Nothing is better than traipsing through the woods, craning your neck towards the sky to see where the trees end, watching critters scurry past you, and enjoying the sun’s warm rays on your skin.
The rustling leaves, crunching of branches and pinecones under your boots, and fresh scent of redwoods, dirt, and nature somehow never fails to make a person forget about everything except for the moment. Any chance I get, I try and find a way to escape in nature. Are any of you like that?
Today I want to share with you another one California’s exquisite national parks. We have so many! This one is Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park and even though I only spent a few hours there, I fell in love and cannot wait until the next time I get to come back and explore it. Prepare for a photo heavy post!
On Memorial weekend, Mark, my friend Maria, and I headed down to one of California’s infamous National Parks: Sequoia/Kings Canyon. We avoided Yosemite knowing that it would be swarming with people, but this place wasn’t much better. It was like Disneyland during the holidays. There was an obscene amount of people. We could hardly find parking, and when we did, it took some time to make it to the trailhead.
To be honest, I was especially worried about crowds on the trail. I hate hiking with hoards of people because it takes away the peacefulness of it all. Call me selfish, but I definitely prefer having a trail to myself and a select few people. Don’t you?
Well, thanks to the shuttle system that makes sites more accessible to all people by directly transporting them to their destination, the trails towards Tunnel Rock and Moro Rock were desolate minus a handful of people we passed by.
I especially enjoyed all of the redwoods and sequoias. There were so many where we could explore the insides of their trunks.
We took the Alta Trail.
On the left are the male pinecones (they’re larger and disperse pollen). On the right are the female pinecones. Together, they make baby trees!
Anyone have any idea why these trees look like they burned from the inside out?
Monstrous ant! They’re way less terrifying than the regular carpenter, house invading ants.
Tall tree and tiny me. We both need each other to survive. I promise to keep conserving and protecting the environment, buddy!
Tunnel Log was a pleasant unplanned surprise. When we started hearing more voices and the sounds of engines rumbling nearby, we had to check it out. Naturally, we climbed up the log.
To Moro Rock we go!
I’m going to be completely honest with you. This was one of the most jam packed hikes that I’ve ever experienced in my life! I’ve never had to wait for so long for it to be my turn to go around a corner. The people came in waves (with the arrival of the shuttles). I was able to time the photos so that I wouldn’t have so many people in them. You can see for yourself if the wait was worth it! I sure thought it was.
The hike was a series of steps and slopes.
Breathtaking polluted views.
The descent down! Moro Rock was very similar to a California version of Zion’s Angel’s Landing.
All in all, it was a short-lived stay at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park and I wish that we’d had more time to explore more of its other trails (it’s quite a large park!). I’d recommend for anyone who is planning to visit this park to try to avoid holidays. If you’re going to drive into the park, try to get their early so that you don’t have to sit in traffic and so that it’ll be much easier for you to find parking.
Let me know if you have any questions about the park! We weren’t there for long, but we’re always happy to help!
Have a great evening and stay happy and healthy y’all!
Leave a Reply