Sequoia & Kings Canyon in November

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November 26

Kings Canyon National Park

We picked up a rental car and left San Rafael for Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks around 11:00 a.m.  Considering the time of year, we made sure to get a 4-wheel drive vehicle. The 4.5-hour drive was uneventful with some nice California scenery.  In Fresno, we checked into a dreadful Airbnb with cardboard walls, a dumpy mattress, and no amenities in a stale, ugly subdivision. Once checked in we headed out for dinner. We ended up at Trelio Food and Wine in the adjacent town of Clovis.  This town must be where people in Fresno go for a nice night out.  Trelio was a truly outstanding Italian restaurant in every way.

 

We also bought tire chains since there was a chance that the park rangers would not let us in without having them in the car, if not actually on the tires.  There was snow at the parks already due to recent snowfall in the high elevation.

We escaped the terrible Fresno Airbnb around 9:30 a.m., found a McDonalds for coffee and healthy breakfast and headed to Kings Canyon National Park, about one hour away.

Our large rental car’s thirsty gas tank required a stop just outside the park in Squaw Valley for hydration. While at the awesome, and way friendly Squaw Valley Trading Center, we  bought more provisions since we really had no idea how much food and drink we would find inside the parks during their winter season when many facilities are closed.

As is typical of most national parks the scenery became more and more beautiful as we approached. The Sierra Nevadas are quite beautiful.

General Grant Tree Trail

We entered Kings Canyon National Park at the Big Stump entrance from Rt. 180. We showed our parks pass and proceeded along Generals Highway toward Wuksachi Lodge where we had reservations for the next two nights. But upon entering we decided to detour a short way in the other direction to General Grant Tree, the third largest tree in the world.

At 10:30 a.m. the parking lot at General Grant’s trail was only about half full. We parked and immediately began ogling the enormous trees as we headed to the trail.

We had a hard time distinguishing between the many sequoias so it took us a while before we were convinced that we had found the actual Grant tree. There was no obvious signage to lead people to this specific enormous tree within the short loop trail. But we did eventually find the placard. No doubt…a big honking tree!

We walked the short family friendly trails around the area for about 30 minutes.  As we headed to the car, we noticed that the lot was now full, and people were jockeying for a spot. It was much busier now at 11:00 a.m. We were happy we got there when we did.

Hiking Buena Vista Peak Trail in November

From here we drove about 1/4 mile to the Kings Canyon Visitors Center.  Given the winter road closures and snow-covered trails  we wanted to get hiking recommendations from a ranger. His recommendations were limited, partly because roads and trails were closed, and partly because we just don’t look as adventurous and capable as we really are. We got good info anyway.

While here, we went to the Grant Grove Village market to buy micro spikes for our shoes so we could perhaps increase our exploring options, but sadly there were none left in our sizes. Without the micro spikes we opted not to hike the popular Panoramic Point trail. The 2-mile road to the trailhead from the visitors center was closed due to snow. We had the option of hiking the whole way to Panoramic Point, about 2.5 miles; but the ranger made it sound too difficult to do without micro spikes.

We headed out toward Sequoia playing things by ear. About 15 minutes up the road was a hike we wanted to check out, the Buena Vista Peak trail. It was only a couple of miles round trip, and the Alltrails reviews were good. But we didn’t know if there was too much snow to do it. We pulled into the Kings Canyon Valley Overlook parking since the trailhead was just across the road from that. We got our first panoramic view of Kings Canyon from the parking lot. Quite impressive we must say.

From here we put our backpacks on and headed across the road to check out the Buena Vista trail. At the same time, a young woman was also heading to the trailhead. We felt much better knowing another person was doing the same snow-covered hike as we. The three of us ended up hiking together the whole way out and back.  Sarah, as it turned out was a young professional working remotely out of her car for Deloitte while driving the country and adventuring. She was great company, and we were pretty sure she was glad to have our company as well.  It was good to have Sarah with us on first hike through snow. The trail was covered in about 4-6 inches of snow the whole way. Fortunately, the weather was perfect for late November. Clear, blue skies, and about 45 degrees.

It was a difficult, steep one-mile hike up. Micro spikes would have helped but we never slipped or lost traction. Based on the Alltrails GPS that we were following, we were actually off trail, but we followed a snow packed trail upward. We stopped several times to catch our breath…and enjoy the views. The best thing about hiking this time of year with snow is…NO people!  We encountered maybe 4 or 5 others.

At the end of the trail there were boulders to scramble to get to the actual peak.

When atop Buena Vista Peak at over 7,000′, we were treated to some spectacular views…well worth the effort. Kings Canyon, Spanish Mountain, Baldy Peak, Western Divide, and the Redwood Mountain Sequoia Grove are all visible in this amazing panorama.

We enjoyed the scenery for about 15 minutes before heading down. Instead of taking the best snow-beaten path down, we followed the official trail per the Alltrails map.  This way was a bit less steep than the way up…thankfully.

Sequoia National Park

General Sherman Tree

After the hike we said goodbye to Sarah, and got back in the car, again with intent to check in at Wucsachi Lodge. But as we got closer to the lodge, we saw a sign for General Sherman Tree, the world’s largest tree at 275′ high and 17′ in diameter.  We figured we had sunlight left, and dinner wasn’t available until 5 at the lodge, so let’s do the Sherman Tree now. We passed the access road to our lodge and proceeded about 15 minutes down Generals Highway.

Parking in the main lot, we discovered that perhaps 90% of the people at Sequoia were here…it was very crowded. But hey, it’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was a beautiful day. There is a shuttle for people to take from the lot, or one could hike a .5-mile paved trail. We opted for the hike, and not because the line for the shuttle was incredibly long.  It was an easy hike, though there were some icy spots on the paved trail, which was a steady slight descent toward the viewing area.  It was busy on the path, but not too bad…many people obviously opted for the shuttle.

We spent about an hour or so here taking some great photos.  It was here that somebody advised us to take a vertical “pano” photo with our iPhones.  We never thought of doing that for capturing the very tall trees.  Brilliant!

Wuksachi Lodge

After Sherman Tree we finally, actually made it to the Wuksachi Lodge, home for the next two nights. This is the best place to stay in Sequoia National Park.  It is perfectly located near everything, it is tucked off an access road away from the main road, and it is very comfortable.  There are only 102 rooms between three buildings, but coming at the end of November helped with scoring a room.

At 4:15 our room was not ready, and we were told to check back in 30 minutes. With nothing much to do at the lodge this time of year, we just hung around the lobby. After about 20 minutes we accidentally found ourselves in line to order dinner at the restaurant around the corner from the front desk. Being the only restaurant open and nearby this time of year, the line for dinner got very long, quickly. Our timing was great as we were second in line at 4:40. The restaurant opened at 5:00. The front desk person came to find us at dinner to give us the keys to our room, which was now ready.  After a nudge from me, she also gave us a free breakfast voucher due to the delay in checking in. The food was very good here.

At this time of year there is no night life in Sequoia National Park.  So, after taking our time at dinner in the main lodge we headed to our room. On our way we stopped in the parking lot where there was clearing and enjoyed some stellar stargazing.  The cold night air was as clear as could be, and the sky was chock full of stars…beautiful…I mean, really!!  If we were good photographers there’d be a night sky photo here, but alas, we are not.  So a pic of the lodge that night, with a star hovering over it will have to suffice. Once our ears started freezing off of our heads, we went to our room and settled in for the night.

Next: Sequoia National Park – Day 2 (Moro Rock)