Taking in the Delights of Kings Canyon!

Kings Canyon National Park in California had been on the cards for at least a couple of years, or ever since our trip to the park that’s just south of it — the Sequoia National Park. It was in November, a few years ago, that we had visited there and we couldn’t see Kings Canyon because most of the park is closed to the public around that time of the year. So we decided to skip all of it and save it for another day.

It wouldn’t be right if I went ahead and gave you an account of my trip to the park without telling you how small a window you have to visit this canyon on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. You can expect Kings Canyon National Park to be open roughly between Memorial Day and Labour Day. And if there is still a lot of snow that year, it just might open mid-June or so.

Our trip materialized in August of this year and when we went up there, the park was mostly green but parts of it had already gotten pretty dry. The temperature was on the wrong side of 80 — the hottest days I’d ever experienced on the Sierras. But I was glad that we had managed to get there in that window; when the whole park was open.

General Grant

Considering we entered the parks area from the Fresno side this time* our first stop should have been the Big Stump but we missed it on our way in so it was set aside for later that day. We headed straight to Grant Grove to see the second largest tree in the world — General Grant. 

General Grant is the largest tree by volume, and the Sequoia with the broadest trunk too. You will find a lot of amazing facts about the second largest tree in the previous post — Meet General Grant.

While we were in Grant Grove to see General Grant, we also took a look at Gamlin Cabin and walked through the trunk of ‘Fallen Monarch’ before we left there.

The last time we were in the area, we had gotten to see the largest tree in the world — General Sherman that stands in the neighboring Sequoia National Park.

Hume Lake

After seeing Grant we were supposed to make a stop at Panoramic Point and take in the views but we missed that road too so we went ahead and picked up some lunch from Grant Grove Village, and headed to Hume Lake. We had a picnic lunch beside the lake, walked around, and drove around a part of the lake before we headed back up the mountains.

McGee Vista Point

Before we had made our way down to the lake we had made a quick stop at McGee Point. From there you can see some broad views of the Sierras and I hear it is a good place to watch the sun go down behind the mountains, too.

And on the way back we also stopped at another great vista point that presented us with another panoramic view of this part of the Sierra Nevada. And it even showed us a sneak peek of what I’m guessing was Kings Canyon Scenic Byway that we would get on the following day.

Big Stump Area

Before calling it a day we stopped at Big Stump Parking area and from there the sonny boy and I went for a hike down the Big Stump Trail, bumping into big stump after big stump, not to mention several Giant Sequoias which, you know by now make some of the biggest trees in the world. It was getting dark and the bugs and mosquitos were beginning to get us good so we had to walk back up the hill without seeing the big stump that’s featured in the brochures. (We’d seen one like that earlier in Big Trees Calaveras State Park).

Here is a picture of the Big Stump Trail, a Giant Sequoia beside the trail, and some of the Giant-Sequoia-Big-Stumps we saw along the trail —

Kings Canyon Scenic Byway

Our day 2 at the park was exclusively set aside for the drive along Kings Canyon Scenic Byway or what might be the biggest attraction of this national park in the Sierras.

Kings Canyon Scenic Byway is the road that runs along the canyon and takes you to the bottom of Kings Canyon. In fact, it is also the only route to that part of Kings Canyon National Park.     

The whole drive from the Big Stump Entrance to the Zumwalt Meadow should be around 35 miles. However, according to the National Park, the byway begins near Dunlop at the foothills of the Sierras (on the Fresno side)and then runs through the park and Sequoia National Forest and goes on till you get to the end of what is Highway 180 (California State Route 180.)

I believe it is from the part where 180 forks (and the road on the right leads to Hume Lake) that is closed from Fall to late Spring. After the fork, the road begins its descent down the canyon. And along the way there’s many a scenic stop you can make. The first few stops will show you the mountain tops and the steep walls of the canyon. You’ll see Kings River that flows along the canyon floor, and the depth of this canyon that was carved by the streams that flowed down the southern Sierras. Kings Canyon is said to have been further deepened and widened by glaciers.

As you near the canyon floor you’ll see the jaw-dropping heights of the cliffs that make up the canyon walls, as well as the other mountains of the range fading into the distance.

We stopped by the river at a point close to where the Boyden Caves tours begin, and that was a good place to listen to the river gurgle down, and also see how far down the Sierras we had driven. 

Grizzly Falls

Down in the valley, as we drove towards Cedar Grove, we also made a stop at Grizzly falls. A short trail takes you to the bottom of the 80 ft waterfall. There we scrambled over some rocks, listened to the roar of the fall, took some photographs, and were back on the road.

Zumwalt Meadow

As the day continued to heat up, we got to Zumwalt Meadow Parking and decided to hit the trail to the meadow, ignoring the temperature. The trail that starts at a corner of the parking lot passes through a wooded area, a suspension bridge, and a pebble beach before you get to the meadow.

The meadow was a perfect picture, that August day. The tall grasses and other plants in the area had grown to a height of 6ft and it was topped by a spread of yellow flowers dancing to the music of the Kings River nearby. On the other end of the meadow were tall and sturdy-looking mountains that seemed to border Zumwalt Meadow. It felt like a perfect painting had turned real. So picturesque! So perfect a frame!

The Zumwalt Meadow trail is supposed to be a mile if you loop it. However, we ended up getting onto another trail that looped this trail so it turned out to be a longer walk ( the heat made it seem like it was double the distance). I must say though that it was a great walk. Although there was a trail, it was nice to go into the wilderness and up and down some rocky areas before we landed back on the meadow trail.

And because of the heat, we had just enough energy to drive back up the canyon so we did just that, and wound up our Kings Canyon trip. Weren’t we tipsy from the drive down to the canyon and back!

Linking to–
Our World
&
My Corner of the World

Kings Canyon NP (official site)

*The park can be accessed from Fresno, or you can take the route through Three Rivers, CA, and take the entrance to Sequoia National Park. Both parks are connected by General’s Highway.

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