Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

and Giant Sequoia National Monument
California

**Grant Grove ****Giant Forest

Overall Rating Distance, miles Climbing, feet Trail name
* * Grant Grove area
* * * 10.0 2200 Redwood Mountain
* * * 0.4 50 Grant Grove
* 1.9 390 North Grove
* 1.7 240 Bearskin Grove
* * * * Giant Forest area
* * * * 1.9 150 Round Meadow
* * * 14.9 2580 Sevenmile Loop
* * * 10.8 1600 Wolverton Cutoff Loop
* * * 7.3 1360 Moro Rock and Crescent Meadow
* * * 4.2 530 Muir Grove
* * * 2.9 470 Congress Trail
* * * * 13.7 3920 Alta Peak
* * * 12.0 3000 Pear Lake
* * * 4.1 530 Tokopah Falls Trail
* * 14.1 2800 Twin Lakes

Current conditions

Despite the lack of snow, the Generals' Highway is closed between Wuksachi Lodge and Montecito Resort until April 1, 2012, so you can't drive between Grant Grove and the the Giant Forest. Highway 180 is also closed until mid-April, so there's no way to reach the valley floor of Kings Canyon. Check these websites for the latest information.

Overview

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are some of the best places to see the world's biggest trees. These two neighboring parks contain about a third of the world's sequoia forest, mostly in unlogged condition. The parks have many of the world's biggest trees (including seven of the ten biggest), as well as the most scenic groves. In addition the sheer mileage of singletrack sequoia trails greatly exceeds that of any other park.

But the sequoias are just a small part of the parks. The parks' high country, with its distinctive granite landscapes and remote high lakes, is a dramatic contrast to the big trees and provide some of the best hiking in the area. The alpine scenery can't be seen from the road or from the sequoia groves, so you won't really feel like you've been to the mountains unless you venture into the backcountry.

Alta Meadow and the Great Western Divide, Sequoia National Park

Kings Canyon is sometimes characterized as "Yosemite without the crowds". While doesn't have the nearly vertical granite walls or huge waterfalls of Yosemite, the valley floor does in fact look a lot like Yosemite and it's a lot less developed.

The Generals Highway, the main park road that connects the General Grant and General Sherman Trees, leaves the national parks for a few miles and cuts across a corner of Sequoia National Forest. This area has a number of little-visited sequoia groves, most of which have been logged. The National Forest has its own campgrounds and lodging which, with one exception, are somewhat more downscale than the national parks'. It also has the only gas station (open in summer only) on the Generals Highway.

The best time to visit the parks is from July through October. Temperatures are usually in the mid-70s, perfect for hiking, during these months, although some of the higher-elevation trails can still be covered with snow well into August. It's common to hear rumbles of thunder in the summer and to see dark clouds building up over the peaks, but less common to actually get rained on. July is the most attractive month, with lots of wildflowers blooming (especially the purple lupines that grow among the sequoias), but on the other hand it also has the most bugs. Bug repellent is absolutely essential in July and August but unnecessary by October.

Hiking areas

**** Giant Forest
The Giant Forest is the centerpiece of Sequoia National Park. It has the most scenic sequoia hikes as well as some spectacular high country trails.

** Grant Grove
This heavily-developed area near the entrance to Kings Canyon National Park isn't as scenic as the Giant Forest, but it has some significant sequoia groves, including Redwood Mountain, which is the world's largest old-growth sequoia grove, and Grant Grove, which contains the world's second-largest tree.

Kings Canyon from the Bubbs Creek Trail

Places to stay

Following is a listing of all the hotels and campgrounds in the Generals' Highway area. If the in-park options are full, it's almost always possible to get a hotel room in Fresno, which is an hour's drive from Grant Grove and two hours from the Giant Forest, or Three Rivers, which is an hour's drive from the Giant Forest. As a side benefit, Fresno has some pretty good restaurants.

Hotels

  • The Wuksachi Lodge is near the Giant Forest and is the park's nicest hotel. The lodge building itself is really nice but the rooms, which are in three outbuildings across the street, are pretty standard. $200-270.TripAdvisor · Yelp
  • The Sequoia High Sierra Camp, in the Sequoia National Monument, has luxury tent cabins and gourmet meals. $250/person (double occupancy), 2 night minimum. Open June–September only. 1-mile walk-in. TripAdvisor · Yelp
  • The Bearpaw High Sierra Camp, in Sequoia National Park, provides 2-person tent cabins and home-cooked hot meals to backcountry hikers. A true backcountry experience, Bearpaw is 11 miles east of Crescent Meadow on the High Sierra Trail. $175/person (double occupancy), 2 night minimum. Open mid-June – mid-September only. The reservations for each year become available on January 2nd at 7 am Pacific time, and it's pretty much sold out by 9 am. Blog entry and photos from Alice Q. Foodie · short YouTube video · TripAdvisor · Yelp
  • The John Muir Lodge is a new lodge in Grant Grove, much smaller than the Wuksachi and without the fancy lodge area. It's centrally located, about halfway between Kings Canyon and the Giant Forest. $172-186. TripAdvisor · Yelp
  • Montecito Sequoia Lodge is an older lodge hidden away by a lake in the Sequoia National Monument. Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets. Open all year. $49-$199. TripAdvisor · Yelp
  • Cedar Grove Lodge is in Kings Canyon looks kind of like a 1950s-era college dormitory. $119-135. TripAdvisor · Yelp.
  • The Grant Grove Cabins are right next to John Muir Lodge. They look like they were built in the 1930s. $62-129. TripAdvisor · Yelp
  • The Stony Creek Lodge is on the Generals' Highway in the Sequoia National Monument. Summer only. $159-179. TripAdvisor · Yelp
  • Hume Lake Christian Camp has a lodge where anyone can book a room; you don't have to be attending a retreat. There isn't anyplace to eat dinner, though; you have to go to Grant Grove. $125. TripAdvisor

Campgrounds

Most campgrounds don't have showers, but there are public pay showers next to the Grant Grove, Lodgepole, and Cedar Grove visitor centers. You'll need at least $3 in quarters.

Other

  • The Big Meadows Guard Station is a cabin in the Giant Sequoia National Monument.
  • It's not in the mountains, but Three Rivers has many vacation rentals. See VRBO.com.

Baby bears!

Places to eat

  • The Grant Grove restaurant looks kind of like a diner. Yelp · TripAdvisor
  • Wuksachi Lodge is the nicest restaurant in the park. Reservations are required. Chowhound · Yelp · TripAdvisor
  • The Wolverton Meadow Barbeque is an outdoor event held each evening in the summer.
  • The Cedar Grove snack bar, in Cedar Grove Lodge, looks like the concession counter in a sports stadium or convention center. I don't think they do any cooking there; it looks like the food is prepared off-site. TripAdvisor
  • Stony Creek Lodge has a dining room where you can get pizza.
  • I'm not completely sure but I think non-guests can pay to eat at the Montecito-Sequoia Lodge's buffet.

Printed maps

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

  • The Sequoia Natural History Association (which runs the national park gift shops) sells a series of five trail maps: Cedar Grove, Grant Grove, Lodgepole, Giant Forest, and Mineral King. These are the best maps for day hiking, and the Giant Forest map is really the only map that's detailed enough for hiking in that area. Each map is $3.50 and measures 18 x 21.5 inches. Scale is approximately 1:12,500 (Grant Grove), 1:17,000 (Lodgepole), 1:17,500 (Giant Forest, Mineral King), 1:30,000 (Cedar Grove). Published 1999 (Cedar Grove), 2001 (Mineral King), 2002 (Grant Grove, Lodgepole, Giant Forest).
  • Sequoia Kings Canyon, by National Geographic/Trails Illustrated, is a double-sided waterproof map with Sequoia on one side and Kings Canyon on the other. Size 26 x 38 inches, scale 1:80,000, published 2006. $11.95. (Click the above link and then click the magnifying glass icon to see the entire map)
  • Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, by Tom Harrison Maps, shows both parks on one single-sided sheet. Due to the small scale of the map, not all the trails are shown in Grant Grove and the Giant Forest. Size 25.5 x 36 inches, scale 1:125,000, published 2011. $9.95. Tom Harrison Maps also has six larger-scale maps that show the backcountry areas of Sequoia and Kings Canyon, but the Giant Forest and Grant Grove areas aren't shown on these maps.

Sequoia National Forest

  • Hume Lake Ranger District Motor Vehicle Opportunity Guide is a road map of the northern segment of the Giant Sequoia National Monument (the part that surrounds Grant Grove). It doesn't show trails. It's available for free at the Forest Service office in Squaw Valley. Size 32 x 27 inches, scale 1:63,360.
  • Sequoia National Forest including Giant Sequoia National Monument, published by the US Forest Service, shows the extensive national forest lands north and south of Sequoia National Park. It doesn't show the national parks. I find this map to be hard to read because the printing is so small. Size 28 x 53.5 inches, scale 1:126,720, published 2004. $14.39.

The Generals' Highway in the Giant Forest

 

 

© 2011 David Baselt