5 Great Things To Do In Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park are amazing adjacent wilderness areas that are 100 miles closer to Los Angeles than Yosemite and a lot less crowded. Below are five great things to do when visiting these magnificent parks.

1. Visiting the biggest trees in the world. If you are traveling to these national parks, then you must visit the General Sherman Grove and/or the General Grant Grove. The trees a truly magnificent. While the General Sherman is the biggest tree, I enjoy visiting General Grant Grove’s more due to the stories attached to its various trees, especially the Fallen Monarch which had once served as saloon.

2. Hiking Morro Rock. It is a very short, strenuous, half-mile hike that has spectacular views of the Great Western Divide and sheer drop-offs on either side of the trail. There are 400 stairs on the trail. Think of it as a 20-minute Stairmaster. Huffing and puffing to the top, we all enjoyed it, even our teenage boys. It is not to be missed.

3. Drinking milkshakes and root beer floats at Lake Hume. Lake Hume is a gorgeous blue jewel surrounded by a pine forest with a back drop of snowcapped mountains. As if this is not a strong enough lure to entice you to visit the lake, there’s a very large Christian camp here with a host of facilities that includes a snack shop with great burgers and at least a dozen of flavors of ice cream for shakes, floats, and malts. The camp also has one of the best general stores in the two national parks, rents paddle boats and kayaks, and allows fishing with a permit.

4. Hiking to Topokah Falls. This is a 4.4-mile hike that follows the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. Walking through that granite valley, my son said it was one of the most majestic things he’d ever seen. It is a leisurely hike, although you are in full sun for the last quarter mile to the base of the falls. Sunscreen, hat, and water are necessities.

5. Driving to Road’s End at the bottom of Kings Canyon. Kings Canyon is the deepest canyon in the United States. Yes, it is even deeper than the Grand Canyon. It is also one of the most remote wilderness areas in the world. This is because the road to the bottom of the canyon is closed from November through April. This means that nature can run amok for six months out of the year without human interference. When I told the ranger that I saw a bear in the parking lot, he said, “Oh yeah, they are all over the place down here,” and walked away. In Yosemite, bears cause mass hysteria with rangers following them and hordes of tourists trying to get their picture during the day or banging pots and screaming to scare them away at night. In the canyon, there are a number of great really short hikes to Zumwalt Meadows, Roaring River Falls, Grizzly Falls, and a beach just off the Road’s End parking lot. Also, at Cedar Grove Lodge in the canyon, you can eat a hot lunch and take a shower.

One thing that I have not done is visit Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park located in the southern end of the park. I have heard good things about it, but have never made it there.

I hope these tips on where to go and what to see when you're in Sequoia and Kings Canyon entice you to go and stay longer than just one day to see the towering trees. These are beautiful areas, uniquely different from Yosemite, that take time to discover all their natural treasures.

Happy trails!

Zweeting Roasted Vegan Dinosaur - LA Coffee Shops In May

Four coffee houses to try this month: one with outstanding mochas, another with amazing pies, another created for writers, and one with horchata lattes.


 Best Mocha

Stamp Fine Foods

4500 Los Feliz Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90027
One of the best mochas I ever had. Very creamy. This coffee shop in the Los Feliz area also has a pretty large breakfast and lunch  menu. The décor has lots of wood giving the place an old timey feel. I couldn't resist ordering a meal here seeing the customer's plates around me. I had the vegan banana buckwheat pancakes. Good stuff.

Best Pies

Dinosaur Coffee

4334 Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90029
Yes, there is a dinosaur in the bathroom. Hearing about this is one of the reasons why this coffeehouse piqued my interest. Another was the excellent reviews on the coffee. The reviews were correct, the coffee is good. They also have a pie or two brought in daily by Nicole Rucker. I had a delicious slice of blueberry pie. Also across the street is the LA County Store - all things made locally. It is where I purchased my coffee cash wallet.

Writer's Paradise

Zweet Café

4682 Eagle Rock Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90041
While I enjoyed my mocha here, I really liked the vibe. When I walked in, there was a writers group meeting at one table, a black board field with "inspirational" coffee quotes, and many interesting items to gaze at as you think about the next line in your novel. An added bonus was that after 3:00, a number of pastries are priced at a dollar for that little extra sugar push to get you over the edge.

All Types Here
Jameson Brown Coffee Roasters
260 Allen Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91107
This coffee shop has a special drink menu. On the day in May I went in, they had a creamy iced horchata latte which had lots of yummy cinnamon in it. Jameson's had a good flow of people coming and going from students to professionals to firefighters. I liked their cool mood music and the fact that they had a rewards program with specials on your birthday. It is also away from the hustle and bustle of Old Town and PCC.

Lost in Vasquez Rocks: A Los Angeles Hiking Experience

The amazing Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a wilderness area that you can spend ½ a day hiking the outside trails or spend an hour bouldering the iconic rocks at the center of the park. The park is only ½ hour north of Los Angeles just off the 14 freeway.

 

The remarkable geologic rock formations within the park are caused by the active Elkhorn Fault. Rocks soar over 100 feet out of the ground at 50-degree angles. The park’s iconic rocks have formed the back drop for dozens of films and TV shows from Star Trek to Blazing Saddles to Westworld.

 

Iconic rocks

The park is visitor friendly with free parking, a well-put-together interactive visitor center and marked hiking trails. Unlike many hikes where you must hike hours to arrive at a trail’s iconic photo spot, this park allows you to drive right up to it to take your pictures and hike afterwards. But being a dad and a scoutmaster, I made my wife and two sons complete the 6-mile loop around the park before exploring the 150-foot tall prize.

 

And of course, I got us lost.

 

Views of the rock uplift.

Our ill-fated hike started on a beautiful day: the sky was a beautiful cobalt blue and a cool breeze kept the high desert temperatures in the 70s. Walking along the Geology Trail, we wound through various boulders and desert shrubbery with signs describing them. The area also afforded some amazing views.

 

Then the trail descended behind a ridge of sandstone and sedimentary rocks momentarily blocking our view of the central rocks. Looking back up at the ridge that we had descended, it appeared as if we had walked down a massive rent in the earth.

 

We descended further into a beautiful rocky canyon and saw a boulder shaped like a guppy and another like a bantha from Star Wars.

Guppy Rock

 

I, being the faithful Instagrammer, was taking copious amounts of photos so my family soon left me behind. But have no fear, my wife and younger son responsibly waited for me at the Foot Trail turnoff that would take us back to the visitor center. My older son on the other hand was nowhere to be found.

 

He had missed the turnoff and continued on our current trail. We called his name but there was no answer. We hurried after him.  He was 16 and a Life Scout so I did not fear for his safety, I just didn’t want to do a lot of backtracking once we caught up to him.  Besides the park did not look that big on the visitor center map. But looks can be deceiving. I soon learned why Tiburcio Vasquez, a notorious bandit during the 19th century, was able to escape the law for so many years amongst these rocks and canyons.

 

Ten minutes on, the trail wrapped around a bend and it was here that we finally saw my son. He stood atop a ridge 100 yards beyond. He waved at us to follow him. My younger son urged us to go back. I looked at the map. It appeared that this trail would eventually merge with the Foot Trail, so I said we should follow my older son. I really didn’t want to back track.



Older son is dot on hill.

 

But soon, the trail narrowed to almost nothing, then widened into a definite trail again and then shrank back down again. After forty-five minutes on this rubber band trail, we found ourselves ducking under branches, avoiding rabbits on what had become nothing more than a game trail, and ended up in a farmer’s backyard.

 

My older son stated the obvious, “We’re lost.”

 

Now we had to backtrack. Still, I didn’t think we had to backtrack all the way. There was a path that had branched off from the one we had come down that I thought would lead us towards the center of the park. Instead we came across signs for the wildlife conservation area. I was even more confused. The signs should’ve been west of us.  We reached the top of a ridge and just saw more ridges before us. At this point, with my nerves starting to whisper, “Danger Will Robinson, danger.” I said, “We are going all the way back.”

 

It was strange because as we headed back, we found markers indicating we were on the Foot Trail but we were definitely not on the trail marked on the map. We continued backtracking. I finally found a well-marked trail going through our “trail”. I told my family to wait at the crossroads while I hiked up his broader trail for a better vantage point. At the top of a bend was a sign that said Horse Trail. I was so turned around at this point, the map was useless.

 

But from here, I saw this trail pass over the next ridge into a valley and then over another ridge where people were standing looking about. We had found our way home! 25 minutes later we arrived at the park’s main road.

 

Unfortunately, when I told the boys we should climb the main rocks now, they looked at me as if I were loony. So, the boys went back to the car, while my wife and I headed to the central rocks. I was bound and determined to climb the darn things since they and I were here. The climb took less than 20 minutes. From the top, we could see the areas we had hiked through and my car in the parking lot where the boys waited.

 

It was a great ending to a long day.

 

 

I highly recommend visiting Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park.

 

Hikespeak.com has a detailed itinerary of the hike around the outside of the park with pictures. The 6-mile loop also incorporates a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail (the PCT), so you can say you hiked a portion of it. Be sure to bring plenty of water and a hat as there are no trees for shade.

 

Enjoy!