Hey hi helloooo to all you adventurous gals and guys of the interweb! We’ll be diving into Kings Canyon today and the scenery around it, so stick around to hear about how to snag permits there, (even last minute), the best ice cream stop along the way, and the reason why despite booking said campsite, we decided to leave it behind and continue on. 🤷‍♀️

 

The General’s Highway from the Sequoias to King’s Canyon

At first thought, we were planning on needing more than one day to explore these two parks. But Kings Canyon, (Sequoias sister park), is quite literally right down the road. (The drive took us about an hour to go from one park to the other).

If you’re already on the Generals Highway, then you’ll know that it’s not too far away at that point. Once you finish up your stops in the Sequoias, (which took us around half a day), you can head onto the scenic byway and make your way through the canyon.

*Note that the Generals Highway and the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway are two separate things. We chose to go the scenic route, which provided excellent views and also a few cool little stops along the way like this ice cream joint located at a Hipcamp in basically the middle of nowhere. 👇

 

    

 

Missing Giants, Forest Fires, and The 7 Campgrounds

After experiencing the massive Sequoias and thinking I was going to see some of the same in Kings Canyon, I was a little bummed that there were not as many of these giant trees there. Don’t get me wrong, the drive through the canyon was absolutely epic, but on the way there it was pretty cloudy/foggy due to the nearby forest fires going on. Be sure to research your trip and set the right expectations! 🪾

As previously mentioned, we grabbed a campsite on the way from recreation.gov, just in case we needed one and decided to stay. There are four main campgrounds (which I’ll talk more about below), but I have to admit that the signs were a little confusing for them. It seemed as though there were only two, but when we kept driving and realized that the road was a loop, it revealed the others that had been missing on the sign.

Here’s the 7 campgrounds that *may or may not be open* when you plan your trip: (depending on weather and time of year)

• Cedar Grove Village (four available)
  • Canyon View Campground
  • Moraine Campground
  • Sentinel Campground
  • Sheep Creek Campground
• Grant Grove Village (three available)
  • Azalea Campground
  • Crystal Springs Campground
  • Sunset Campground

*You can learn more about them all through this link, and find out about alerts that are going on in the area as well.

Once we arrived, we checked out our campsite (which was pretty great), and headed to the visitor center to grab some grub. Check out the pics below to get an idea of what the restaurant was like there. It was a cute little area next to the part where you can stock up on camping supplies or firewood. (which we did grab, since most of our desert camping doesn’t allow fires, we take advantage of the places when they do!)

 

 

The Lost Signal in King’s Canyon

The hubs got a sandwich and I ordered a salad and a grilled cheese. Since it was still pretty nice outside, we decided to eat on their deck with a beautiful overlook. (I’ll add more pics of the building and overlook below). This was also the time where we had determined that anxiety comes with unpreparedness, LOL. 😂

Because as we enjoyed our meals, we realized there was no cell service whatsoever there, which meant we couldn’t access our permits for said campsite (which was in our email), OR find out if we’d get the daily lottery permit for Half Dome Tuesday. We had already applied for Monday at this point, but we were hoping Tuesday would be available so that we’d have more time to prepare…it wasn’t.🙂

So, as we finished up, we made the choice to continue onto Yosemite National Park, and leave our current campsite behind. (Seriously, every single vacay we tell ourselves we will stick to the OG plan, but we never do). 😂 As I’d worn my trail runners the whole way here so far, despite our lack of hiking because of plan changes), I decided to swap them out for my comfy birks in the parking lot before heading out.

…and then I left them in said parking lot. 🤦‍♀️

While I need to mention that there *are* a decent amount of cool hikes to do in this area, it just wasn’t what we were looking for this time around, especially with all of the smoke and fog covering any really great views we’d try to see. I wouldn’t recommend skipping it altogether as the drive was pretty cool, but if you’re going that way, I wouldn’t plan more than a day or two max needed to explore both of these amazing giant forest areas.

(I’ve also included a map pic below showing the Kings Canyon campgrounds and the surrounding area).

 

Staying at Upper Pines and the Half Dome

Although we only got about a mile down the road before me realizing my favorite shoes were no longer with me, it was a realization that maybe we were a little more burned out than we had previously thought. As we pulled back into the parking lot, I saw my shoes chilling on the pavement and my mini heart attack of “how the heck am I going to find perfect trail shoes in the middle of nowhere before two ridiculous hikes” went away.

As it was about mid-afternoon at this time, we anticipated it being nearly dark by the time we arrived at our campground we last minute booked in Yosemite. (We had actually planned ahead for Tuolumne Meadows, (check out more about them here), but after realizing it was super far away from Yosemite itself, (around an hours drive), we scooped up an Upper Pines spot on the way there on the web).

While we were driving, we got pinged once we got back into service that we had not acquired a permit for Tuesday, which made our only option for hiking the infamous Half Dome on Monday, just hours away at that point. 😬 We decided to take the opportunity, since Half Dome permits are hard to come by, and worked on planning how we’d pack once we got to the campground.

Check out more about how to snag a Half Dome permit through this link! 🥾

It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive, in which we arrived right about when it was getting dark. The road into Yosemite itself is quite long and windy, (and you’ll definitely lose service again), so be sure to be prepared with directions and permits *screen shotted* or printed for easy access when you can’t get into your email.

Once we backed into our drive-up campsite, (which, thank goodness) because we could just pull out what we needed onto a picnic table and set up the tent close by. Walk-up campsites are cool if you’re going to be there awhile, (they usually have a nearby parking lot), but we always try to book drive-up ones especially if we have to get there late or leave super early the next day.

We folded up the tent before leaving the last site, to make it easier to set up again and that strategy came in clutch that evening. We were set up, packed and ready for the next day within about 30 minutes all while doing so with headlamps and a red light lantern. Having a quick dehydrated meal before turning in, we skipped the reading part of our routine and went straight to bed around 8:30pm. 😴

 

 

 

King’s Canyon Was Great, No Regrets

While we were happy to have experienced Kings Canyon in general, we felt as though we actually benefited from deciding not to stay because the way back through was much less foggy at that time allowing us much better pictures and understanding of what it really looked like in all it’s beauty. I really loved the part of the drive where it shows the three rocks sticking out in the distance. (You can see that in my featured image!)

In the next post, I’ll discuss the mighty Half Dome hike that we *almost* conquered, our feelings about the trail, and what we’d do differently next time around. (There *will* be a next time!)💪

So stick around and if you’ve been there, tell me all about your Half Dome story, too! 👇

Thanks for joining and hanging out through the mental breaks and travel adventures! You’re the bomb dot com, friend. 😌🫶

 

 

Thank You For Riding Along With Us Through King’s Canyon

Have you been to King’s Canyon or the Half Dome?  Let me know if the comments below.