May 25-21, 2025
Y’all already know I was mystified by the redwoods of northern California, so the obvious next step was visiting Sequoia National Park. After doing research on this area I learned it is adjacent to King’s Canyon National Park AND only a few hours from Yosemite National Park. Choosing between potential for less crowds with all hikes being open in the fall or catching peak waterfall season, I opted for May and booming falls. We spent 3 nights each hotel and it felt like enough even though no one will ever complain about more.
>>Getting Around
Flying – we flew into Fresno, CA and it was a 2 hour drive to Yosemite or just over an hour to get to Sequoia & King’s Canyon (often called SeKi) from there. The directions are easy but the roads gets very windy as you enter the High Sierras
Driving – there are shuttle services to get to and within the valley of Yosemite, so while it is possible to have a great time that way without a car it is so much better to have your own wheels! The parks are huge with lots of scenic drives that have gorgeous viewpoints and trailheads branching off of them. Public transit can get you to a few spots but then you’re running on their schedule instead of your own. There are multiple rental car companies located at/within the Fresno airport.
Shuttles – Yosemite has a free shuttle within the valley area of the park. Sequoia has a free shuttle system most major spots you’ll want to visit, but there is not one in King’s Canyon at all. It was nice to park the car early and use the shuttles to get around whenever possible.
>>Stay
Yosemite View Lodge – I couldn’t get reservations within the park when I booked, but this place was great. They are located 2 miles from the Arch Rock entrance (which was never very busy and we were there Memorial Day weekend) so the drive in and out was easy. It’s all along the river and gorgeous. The room was a little dates but clean and comfy. The laundry room was a nice bonus. Has restaurants on site. All rooms have a kitchenette if you want to cook and our balcony was along the river. Would absolutely stay here again. The shower head was super wimpy, but that isn’t a deal breaker. *Bonus: it has AIR CONDITIONING. You’ll quickly learn most in park places to stay do not.
John Muir Lodge (King’s Canyon) – a little dated but very cozy and everyone was very friendly. They don’t have enough parking. They don’t have air conditioning. But the location is unbeatable! This is the most central place to stay if you’re doing both King’s Canyon and Sequoia parks. While we were there it was around 80ºF during the day and dipped into the high 40s to low 50s at night – so opening the window and using the fan actually made it really comfortable to sleep at night. Our room had a mini fridge and a little keurig coffee situation. There is a microwave and drip coffee available in the lobby, which is also a major hangout area for guests in the evenings. The patios have rocking chairs that were a great spot to wind down as well.
>>Hike/Play
First and foremost, these are National Parks so you do need a park pass to enter. We purchased the America the Beautiful annual pass (online, arrived in 5-7 days) because we’re hitting at least 5 parks within a 6 month period. Check for extra entry requirements for your park and your dates! Yosemite also required a dated pass for the holiday (as well as their busy season), which I got online a month before for $2. If you aren’t able to get that pass we could have entered the park before 6 am or after 2 pm without one. They don’t come kick you out if you got in before the station was manned.
WHAT WE DID AT YOSEMITE:
Mist Trail to Nevada Falls & John Muir back – about 6.5 miles, you’ll get wet on Mist Trail so we had ponchos, not crazy strenuous and great views throughout; would do again
Cloud’s Rest – I was unable to get Half Dome hike permits from both lotteries, so we opted to give Cloud’s Rest trail a go – drove 80 minutes from hotel to trailhead via Tioga Pass (it opened the day before we went), made it 0.25 miles of the 13 mile hike and turned around due to snow and deep snow melt on the trail as far as we could see; would try again if visiting in summer or fall
Tenaya Lake – stopped at viewpoint to see it from the other side, we thawed our feet at this lake after wading through the frozen waters on Cloud’s Rest trailhead
Olmstead Point – stopped at viewpoint to see Cloud’s Rest & Half Dome from this elevation because if we couldn’t hike it we may as well see it from afar
Four Mile Trail (to Glacier Point) – about 9.2 miles; instead of driving another hour after our mishap of not hiking Cloud’s Rest, we decided to hike instead; spoiler alert: driving would have been smarter; this is HARD with over 3000 feet of elevation climb in 4 miles (the trail is actually 4.5); views of the valley are great on the way up; thankfully we could buy cokes and icecream at the top to resuscitate us to hike back down; would 100% recommend driving up Glacier Point Road and hiking to Sentinal Dome & Taft Point instead
Swinging Bridge – took off our shoes and froze our feet in the water of the Merced after a long hike; watched swimmers somehow go neck deep and tubes/rafts were floating by
Ansel Adams Gallery/Indian Village/Yosemite Museum– worth a stroll through all of this in the Yosemite Village area; enjoyed the slow pace after lunch at Degnan’s then grabbed a coffee to go check all this out and perk us up
Green Dragon Valley Tour – letting someone else drive us around on an open air tour sounded great after Four Mile Trail kicked our butts; passes by/stops at major viewpoints of the valley (Valley View and Tunnel View included); really helps you get your bearings and decide what you want to venture out to see on your own; recommend doing ASAP upon park arrival; 3-5pm wasn’t too hot & we didn’t freeze once the shade hit us; $40 per person
watch climbers on El Capitan – they’re harder to spot than you think but around dusk it’s cool to see their lights moving up the side of the cliff; packing a picnic or grabbing food and drinks to go and sitting in the shade of a nearby meadow to watch seemed popular and relaxing
Project Survival’s Cat Haven – from Fresno toward King’s Canyon is a big cat sanctuary and we 100% planned our travel day around stopping here; $18 per person for about 60-90 minutes & bring a water bottle because it’s hot
WHAT WE DID AT KING’S CANYON:
General Grant Tree & North Grove Loop – 1.5 miles; incredible size on these trees that you really can’t wrap your head around; easy trail that is more like a path; there are 2 big downed trees to walk though; glad we started with this trail
Big Stump Loop – 1.7 miles (give or take); less maintained but very cool to see these huge stumps; many can be climbed on; make sure to go all the way to the Mark Twain Stump; there is a pretty meadow nearby there where we saw lots of deer
King’s Canyon Scenic Byway (to Road’s End) – drove all the way to the end and stopped at viewpoints/short hikes working our way back: Muir Rock, Zumwalt Meadows (could have skipped-the loop is closed), Roaring River Falls, Knapp’s Cabin, Junction View Overlook; gorgeous in early morning blue light then seeing it again mid day everything looked totally different
Boyden Cavern – this is along the scenic byway and worth the visit; bring water shoes for the “wild exit” and prepare for your toes to freeze just a little (don’t worry it’s worth it); $17 per person and lasts about an hour; would recommend
Big Baldy – 4.7 miles, not strenuous but a nice gradual climb; most of the hike is through a burned up forest so you are in the sun quite a bit; trail was not busy at all and the 360º views at the end were more than worth the hike; would do again
Panoramic Point (for sunrise) – the road to get here is next to John Muir Lodge; we missed first light where the sky turns from black to blue because figuring out timing was iffy; road is winding and fits barely more than 1 car plus there’s a 0.5 mile paved hike to the viewpoint; made it with about 10 minutes to spare for sunrise and it was worth the early (but not early enough) wakeup
WHAT WE DID AT SEQUOIA:
General Sherman & Congress Loop (plus Cattle Cabin & Chief Sequoyah) – mileage is subjective because you can branch off so much (we had almost 4); gotta see the world’s largest tree! non negotiable; we parked at the lot here and took the shuttle around the rest of the day; lots of paved trails, branches off, and getting hands on with these giant trees – we could have happy stayed out there for days; you can connect trails here all the way down toward Crescent Meadow and beyond
Museum & Big Trees Trail – 1.2 miles from museum through looping paved trail; easy walk through more giant trees with a lush meadow in the center; numerous benches spread around to sit and rest or take it all in
Crescent Meadow trailhead: High Sierra Trail to Eagle View > Log Meadow Loop > Crescent Meadow Loop > Tharp’s Log – about 3 miles but again you can take endless trails and loops to spend all day out here if you want; lots of shade; log meadow looked like a swamp eating the old trees that fell (which was really cool); Eagle View gives similar views as Moro Rock without any crowd (flies were annoying up there); Tharp’s Log was actually lived in as a summer house so very cool to see; ladybug swarms were a pleasant surprise; would gladly do again and check out more/longer trails
Tunnel Tree, Parker Group, Booker T Washington Tree, – these were all visible from the shuttle ride
>>Eat
We LOVE food and went into this trip with an open mind. This was not a trip to have amazing meals, it was for hiking and scenery. Sometimes you can’t have both. We stopped at the grocery store in Oakhurst for snacks, granola bars, PB&J fixings, room beers, bottled water, and instant oatmeal cups.
YOSEMITE:
Meadows Taqueria (Curry Village area) – they were out of a lot of things, but we each had 3 tacos for $10 and it wasn’t too bad; hot sauce was available; market next door has really cheap canned drinks
Degnan’s Deli (Yosemite Village area) – a favorite of ours in the park; fresh sandwiches and cold sandwiches available plus hot soup; there is a coffee shop in there that was really good; cooler of drinks and beers for cheap
Mountain Room Lounge (at Yosemite Valley Lodge)- was a bit of splurge but really enjoyed ourselves; friendly staff with pretty good food and awesome drink choices; martinis and draft beer flight were top notch; we hung out here for hours
Parkside Pizza (at Yosemite View Lodge) – not cheap but pretty yummy, build your own or order off the menu, stayed busy and is only open for supper
River Restaurant (at Yosemite View Lodge) – we tried the breakfast buffet the day we were leaving to be nice and full before moving parks; about $20 per person and it was all
you can eat including non alcoholic beverages
SEKI:
Grant Grove Restaurant (right by John Muir Lodge)– the first evening there we were NOT prepared and neither were they, so here are some tips: go before 7 pm and before you start to actually get hungry, order at kiosk and grab a number with self seating or mark it to go, food is actually all pretty good!, don’t order drinks from them – after you get a number walk to the market for cokes or beers and bring them in (same with breakfast – bring in your own coffee); we ate supper here 3 days in a row and nothing we ate was bad, just be patient
Pizza Deck (at Wukaschi Lodge) – after a long day of hiking a big draft beer and this pizza was perfection, honestly this pizza was so good I think it rivals that OG nostalgic Pizza Hut experience from childhood; they were only open for lunch
FRESNO: Heirloom we waited in a LONG line to eat here; food was good and menu had lots of options; Ohana Shack passing through between parks I wanted easy location from highway and something we don’t have at home… enter Hawaiian food; this was SO GOOD with huge portions and awesome prices
Breauxs Geaux 