At the end of May 2022, Ryan and I took a much anticipated trip to visit the Northern California National Parks – Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia. We flew from Denver to Fresno, California, rented a car, and began our grand tour. Although this trip was complicated by COVID-19 and by the fact that I was 12 weeks pregnant (and still so fatigued), we had an amazing time. These are truly some of the most spectacular parks we’ve seen. I cannot wait to go back and check out some of the more difficult hikes.

This is the second post in this series, where I’ll talk about our time in Kings Canyon and Sequoia. If you’re interested in reading about our time in Yosemite National Park, check out the first post in this series.

Accommodations

We used the Hampton Inn in Visalia, California as our launch pad for two days Kings Canyon and Sequoia. Visalia is about 45 minutes south of Fresno, California and about an hour from both Kings Canyon and Sequoia. Although this is slightly farther than we like to drive, it was nice to stay in a town with amenities (i.e., restaurants)! Overall, the driving wasn’t too much of a burden – we just used that time to catch up on podcasts!

The hotel was clean, comfortable, and provided a free breakfast each morning – which is perfect when you’re in a rush to get to the parks. There is a gym and an outdoor pool on site, although we didn’t use either. Overall, this served as a good (and affordable) jumping off point for these parks.

Kings Canyon National Park

On our fourth day in California, we ventured to Kings Canyon National Park.

This might be my favorite national park of all time (so far). In my opinion, it is extremely underrated. Everyone skips it in favor of nearby Sequoia – but don’t do that! It is 100% worth the trip.

Kings Canyon is a small park with only one road going through it (called the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway). On our day in the park, we drove the entire byway, stopping along the way to take in the sights. Our first stop was at the General Grant Grove, which was our first chance to get up close and personal with some giant sequoias. Here, we did the two mile trail through the Big Stump Basin. This one of the areas where you can see evidence of logging from the late nineteenth century. Could you imagine cutting down one of these giants?!

Thankfully, many of the trees remained in tact.

Once we finished this quick 2 mile loop, we returned to the scenic byway. Near the end of the byway, we came to the Cedar Grove Lodge – this incredibly scenic hotel deep in Kings Canyon. There’s also a café where we enjoyed lunch on the river. This place was such a gem! If we’d known about it, we would have tried to get a reservation. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re planning a trip to Kings Canyon!

The scenic byway ends at a permit station for back country hiking. Here, we did a short trail through the Zumwalt Meadow before heading back towards the park’s entrance. This was the busiest part of the park, but we were able to find parking without any significant issue (even on a holiday weekend).

Sequoia National Park

The following day, we made our way to Sequoia National Park through the Ash Mountain Entrance. This entrance puts you on a long and windy road through the southern part of the park. Honestly, this drive was exhausting. It was a brutal way to enter and leave the park…

TRAVEL TIP: Kings Canyon and Sequoia are connected by the Generals Highway. You can enter Sequoia from Kings Canyon and vice versa. I highly recommend accessing Sequoia through the Big Stump Entrance in Kings Canyon, rather than through the Ash Mountain Entrance in Sequoia. That way, you can avoid the tedious road from the Ash Mountain Entrance and get to the fun stuff much faster.

Sequoia is a surprisingly small park without much parking. In order to get a spot, you need to get to the park early! We did just that and found parking near the General Sherman Tree. Once we found our spot, we left our car and hiked or took the busses through the park. This is – by far – the best way to navigate this park.

General Sherman Tree

Our first stop of the day was the General Sherman Tree, the world’s largest tree, measured by volume. The tree was cool to see, but the area was packed with other tourists.

TRAVEL TIP: Many people who visit national parks only visit the main attractions near the parking lots. If you have time, venture away from the main road for a hike. You don’t have to go far to leave the crowds behind. You’ll get to appreciate the parks so much more if you can find some serenity.

Congress Trail, Trail of the Sequoias, Sugar Pine Trail

From the General Sherman Tree, we embarked on a long hike to Moro Rock. We started on the Congress Trail, a 2.9 mile loop around the General Sherman Tree. If you’re short on time, check out this hike. The tourists thin considerably as soon as you get on the trail, making it a nice escape – and a great way to get up close and personal to these giant trees.

From there, we branched off onto the Trail of the Sequoias and traveled several miles to the Log Meadow. This was – by far – the coolest part of our day in Sequoia. This trail was EMPTY – we saw maybe 4 other tourists the entire time (remember: we were there on Memorial Day Weekend). There were giant sequoias EVERYWHERE, we even stopped to have a snack under one. If you have time – do not miss this hike. It is, hands down, the best way to get close to these amazing trees.

At the end of the Trail of the Sequoias, we hung out in the Log Meadow for a while to watch a bear enjoying a snack.

Finally, we took the Sugar Pine Trail to the Moro Rock. This part of the trail highlighted the recent fire damage to the park, which was an unfortunate and spooky sight.

The entire hike was just shy of 7 miles, but I would not call it difficult. Most of the hike was down hill. Even at 12 weeks pregnant, I could handle the distance without much trouble. I genuinely cannot recommend this hike enough.

Although we did take the 350 steps up Moro Rock, we didn’t get much of a view…

From Moro Rock, we took the bus back to our car at the General Sherman Tree. We were in the park on a holiday weekend (Memorial Day), and the park was very busy. That meant a 45 minute wait for a bus to return to our car. The wait was frustrating – probably just because I was starving! Once we got back to our car, we decided to head out of the park because it was packed. We’d seen the coolest parts of the park and didn’t want to fight through crowds.

The next day, we returned to Fresno to catch a flight back to Denver. We were exhausted but so glad we got to see so much of these amazing parks. I cannot wait to go back to do longer hikes in Yosemite and Kings Canyon! If you’ve been to these parks, tell us about your favorite spots and give us your favorite tips in the comments!