The first stop on the 2025 Family road trip was to a couple of well known National Parks that most of us had been to but none of the kids remembered and the two littlest have never been to, Sequoia & Kings Canyon.
If you've never been to these parks, it's kind of a weird setup. Kings Canyon is split into two parts and Sequoia butts up to each part of Kings Canyon and they both have giant sequoias in them. They probably should have just been one park, and the National Park Service even treats them that way. The website and Junior Ranger program are for both parks.
We stayed in Azalea campground which is in the dislocated portion of Kings Canyon which is probably the most central place to stay if you plan on visiting both parks. It's about an hour from the actual canyon of Kings Canyon and just under an hour to Sequoia. It also just happens to be by Grant Grove which you guessed it, houses the General Grant tree. Per the NPS website "The General Grant Tree is not one of the oldest, but it has the advantage of growing in a spot with bright sunlight and plenty of water, so it grew larger quickly. It holds two additional titles: the Nation's Christmas Tree (not the National Christmas Tree, which gets decorated in Washington, D.C.) and the country's only living national shrine."
General Grant
Height: 268.1 feet
Ground circumference: 107.5 feet
Trunk volume: 46,608 cubic feet
For our first full day we went to Kings Canyon proper, which requires a drive down a steep windy road down into one of the deepest river gorges in the United States. The Kings River runs along the road once you get to the bottom of the canyon and it is a gorgeous roaring river with some really large rapids. We stopped to see some waterfalls, and hiked along the river to see some meadows and marshes. At the end of the canyon we went to Muir Rock and played in the river and had the kids do a cold plunge. We finished the day with some ice cream from the campground market.
The following day was spent exploring the wonders of Sequoia National Park. We started at the visitors center to get our Junior Ranger books then headed to the General Sherman tree. Pro Tip - In the summer, you can avoid the uphill hike back to the parking lot if you take the shuttle bus found at the bottom of the trail. We however did not take that advice..... The General Sherman tree is the largest in the world by volume and it's really hard to grasp just how large these trees are unless you see them in person, pictures and video just don't do them justice.
General Sherman
Height: 274.9 feet
Ground circumference: 102.6 feet
Trunk volume: 49,052 cubic feet
Our next hike was the Big Trees trail loop which is a short hike around Round Meadow that has signs to teach all about Sequoia ecology. It was an easy hike which was nice after having just hiked the hill out from General Sherman. We ended our hike just in time to make our way to our next stop, Crystal Cave.
Crystal Cave has been closed since 2019, first due to Covid, then due to fire and the rock slides that follow. It just opened for the first time three weeks ago, so it was pretty cool that we were able to get reservations and experience the cave. The cave was made from a river flowing through a vein of marble in the mountain, oh, and they lock it up with a really cool spiderweb gate. We've been to lots of caves and most of them are carved from limestone, so it was fun to see something different. Plus the river is still flowing through the cave for you to see it in action. The guided tour of the cave was just under an hour long and really informative. You have to hike down into the canyon to the mouth of the cave, I think they said it's the equivalent of walking down a 21 story building.
After our cave tour we headed to the final hike for the day, Moro Rock. This is the only hike that not all of us did, so just Melanie and the 3 middle kids went up. It's 400 stairs to the top, and from what I hear, the view is amazing!
We finished the day trying to fit our van through a big tunnel through a fallen giant.... but that didn't work so we just walked through.
These parks rate at 4.5 out of 5 stars based on our standard criteria.
Rating Criteria: Fun, Scenic, Ease of Travel, Wildlife, Crowds