As a heatwave struck the San Francisco Bay Area, we grabbed some friends and escaped to the mountains!
We left early Saturday morning and drove about 4 hours South East to Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Park: The Land of the Giants. Ryan had booked us an amazing campsite reservation about 6 months ago when they sold out within 45 seconds of opening up for the season. We stayed at Stony Creek Campgrounds in the Sequoia National Forest.
Our campsite was beautiful. We were on a corner spot with no one behind us, a creek to the right and only one family to the left. We had plenty of space for Woody, a tent for Dan and a tent for Korey and Ali.
Saturday afternoon was filled with camp set-up, hammocking, campground exploration and First Night Camp meal prep.
After our last trip out, we decided on a few things that would make our galley even better. We bought a silverware tray with a plastic lid that helps keep the spoons, forks and cooking utensils in their proper place. We also bought a spice box to transport all the essential camp spices in an organized, convenient tray. By the way: the essential camp spices include, Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder and Onion Powder. With those 4 things, you can make anything great! We added Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute as well for good measure. Follow this link for more info about some of our favorite gear.
As always, our First Night camp meal was steaks. Dan and Danni cut up the veggies while Ryan set to work on the grill.
The next morning we did breakfast up right! Our newest purchase for this trip was our 2-quart dutch oven. We made Biscuits and Gravy in that dutch oven and they were fantastic.
Having a fabulous breakfast, however, set us up for a Rookie Mistake. We did not make it into the park where we wanted to hike and see the Sequoias until around 11:00 am. BAD NEWS... Ryan and Danni's Travel Tip # 26: Do not attempt to go to a National Park on a Holiday Weekend at 11:00 am. There was zero parking and about 3 billion people!! We stuck it out though and ended up parking at one of the park villages a few miles away from the main attractions. We took a shuttle van to a transfer point where we took a shuttle bus to where we wanted to be. After being crammed into the bus with God knows how many people, we finally made it to The Big Trees! And it was well worth it.
The weather called for scattered thundershowers and it delivered. However, a little rain did not stop us. Admittedly so, we ended up hiking a bit more than planned. We misread our book Best Easy Day Hikes Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and where we thought we were doing a 1.5 mile paved (relatively flat) hike, we ended up doing more like a 5-mile hike with about a thousand foot incline. Bless our friends though, they were troopers and we all made it!
By the time we got to the General Sherman Tree we had hiked for about four hours and seen countless awe inspiring trees along the way. The Sherman Tree is the biggest tree by mass in the World! Fun Fact: If you fill the tree with water, you can take a bath everyday for a year!
Group Shot: We made it!
We headed back to the campsite and started on dinner for the night.
Dinner was an attempt at a new recipe for us. Camp Mac and Cheese! Danni used our enamel cast iron pot (a wedding gift from Scott and Ian) and made some rocking mac and cheese. We grilled up some Brats and it was wonderful.
The next morning, we got up at our usual 6:30am (our friends, not so much) and decided to go back to the trees without the crowds. It was perfect! There were maybe 3 of 4 other couples/small groups on the trails and we were able to get real pictures of us ALONE with the trees. We know we are snooty and judgey, but we really do not like people who do not respect nature. Now, don't get us wrong, we are very glad that people have an admiration and appreciation for our National Parks and especially with the current political climate it is important for everyone to support and enjoy the parks... but for God's sake people: Learn the rules!
- You do not need plastic water bottles. Just refill a reusable one like this
- Take your trash out with you! (If you litter in a National Park... You are a bad person.
- Do not park where there is NOT a parking spot (It's dangerous and can erode the soil)
- People hiking downhill have the right of way on the trail, Pull Over!
Sorry: getting off of the high horse now.
Once we got to be with the trees alone, it was much easier to absorb their beauty. A few facts about the Sequoias:
- Sequoias love fire, they need it to open the pine cones
- Most of the big Sequoias are over a thousand years old
- The biggest tree (The General Sherman) is 279 feet tall and has a girth of 79 feet!
After our solo journey, we headed back to camp and made another scrumptious breakfast. Bacon, eggs and hash browns. We use these amazing dehydrated hash browns that pack easily and taste fantastic.
While Ryan cooked, Danni packed up the trailer and everyone took down their tents. It was time to pack up and head home. It took us about 5 hours to get home but overall it was an amazing weekend. We have agreed that next time we go, we need to have more time we could easily spend a week at this park. But until then, this was a fantastic trip.
Stay tuned for our next adventure... Crater lake in October!