Kings Canyon & on to Sequoia

Started the day off with an 8-mile run up the canyon road to Roaring River Falls and then a quick river cold plunge. Stopped to check out the view from this old cabin along the way. 

Then back to these little weirdos. 

We did the half of the Zumwalt Meadow loop that was open; it was really gorgeous and we saw another couple of bears to add to the one we'd seen the ranger throwing pinecones at in the morning to scare it away from the ranger station. 

Then a quick picnic at Grizzly Falls. 

And back out of the canyon--the road to the end of the accessible canyon (coincidentally named Roads End) is 38 miles long and very very windy and steep and incredibly gorgeous. There is a surprisingly well-developed lodge/restaurant area near the end of the road very close to the campground

 where we stayed. 

Then on to the sequoias of Kings Canyon in the General Grant grove! 

While still not as impressive as the actual Sequoia park, the sequoias here were much more impressive than in Yosemite. 

I always think it is super cool to walk *through* the sequoia trunks. 

This one played host to U.S. Calvary horses as a stable and at one point was used as a hotel & saloon. Wild. 

Then we left the blissfully cool(er) elevations of the higher country and headed down into the foothills to our Airbnb, where we did some much-needed laundry and enjoyed our first showers in a week (although the river swims worked pretty well!). 

Our Airbnb was actually an old bunkhouse on a working cattle ranch. It was...interesting. The beds were comfortable, the shower had great water pressure, and we were able to wash all our clothes, which is what we wanted, but...the lack of central A/C was not my favorite. (They did have some wall units and lots of fans, but the listing did not say anything about no A/C.) 

Matty working away on his Junior Ranger book! 

Sunset from the front door (note: this would be the same front door that a frog hopped under the next morning). 

And sunset on the hills behind the house. We enjoyed the 8 million rabbits that came into the yard at sunset and sunrise, as well as the flocks of wild turkeys running across the yard--pretty cool! 

 

Kings Canyon

First of all--Kings Canyon was SO beautiful and it is top of my list for a return (extended backcountry) visit. I feel like we just barely scratched the tiniest bit of surface here! I would say this is definitely a backpacking park. 

We were not backpacking, but we still really loved it and saw some incredible beauty! 

One of the things we had read about KC was that it was really buggy (and Yosemite too in the high country, but we didn't see as many bugs there, probably because it was legitimately too hot for them to fly). So we came prepared! 

We set out to hike the Mist Falls trail on our only full day there. It was a very very easy trail for the first couple miles and we made crazy good time. 

Lots more sugar pine! 

And lots of style. 

This section of the Kings River was so placid, which is a major contrast to most of the river stretches we saw. So beautiful but so deadly! 

This is more what the river looked like--there are so many drownings here every year (we saw the paramedics rushing to one rescue while we were there; someone fell in and was under for a long time. Not sure if the CPR worked or not but judging by the chat I overhead between some rangers the next day, I think it ended in a fatality). 

Anyway, on that cheery note--enjoy a picture of us enjoying a beautiful view! 

Seriously such a beautiful place, and hardly anyone there! 

Mist Falls is only about 4 miles from the trailhead at Roads End, so it's a pretty quick hike. The trail then continues up to a series of meadows and the High Sierra and I wanted to keep going SO BADLY. 

Another time. 

Standing inside a giant sequoia looking at the falls--pretty cool. 

We enjoyed lunch at the falls and then set off back down the trail. 

Seriously could not get over how gorgeous this particular viewpoint was. 

Matthew was really in peak form that day. 

When we got back down to the trail fork, we opted to cross a bridge so we could get down by the river, which felt amazing to our hot feet! 

I convinced everyone to take a different (longer) trail back, and there was some weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth until we realized the entire trail was LINED with raspberries and blackberries. 

I was so glad we ended up taking this route (seriously NOBODY else was on it) because we ended up coming across an older guy who was lost and absolutely panicking. He said he had been up and down this 5-mile section of trail over and over and he couldn't figure out how to cross the river; he could see people on the other side but didn't know where the bridges were. (He didn't have a map, cell service is nonexistent, and his only supply was an unopened 20-oz plastic water bottle.)

Anyway I was really glad we found him--he was almost in tears when we came up to him and told us that he was convinced he was going to die out there. (He had gotten tired and turned back while his family kept going but had taken a wrong turn.) 

I felt pretty bad for him when we got back to the bridge area and he realized he had been about 50 yards short of it when he turned around again. But we got him back to the trailhead and his car! 

Then we changed into our swimsuits (always fun in a hot car) and went over to the Muir Rock area to swim. Or to perch like Gollum, as the case may be. 

I jumped off once and that was enough for me; I was seriously so scared of hurting myself yet again and my feet touched the bottom when I jumped and I noped right out of that. 

So I sat in the sun and cheered everyone else on. Juliet joined me and fell asleep almost immediately. 

Eventually the boys got really cold (the water was even colder than in Yosemite) and came over to me; all Matthew had wanted to do for the last week was find a section of river where he could move rocks around so he was in heaven! 

Then eventually Isaac, Luke, and Matthew went to go jump again (incidentally Muir Rock is named after John Muir, since he used this rock to gather groups and talk to them about the High Sierra). 

Some screenshots from videos: 

Isaac 

Matthew 

Nathan (everyone was jumping with shoes because there was a very fast current whipping you back to shore, which was very rocky, so you wanted shoes available immediately so you could pop back up to standing before you got washed up). 

I think this is Isaac and Matthew but maybe Luke? 

Our sticker collection is getting pretty good, despite the occasional peel-off (I think we have like 5 parks that we currently need to re-sticker). The other side is more protected, I think. 

Dinner--caesar salad, kung pao chicken, and delicious grapes. 

And some fireside fun!