Schatzi suggested that the best way to approach visiting King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks was to go north from Visalia and enter King's Canyon through the Big Stump Entrance, so that is what we did. The route is 63 miles and an hour and a half or so to the entrance. After a brief wait in line at the entrance station, we drove to the King's Canyon Visitor Center.
The ranger we spoke with made some suggestions and told us approximately how long it would take to drive each segment. She seemed a bit skeptical of our plan to visit both parks today. Of course her skepticism was well grounded, but it took us a couple of hours for us to come to the conclusion that we'd need to save Sequoia NP for tomorrow.
We watched the introductory film, which gave a good overview of King's Canyon and its formation and extent. We had recommendations from both the ranger and Schatzi that the drive through and down into the canyon was not to be missed. Of course we also wanted to see the General Grant Tree, which is the fifth largest tree in the world by volume.
We stopped at a picnic area on the way into the Grant Grove and ate our lunch while enjoying the sights and silence of the forest.
Then we went on to the trailhead for the General Grant Tree. The tree is indeed massive, an awe inspiring tree. Many others in the grove are huge. We walked through the hollowed out trunk of one that had fallen, a new experience for us.
After we left the Grove we drove east on Highway 180, which winds and descends as it takes you down to the King's River. We saw signs warning "Snow and rocks not removed at night." We've seen the warning applied to snow, but never before to rocks.
It's a difficult drive, and of course the driver can't do much sightseeing, but we stopped at several overlooks. And then suddenly, there it was: the King's River. It was amazingly clear with turquoise water and rushing rapids in parts. The cliffs above tower over it, and the whole thing is just a spectacular sight.
The river has been designated a Wild and Scenic River, and the drive is a Scenic Byway. We are very glad for the many people who worked to save this river from being dammed and flooding the canyon, as happened to Hetch Hetchy.
We stopped at Grizzly Falls, tall and impressive. The cliff face that the river rushes down gives evidence that sometimes there is more water and the falls must be even more spectacular. As we walked in the short path to see the falls, we saw two bicycles all kitted out with touring bags and gear--and a baby trailer. Down by the falls we talked with the cyclists. They are on a five day tour with their one year old, the first time they've taken him on an extended ride. Wow, am I impressed! The route through the canyon and the park is definitely not flat! What quads they must have, and what a spirit of adventure to travel with a young toddler.
We also stopped at Roaring Falls, which is not a tall, elegant falls like Grizzly, but extremely powerful--and loud of course. We were moved to just sit on the rocks and experience it for a bit.
Then we drove out to Roads End, where there's a permit station for those venturing overnight into the back country, and lots of warnings about active bears and food safety. Day hikes don't require a permit, but we were running out of time and couldn't stay to take any of the hikes.
We drove back towards home without doing any more exploring, since it was after 4:00 p.m. We did stop in Dinuba on the way south for supper at Subway. It was 7:00 p.m. when we got home and more or less collapsed for a while. What a day!
On another note, when we were hiking the South Kaibab trail into the Grand Canyon, I fell rather hard on the rocky trail. I got up and brushed it off, figuring I might have some bruises but nothing worse. For the next few days I could feel some bruising in my ribs and couldn't lift things, but I figured I was getting better, until the last couple of days. Now I have some pain all around my lungs when I breathe deeply. A Google search tells me that I probably have pleurisy caused by the trauma to my rib cage. I've had pleurisy a couple of times before, but as a complication of bronchitis years ago, so I know what it feels like. It's an inflammation of the lining of the lungs, the pleura. So now I'm taking ibuprofen to help with the pain and hopefully reduce the inflammation. I never knew you could get pleurisy by bruising your ribs!
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