Blogs from Sequoia National Park, California, United States, North America - page 9

The drive along King’s Canyon Highway is a steep climb, with an elevation gain of 5,000 feet, plus. The two-lane road is steep, narrow and winding, with drop offs that are a long way down. I was glad to let Bob drive. At the top, Grant’s Grove, one must decide whether to go east, down to King’s Canyon, or south to Sequoia. King Canyon Scenic Byway, closes for the winter in another week or so, so we decided to go to the bottom of the canyon to King’s River. The only thing I can compare it to is, if there was a road to drive to the bottom of Grand Canyon, it would be this. There are many “turnouts” to stop and take pictures. We met a young couple from York, PA, they know a former ... read more

California really has got it all… beautiful beaches, rolling hills, lush farmland and last but certainly not least, some fantastic parks. In our Grand Tour de Cali we decided to visit as many of these as possible. After exploring the redwoods on the Northern coast, we ventured further inland to one of the nation’s most famous national parks, Yosemite. After that it was not far to Kings Canyon and Sequoia. None failed to disappoint! Yosemite Park is too huge and too impassable to explore it all, so we did what most of the 30 million annual visitors do and headed straight for the Valley. The Yosemite Valley is only about 7 miles long and 1 mile wide but most of the photographs you have seen of Yosemite will probably have come from within this small space. ... read more

We had rented a mobile home for our trip to Sequoia and Kings NP. The mobile home was stationed at Sequoia Motel in Three Rivers. A few of the group were sceptical, as living in a trailer has some bad vibes associated with it. This one was larger than many homes, as you can see from the pictures. It had a living room, with cable TV and everything. Further it had a kitchen, a master bedroom, a bathroom and a second bedroom. In addition, the sofa could be made into another bed, so there was plenty of space for the 6 of us. Another nice thing was aircondition. Living in a trailer isn't so bad after all.... read more

Going there On thursday Svein asked me if I wanted to go to Sequioa and Kings Canyon National Parks with him, Carina(a fellow student), Alex(her American boyfriend), Martin(a colleague from PeerMe) and Camilla(his Danish girlfriend). Since I didn't have any plans, I said yes. A wise decision, as the trip turned out to be great. We were supposed to leave Mountain View at about 13:00 on Friday. Due do various circumstances, we didn't make it out of there until 15:00. Bad idea. We were locked in gridlock until way beyond San Jose. We arrived at the Sequoia Motel in Three Rivers late in the afternoon. More about the motel and Three Rivers in another blog. The sun was setting just as we arrived, so I decided to go take some photos by the artificial Lake Kaweah, ... read more

Well, upon coming home from Santa Barbara, my family decided to pack up and head out to the national park for a couple of days. I hadn't been there since I was perhaps 8, so I was looking forward to it. Fast forward several hours later. I'm hiking through the woods at an embarrassing pace, the hot sun beating down on my back and the bugs making a feast of my flesh, and I'm thinking, "Okay, so I wanted to go trekking in Nepal?? What in the hell was I smoking?!" However, the hike to Crystal Cave really wasn't that bad, and it was nice to be welcomed by some cool breezes once inside. The cave was pretty amazing inside, and the tour was pretty interesting. We started off on a small trail that led to ... read more