The Traveling Wellburys

• Sequoia National Park
• Getting to Sequoia National Park
• Where to Stay
• What to Bring
• Park Map
• Kings Canyon National Park
• Park Map

When we planned a trip to Los Angeles, California to visit with our friend, Caitlynn, I immediately knew that we would have to go to some of California’s beautiful national parks. I mean there are nine amazing national parks here! With a little research, I found that Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks were a short drive from Los Angeles, and with that, the planning began. We decided to spend 3 days in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

We absolutely loved the serene nature these parks have to offer, and hiking the immensely beautiful trails. Here is a travel guide outlining our trip to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park.

Sequoia National Park

Going into Sequoia National Park, I knew we were going to see these amazingly large trees, but nothing could have prepared me for how magnificent these trees really are. All we could even say was “wow, these trees are massive!” 

In 1873, when John Muir walked among the sequoia groves he described: “A magnificent growth of giants… one naturally walked softly and awe-stricken among them. I wandered on, meeting nobler trees where all were noble.” And noble these trees are.

After walking around the park, and learning about the trees, they are even more amazing than what the eye can see. These trees are thousands of years old, and actually rely on fire to help them grow.

The sequoia trees have a thick and fire-resistant bark, so a mature tree is able to survive forest fires. The trees have green cones full of seeds near their crown, which only crack open with the heat of the fire, releasing the seeds that have been trapped inside. The fires also clear the ground below the sequoia trees to give the newly dropped seeds a fighting chance to root into the newly loosened soil.

Getting to Sequoia National Park

We flew into the Los Angeles airport, and from there (depending on traffic), it is a four to five hour drive to Sequoia National Park. Thanks to our friend Caitlynn, we did not have to rent a car, but that would have been our alternative to borrowing her vehicle.

Los Angeles traffic can get quite congested, so it is best to avoid work hour traffic, as well as weekends when many people are leaving the city.

Where to Stay

There are a lot of campgrounds and other accommodations within and around the national parks. To find accommodations within the park, visit the park website. However, we opted to car camp within the National Forest, which worked out great because Sequoia and Kings Canyon are separated by a stretch of National Forest. It was easy to leave the National Park boundaries and find a pull off in the National Forest for the night.

It is not the most glamorous option, but after you are jobless for over a year, you tend to choose the cheapest option! It also gives you a lot of freedom with being able to choose when and where you decide to sleep for the night, rather than planning around accommodations.

We found a nice spot with a rock that we could use for all of our jet boil cooking needs.

What to Bring

We visited the parks in early October, which made for warm days and cold nights. It is best to have layers because I found myself peeling off my leggings and sweatshirt for short and tank tops around 9am. The nights would get pretty chilly though, and it was good to layer back up once the sun went down.

With car camping in the fall, make sure to bring warm clothes and blankets because it can get pretty chilly in the middle of the night. We found ourselves wishing we would have brought extra blankets along. Rookie mistake.

Park Map

This park map is only reference for the trails that we hiked during our time in the park.

Day 1: Drive from Los Angeles & hike Moro Rock

The first day consisted of the drive from Los Angeles, which took about 5 hours. Once into the park, we stopped at the Foothills visitor center to ask for some trail recommendations. We always like to get the rangers opinions because they can provide you with some good insight and help you figure out which trails are right for you.

It was nearing 4:00 by the time we got to the park, so we decided to hike the Moro Rock Trail, which is a short, but steep 0.25 mile hike to the top of a large rock. The view at the top is an incredible panoramic view over the mountains and valley of Sequoia National Park.

It makes for an easy and beautiful trail, but if you don’t like heights, it might not be for you. There is a pretty steep staircase that goes up the side of the rock, with a lot of views of the way down.

Day 2: The Giant Forest & Heather Lake

Giant Forest

On the morning of the second day, we made some coffee in our jet boil, and headed to the most popular part of the park, The Giant Forest. By its name, you might be able to guess that it is the part of the park with a lot of giant sequoia trees. There is a series of trails through the forest that you can choose to take.

We chose to do the Congress trail, so we could hit as many of the famous trees as possible. The trail starts out by leading you to the largest tree in the world (by volume). There are taller trees and there are wider trees, but the General Sherman tree has more wood than any other tree on earth.

And incredible, this tree was! It was so tall, it was nearly impossible to get the top and the bottom of the tree in one photograph. 

There is a sign in front of the tree that gives some fun facts to help put the trees size into perspective. The sign reads; “Looking up at the General Sherman Tree for a six-foot-tall human is about the equivalent of mouse looking up at the six-foot-tall human.” It is true that you really do feel like a mouse looking up at this marvelous tree.

As you continue walking on the trail, you enter upon other groups of giant Sequoia trees, including The President, The Congress, and The House, each one just as impressive as the last.

We were glad we decided to do this trail early because on our way back, there were a lot of people just beginning the trail. So, if you are like us, and like to avoid the crowds of people, go early. It is the park’s most popular trail, and it is easy to understand why!

Heather Lake

After the beautiful morning in the Sequoia grove, we decided to do the Heather Lake trail via the watchtower trail. This is a 4.2 mile trail (one way) to reach the lake, with just over 2,000 feet of elevation gain (According to the Garmin watch that Jake bases his life on). The stats are below.

Be sure to take the Watchtower trail for some unique and beautiful views on the way to the lake! You start off walking through forest before scaling rocky cliffs on the way to the alpine lake.

If you have time, you can continue the trail to Emerald Lake (10.6 miles round-trip) and then Pear Lake (12.8 miles round-trip).

Kings Canyon National Park

Kings Canyon National Park is just a short drive from Sequoia National Park, with a stretch of the park even being connected to Sequoia.

The park in named after, well, the canyon which is carved out by the Kings River. The canyon walls reach heights of 8,200 feet, making it the deepest canyon in the United States!

The park is also home to several summits over 14,000 feet, and much of the park has to be experienced by permits and backcountry hiking.

Park Map

This park map is only reference for the trails that we hiked during our time in the park.

Day 3: General Grant Tree & Mist Falls

In the morning, before heading to the main section of Kings Canyon National Park, we walked the General Grant Trail. The General Grant tree is the widest of the sequoias, and the third largest tree in the world (by volume).

The trail was a short, paved loop that took you through another sequoia grove, with the General Grant situated halfway through.

The General Grant has a trunk of 40 feet in diameter, and its largest branch in 4.5 feet in diameter.

The General Grant tree was named a national shrine in memory of the men and women of the armed forces who have served and fought and died to keep this nation free.

Then we jumped back in the car and started driving towards the larger section of the park, via the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway. The road is so beautiful to drive, offering grand overlooks of the towering canyon walls below, with many spots to pull off for viewing and to snap a few photos!

Mist Falls Trail

Kings Canyon has a lot of long hiking trail options, but many of them are too long for a day hike so we landed on doing the Mist Falls Trail, which leads to the largest waterfall in the park. It is not a huge waterfall or anything, but it is a beautiful trail through the canyon that leads to a pretty and relaxing waterfall.

The trail ended up being 8.6 miles round trip. It starts with a pretty flat walk through the woods, then you go up 800ft of elevation and gain some beautiful views of the canyon and river, and then ultimately end up at the waterfall.

Once we reached the waterfall, we found a spot to sit and eat our lunch meat sandwiches we packed and do a little reading on the kindles. Then Jake decided he would need to jump into the water, which was pretty ice cold!

Be sure to watch our other travel vlog from California too!

And if you made it this far, hopefully you will be planning a trip to experience these marvelous parks for yourself! There is really nothing like walking among the magnificent sequoia trees, then in the same day being amongst one of the deepest canyons.

-Morgan

Subscribe to have content delivered directly to your inbox!