King's Canyon National Park Day 2

Another new park!

Day 2 was really long and included a lot of hiking! We woke up early, at around 5:30 when the birds started to sing through the open window. Mark called about 6 o'clock, and the wifi was good enough for us to take turns talking, showering, and eating breakfast. We were really glad to hear that he was doing well in Argentina while we are having fun here. 

Our first adventure today was to take a side road out of the park through Sequoia National Forest. This one was narrow and thin and ran past a large lake called Lake Hume. We saw a small buck along the way, but surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of wildlife out in the early morning. 

The walk along the lake was nice, and we saw a few new woodpeckers, including a white-headed woodpecker that was high on Dax's list. We also saw a tanager, some stellar's jays, and a lot of squirrels and chipmunks. 

Eventually, we continued down to Sequoia National Park where we did a long hike called Tokopah Falls. This was one of our longest hikes of the trip at nearly 4 miles. The waterfall was really more of a long cascade down into the canyon. It was really roaring, but we couldn't get too close without a scramble, and we were plenty tired. 

The buck was a handsome guy.

Lake Hume is lovely. Dax is always looking for fish.

We liked the end of the lake with this fun bridge and waterfall. 

We all had fun exploring on these rocks.

It was a great stop.

This woodpecker is so cool.

Stellar's Jay is one of our favorite birds.

We ate lunch in the parking lot at the Visitor Center of Sequoia, and then the boys turned in their Junior Ranger booklets (they feel a little old for it, but they are still good sports). Then we took a second drive through the wilderness out to Big Meadow. The idea was to see a fire lookout that sits high on a rock dome. Unfortunately, the road was pretty bad, and we hadn't known it wasn't paved. It was rutted and rocky and climbing steeply. We got within a half mile of the lookout before turning around and heading back down the mountain. 

The wildflowers were beautiful all throughout the park. 

Such a pretty place.

The tall towering cliffs are awesome.

So many boulders to climb over. 

We loved walking right through them.

This is the bottom part of the waterfall. 

Dad had a crazy idea that after all that hiking we needed to drive, so he drove to another off-road adventure called Chicago Stump. This one was from a massive tree cut down for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. There were a bunch of other stumps around, too. It's hard to believe how wantonly these trees were cut down shortly after their discovery.

Such cute Junior Rangers. 

The Chicago stump was a short, but great stop.

The stump is quite large.

After a brief rest back in the lodge, we grabbed dinner at the same restaurant in Grant Grove Village. Then we had two more adventures. The first was a walk around the North Loop. This was an absolutely beautiful hike through a massive grove of sequoias. Unfortunately, it was pretty long and a little too steep after all the hiking we'd done. We were glad the final stop was at a roadside exhibit called the Big Stump.

Back at our favorite restaurant.

We burned ourselves out on all the trails tonight.

It is amazing that these huge trees grow from such small pinecones.

The problem was, it didn't turn out to be a roadside exhibit. It was actually a trail that went down about a mile through a lot of big stumps to a really big stump called Mark Twain's Stump. You could climb right up on this one like a stage, and three deer came out to watch our performance as Seth danced around on the massive slab. Sadly, we had to climb back up and out to Big Stump Trailhead. We were pretty wiped by the time we did that, and we stumbled back to the lodge. It had been a really long day!

We did enjoy all the the stumps on the trail.

You could walk through one of them.

This is the Mark Twain stump that you can walk on.

The kids were such great troopers.

We saw a few deer. 

It was a long, but awesome day!

King's Canyon National Park Day 1

Another new national park!

On Saturday, June 20, we packed up the van and rode as far as Nephi. We stopped there for the re-enactment of the first baseball game in Utah, which an Ockey played in. Then we got back on the road and drove all the way into Tehachapi, California. We picked that little town, because it was as far down the road as possible without us driving too late into the night. We only made two stops along the way. The first was at Filly's in Fillmore for lunch, and the second was for dinner in a small town called Boron just a little southeast of Tehachapi. It was a long day in the car.

The sunset was very lovely at the hotel.

Sunday morning we still had 3 hours into Grant Grove Village, which is where we spent most of the day. We were excited because this is our 40th National Park, and we saw (but didn't get a picture of) a gorgeous woodpecker just outside the gate. We'd also driven through so much desert, we were excited to be high in the mountains among sweet smelling pines. One of the first things Dax noticed was the size of the pine cones, which were roughly the size of a football. 

Getting ready to explore King's Canyon.

After getting set up in the Visitor Center, we started out along the main highway to Cedar Grove. It's a 35 mile drive, but it takes most of the day to make the stops and drive the winding, descending road. Our first stop was at Grizzly Falls, and it was so beautiful! The huge cascade reminded us of Tower Falls in Yellowstone. Dax was excited to spot a fish in the river. There were also some amazing purple flowers spread along the hillside, which Mom loved. It was really a great stop, and we spent longer than we should have. 

The waterfall was beautiful. 

Mom loved these tall purple flowers. 

She found a butterfly, too. 

Seth is always climbing every rock!

The entire drive is along the river, and it's so pretty.

We made a short stop at Knapp's Cabin, which is a small walk out to a relic of a cabin. It wasn't all that interesting, but we'd come all the way down into the canyon, and we were on the floor looking up.

The cabin is pretty cool.

Seth took a nap at Knapp's cabin!

We loved all the views of the canyon.

It is a gorgeous place!

A little further on, we came to another waterfall called Roaring Falls. This one was really pretty, too. We hiked up both sides of the river to sit from close up and farther away, but at a better angle. It wasn't very far, and it was nice and flat. It was another big waterfall, but we saw several small seasonal waterfalls that came from high up the canyon walls as well. 

The boys went up one way!

Mom went the other way!

Our next hike was Zumwalt Meadow. This hike walked down to a fun little suspension bridge and crossed the river. Then it walked through soaring granite cliffs that were speckled like countertops, and finally came out overlooking the meadow. We climbed a few rocks and looked and looked, but there were no animals to see.

The bridge on the hike was the best part.

We love this new (to us) national park.

The meadow is down below.

The boys climbed all over the boulders. 

We also saw lots of these lizards. 

River and canyon views everywhere.

The final stop at the far end of the road is called Muir Rock. This is where John Muir, the naturalist, gave a famous speech. Now it is used for jumping into the river. We were excited to do that, even though it's only about a 10 foot drop, and the water is only about 10 feet deep. Seth and Dad zipped back to the van and grabbed their suits. Then they jumped. Once in that icy water was enough for Dad, but Seth jumped in close to a half dozen times before we had to leave. 

Dad was the first to jump in. 

But Seth jumped in lots of times. 

Another look at Seth jumping.

We were in a bit of a hurry because we had to get halfway back through the canyon for a cave tour. We had tickets to Boyden Cavern at 4 pm, and we didn't want to miss it. The cave required a short hike almost straight up (Dax and Seth argued if this steepness would be better with stairs or not), but it wasn't very long. Then we entered the cavern. We've been in a lot of caves, and this tour was pretty standard. There were stalactites and stalagmites and cave bacon. There were a lot of the usual formations, but a few things made this different. 

The first was that the luminescent rock held light. So when the ranger shined his lights on the rocks in the shape of a smiley face, and then turned the light off, you could see the crystal glowing and grinning at you in the dark. The second thing was that they allowed you to walk out the natural cave entrance if you wanted, which they called the "wild exit." So on the way in, you were on a paved trail and a catwalk. The cave had been widened in a few places, and the footing was made easier. But, if you wanted, you could walk out the natural river bed where water flows in early spring. Of course, we did this, even though it was rocky and damp and required much more squeezing. We'd never seen the wild exit option at a guided tour before.

The cave was super interesting.

Walking through the wild exit.

We enjoyed walking this route.

We love visiting caves. 

We made it back to Grant Grove Village in time for dinner (Dax had salmon, Mom and Seth had burgers, and Dad had steak.) We all had chocolate and strawberry shortcake for dessert). 

Eating in the lodge was fun because you could watch the deer outside.

Of course, the day wasn't over. We also did a short hike up to General Grant Tree. This is one of the world's largest trees by volume. We also walked around the grove through these massive giants. It was so peaceful and majestic. The trees were really beautiful, and we found ourselves whispering for no particular reason. 

The trees are huge.

Walking through the grove in the evening was so nice.

There is one fallen tree you can walk through.

It is awesome to walk beneath these giant trees.

General Grant

Finally, we decided to make the drive to Panoramic Point. This very narrow, very winding road leads to the top of the mountain above Grant Grove Village. To the east, it overlooks all of King's Canyon. To the west, the sun set in array of purples, reds, oranges, and yellows. We took a bunch of pictures, but none of them really captured the moment. Still, it was a perfect moment to end a really long day. 

Sunset!

The sunset was nice. Aided by the smoke!

Great views at the top, too!

How is he so old?

It was a great first day!