew, we had a roaring river running next to us along the roadway. My guess is if there were any rafters on this river it would have been a class IV. We came to a picnic area and found a waterfall.
The day was getting away from us very quickly and we knew we had to finish the last leg of this ride and head back towards home. There was to be another huge waterfall down the road. We got nearly to the end of the roadway where it ends, and decided that we needed to head back towards home. So we never did find the water fall.
I wanted to climb a fire tower or two, but learned they do not open those up to the public until later in May, when fire danger starts to become a concern. There are also two cave tours that you can do while visiting the Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon NP. One was open for tours while the other don’t open up until later in May.
Many of the campgrounds were closed as well, although a few were open, and only one to accommodate larger rigs. At the other end, in Kings Canyon, we didn’t seen any campgrounds open, however they were many doing dispersed camping in the pull-outs along the river side.
We also crossed some pretty serious road work being done on section of the General’s Trail in the Sequoia NP, but we were fortunate that they were not working this day. Even though the sign said they work Sun-Thur. There are signs stating rigs over 22 feet not recommend-I would head that warning to the fullest!
I didn’t get to everything on my list. However, we did get to see a lot of Giant Trees and many great views, memories that we will carry with us. Someday we will return again, and stay inside the Sequoias NP instead of the Sequoias National Monument; where we will be able to do more…..
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