Perimeter South Trip, Road trip

Two National Parks and Back to the Perimeter

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After not having Internet access for two nights I am posting from a Starbucks so I will keep this short.

Monday, Oct 10

Today was a long drive through two adjoining National Parks, Kings Canyon and Sequoia. These are also in the Sierra Nevada mountains, south of Yosemite, but are more remote and have fewer visitors.

The main attraction of Kings Canyon is the canyon itself which, while not having the iconic features of Yosemite, is also a deep canyon carved through spectacular mountain scenery. The approach to the canyon is very dramatic with wide vistas of rugged, multicolored peaks frequently in view on the dash-cam and from viewpoints. As with Yosemite, the views once you arrive on the canyon floor are pleasant but, in my opinion, not as inspiring. Kings Canyon NP is also the home of a grove of huge Sequoia trees where one of those trees, called the General Grant, has the widest trunk of any known tree with a diameter of 40 feet.

Sequoia National Park also has some dramatic scenery as you descend from the Sierras into the foothills which can be seen in the video but is named because of the large number of huge Sequoia trees found here. This includes the world’s largest single trunk tree (by volume), called the General Sherman.

After leaving Sequoia NP I drove to Visalia for the night.

Because of the long time spent driving and the winding roads inside the parks I had to split the day into two videos and maps. The drive from Oakhurst, CA to the end of Kings Canyon is here and the drive out of Kings Canyon, through Sequoia NP and on to Visalia, CA is here.

Although not as well known as the Yosemite vista, I think that Kings Canyon is very impressive. Here is a panorama photo-merge (click to enlarge)kings-canyon-panorama

A view of the Kings River and the canyon that it has carved.view-from-kings-canyon

The variation in types of rock and color is far greater in Kings Canyon than at Yosemite.kings-canyon-rocks

This is the world’s largest single trunk tree, the General Sherman.general-shreman-tree

Because it is surrounded by other huge Sequoias it is difficult to appreciate the true size of this tree. This shot gives you an idea because there is a person taking a photo to the left of the tree.general-shernam-tree-and-people

Tuesday, Oct 11

This was purely a driving day to get back to the coast and continue the perimeter trip. Last fall, I abandoned the original effort in Morro Bay so, today, I drove from Visalia to Morro Bay and took some photos before turning south and heading to Buellton, CA for the night. There is not much to see on the video but the map may be useful and both can be found here.

Morro Bay Rock.morro-bay

2 thoughts on “Two National Parks and Back to the Perimeter”

  1. I would say that 262 miles and 2 National Parks sounds like a heavy day. However I note that my 2nd August 2011 went “Visalia – Sequoia NP – King’s Canyon NP – Visalia” which must have been comparable.

    1. Sounds about the same. Actually, I don’t do heavy days on these trips. Preparing the video and figuring out what I want to do in the next day or two take a while so I like to be at the hotel by 5 PM at the latest – and I hate getting up early.

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