Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
A long day on the road allowed us to get in position for our next several days of National Parks. We drove through southwest Utah, the southern tip of Nevada, and then through a good portion of California. About 9 hours total.
We were thankful to have a shorter commute the following morning to get to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
We knew the trees were going to be big. But, wow, I don’t think any of us were expecting them to be THAT big!!!
The Four Guardsman were the first group of Giant Sequoias we saw as we made our way through the park!!
Shortly after we made it to The Giant Forest and the monstrously large trees were everywhere!! It was incredible!
We found a parking spot and walked the Big Trees Trail. It was a short, easy hike with plenty of opportunities to get up close to the massive trees!
We even got to see a bear in the distance!!
It was just a short drive up the Generals Highway to reach the General Sherman Tree area.
The General Sherman Tree is the largest tree (by volume) in the world!! The walk to General Sherman was downhill pretty much the whole way, which meant it would uphill the whole way back! It was definitely worth the effort!
There were so many amazingly large trees everywhere in this area. We were constantly pointing out trees we wanted to show each other!
After making it back to our van (which was no easy feat) we drove towards the Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park. There were some great views along that drive as well!
Here’s a picture of our van getting dwarfed by a huge sequoia!
The highlight of the Grant Grove is the General Grant tree, which is the 2nd largest tree (by volume) in the world. There were plenty of other neat things to see in that area as well!
The Grant Grove was our final stop in the park. We drove about an hour west to Fresno, CA and spent the night. The next day would be Yosemite!
Yosemite National Park
This was the park we were all most excited to visit. Could it possibly live up to our expectations?
Short answer. Yes!
Long answer. Let me tell you about our two days at Yosemite!
After waiting in line for 30 minutes, we entered the park through the south entrance near Mariposa Grove. The million-dollar view of the park is right after you exit the Wawona Tunnel. It is nearly an hour drive from the park entrance to that overlook. That gives plenty of time for the suspense to build. The view of Yosemite Valley is hard to put into words!!
It was difficult to tear ourselves away from this overlook, but we knew the park had so much to offer. We still took a few more pictures though. Haha!
Our first stop in the park was at Bridalveil Falls. It’s the waterfall you can see from the Tunnel View overlook. It was a short walk to the base of the falls. Pictures were difficult to get from that close to the falls, but you could definitely get wet! Haha!
We continued our drive into the valley and were met face to face with El Capitan!! What a huge wall of granite!! It is almost unfathomable to think of someone Free Soloing (climbing with no ropes or supports) that mountain!
After picking our jaws up off the ground at the sheer size of El Capitan, we drove to the Yosemite Falls Vantage Point parking lot. We didn’t think the view from here was too bad either!
We walked part of the Cook’s Meadow Loop and had a great view of Half Dome in the distance!!
The Meadow loop connects with the Lower Yosemite Falls Trail, which leads to the base of the falls. We were visiting early enough in the year that there was still a good amount of water flowing!
Temperatures began soaring into the mid 90’s, so we made the call to head back to the hotel. We still had more time in the park the following day!
We were able to get to the park a little earlier the next day, but we still had to wait about 25 minutes to get into the park.
Our first stop of the day was at the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. We did the Grizzly Giant 2-mile loop trail! These trees are magnificently HUGE!!!
The highlight of the trail is the massive sequoia known as the Grizzly Giant. It is large!! The 26th largest tree in the world, to be exact!
Just past the Grizzly Giant is the California Tunnel Tree, which was also a unique sight!
We all enjoyed the trail. It is listed as being moderate, but we still thought it was family friendly! Everett might have gotten a little tired towards the end. Haha!
By the time we reached Yosemite Valley, we were all ready for lunch. We grabbed a couple of chicken tender baskets from the Village Grill and then looked for neat spots in the valley to explore!
We said goodbye to the Yosemite Valley and made the somewhat longish drive to Glacier Point. It was only about 30 miles, but took closer to an hour due to the curvy, mountain roads.
The views from the top were definitely worth the drive!
Yosemite National Park most definitely left a lasting impression on this Ramsey Party of 5!!!
Top 5 Parks Visited on This Trip
Jackson – 1. Yosemite 2. Grand Canyon 3. Zion 4. Sequoia 5. Arches
Carter – 1. Yosemite 2. Grand Canyon 3. Sequoia 4. Zion 5. Arches
Everett – 1. Yosemite 2. Grand Canyon 3. Zion 4. Sequoia 5. Arches
Jeremy – 1. Yosemite 2. Grand Canyon 3. Zion 4. Sequoia 5. Arches
Shannon – 1. Yosemite 2. Grand Canyon 3. Zion 4. Sequoia 5. Arches
Ramsey Party of Five 