Sequoia / Kings Canyon National Park
May 21 - 22
Steps: 39,444 (2 days)
Pictured above is a Sequoia tree. Sequoia National Park was closed in the area with these trees, so we went to see them in Kings Canyon.
It didn't take long for us to need a little extra juice to keep going on our drive to Sequoia. Thankfully Kaylee had a BOGO deal and our hotel in Bakersfield had a Starbucks right next door! Although we were not initially impressed by Bakersfield, a quick drive through town showed us a better side not seen near our hotel.
A lot of the surrounding area had orange trees and oil rigs. We passed one of Halo's orange farms.
The roaring water from this river was heard from our Potwisha campsite in Sequoia. It was a pretty warm day with a high around 93 degrees, so the mist was welcomed! This was also the start of our 7 mile hike up to some waterfalls.
I was unable to ride this boulder for miles and instead was stuck hiking in the heat. The views were amazing with the wildflowers blooming on the hills around us.
Pictured above is the second waterfall that we were able to get next to towards the end of the trail. The water felt amazing and we took time to cool off and enjoy the scenery. Up until this point, we had been hundreds of feet above the river.
Due to the velocity of the water running through the river, we had to make sure we did not get too close to the edge. Luckily little pools formed nearby that we could rinse ourselves off.
The trail was a little overgrown! We were very thankful to have had allergy medicine with us!
On our descent down from the waterfalls, we came across a fellow hiker that spotted this rattlesnake on the trail ahead. Thankfully she was able to spot it and warn us of its presence. We had to wait for it to clear out of the way before Kaylee mustered the courage to run past it. Who would've thought this would be my first encounter with a rattlesnake after living in AZ for almost 4 years!
Three Rivers was the nearest town to our campsite, so we headed there for dinner along the river!
The rain clouds that had initially been haunting us while hiking were now finally sprinkling in the park! This created a beautiful scene while we drove up through the mountains as far as we could.
This deer was trying to take cover from the rain as well!
Above is a picture of our campsite in Sequoia. The bear box housed our food for the night, but was unfortunately an oven as well with how exposed it was to the sun.
The truck tent setup was very smooth for our first time!
The tent was also the perfect size for us! Kaylee's mattress topper provided one of the best camping experiences I have ever had and being off the ground was a nice feature. (Especially after the snake encounter earlier)
Our second day was spent in Kings Canyon National Park. This is where we were finally able to see the Sequoia trees!
The most impressive thing about these trees are the width! The height isn't as tall as I expected, but the volume makes them some of the largest trees on Earth.
Above is General Grant. This is the largest Sequoia tree in Kings Canyon and is considered America's Christmas Tree.
The mountains in the backcountry of Kings Canyon are beautiful! We were not disappointed when driving our way through as much of the park as possible.
We stopped in the back of the park for a "picnic lunch" near this flooded field away from other tourists before heading out of the park.
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