SEQUOIA / KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, CA.

     After spending the night in the Walmart parking lot in Visalia, we arrived at the Kaweah Park Resort in Three Rivers, California on March 23, 2013.  The campground had a beautiful setting right on the Kaweah River and our site had water, electric, sewer and wifi.  We had decided not to camp inside the National Park after following the weather reports showing cold temperatures holding firm in the higher elevations, after all it is still March.  Anyway, during our check-in at the resort office I discovered that the guy behind the counter, Kevin Canter, was born and raised in Brooklyn until his family moved West when he was about 15 years old.  So with that said and me being from New York, he took good care of us during our stay and he received a nice plate of Spaghetti and Meatballs from us before we left.  The strangest thing about meeting him is his remarkable resemblance to a friend of mine, Nicky Vergata, who passed away a few years back.  We spent the rest of the day setting up camp and getting comfortable.

     We got an early start the following day to get going on our tour of these adjoining parks.  The plan was to start at the Ash Mountain entrance in Sequoia, drive through both parks on the Generals Highway, and exit at the Big Stump entrance in Kings Canyon.  Our first stop was at Tunnel Rock and then on to the Foothills Visitor Center to check out the displays.  We were then off to Hospital Rock to view the Indian Exhibit and hike around a bit.  Next up was a drive through Tunnel Log and then a hike to Crescent Meadow and a look at Tharp's Log Home.  A pioneer home made from a single hollow sequoia log.  Then it was up 400 steps to the top of Moro Rock for a beautiful view of the surrounding area from an elevation of 6725 feet.  After making our way back down we were then off to see the Worlds Largest Tree, (Sequoiadendron giganteum), the "General Sherman Tree!"  By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth and estimated to be from 2300 to 2700 years old.  Unfortunately, many areas of the park and park roads were still closed off for the Winter, so we were limited in our exploration of the park.  So at this point we headed over to the Kings Canyon Visitor Center and from there took a gander at the "General Grant Tree!"  This giant sequoia is 268 feet tall and 107 feet in circumference.  You can't help but feel humbled at times standing in the presence of these enormous trees that are more than 2000 years old.

     It was late afternoon when we finished our abbreviated tour of the two parks so we headed out the Big Stump entrance on Hwy 180.  We took a left on Hwy 245 heading South and another left on Hwy 198, which took us back to our campground.  The following day we took a drive to check out the Army Corps of Engineers campground on Kaweah Lake and some of the other recreation areas along Hwy 198.   The next stop on our Endless Adventure will be Yosemite National Park!  What a big beautiful country we have! 


FP & RG

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