After leaving Yosemite National Park, we made a brief stop in Fresno for supplies and then headed to our Airbnb in Miramonte, California, just outside Kings Canyon National Park.
We planned for two days of hiking in Kings Canyon but ended up compressing it into one day. Not because the park is not worth multiple days of hiking – it is – but because of irritating gnats.
There is one main road in King’s Canyon, and it terminates at one end of the canyon in a parking lot aptly named Roads End.
Kings Canyon Scenic Byway is about 35 miles long and a one hour drive from Grant Village to Roads End. It is quite probably the prettiest drive we have ever taken. Thankfully there are a lot of places to pull over and admire the scenery. We sure stopped at a lot of them.
Roads End has a surprisingly large parking lot, with many cars belonging to overnight backpackers. It is also popular with day hikers as there are several trails leaving from this point.
Our plan was to hike the Mist Falls Trail, which is 9.2 miles roundtrip to the falls. The was just one problem, the occasional presence of swarming gnats. The gnats were not a constant presence, but when they arrived, you knew it. Those damn things ranged from non-existent to mildly irritating to a complete nuisance.
Some of the more experienced and knowledgeable hikers (I’m guessing repeat visitors) had on mosquito nets. That was our first warning that things were likely to get worse, not better, as we advanced on the trail.
Instead of hiking to Mist Falls, we cut our hike short, going only 4.2 miles roundtrip to Bailey’s Bridge. The gnats were not so bad to make us not hike, but were bad enough to not want to hike 9.2 miles.
The portion of the trail that we hiked was largely flat and, unfortunately, sandy. We spent a lot of time trying to walk on firm areas of sand. The payoff for overcoming the gnats and sand was a fantastic rocky beach on the south fork of King’s Creek.
As an added bonus, the trail was fairly busy so Stephanie’s fear of bears did not come into play. We never went more than a few minutes without coming across other hikers.
After the wonderfully scenic drive and easy hike, with zero bears in sight, Stephanie was ready to proclaim Kings Canyon her new favorite national park, but for the gnats.
Roaring River Falls was out next destination, to see the falls, eat lunch, and regroup. With our day hike cut short, we decided to go ahead and complete our planned day two hikes, all of which were near the visitor center in the sequoia area of the park.
Kings Canyon is like two parks, the canyon and sequoias. The canyon is for hiking, which we loved. The sequoia section is for tour busses. Ugh.
General Grant Grove is the most well-known area in Kings Canyon. Obviously it is home to the General Grant Tree, officially recognized as the world’s second largest tree (by mass). A 0.7 mile paved loop winds through a grove of giant sequoias adjacent to a parking lot that is just large enough for tour busses. This area is basically a nice walk albeit in tourist central.
Fortunately, there is a nearby hiking trail that gets little traffic, the Sunset Trail and North Loop Trail, which combine for about a 1.7 mile loop. The Sunset Trail, maybe ¼ of the loop, is an old and now disused paved road. The trail winds through a wooded area with some sequoias and partially burned areas. Really a nice walk. Go clockwise in the afternoon to avoid walking straight into the sun on the back half of the trail.
After a short stop at Grant Village to get a cold drink, we drove up to Panoramic Point. To get to the viewpoint over Kings Canyon from the parking lot there is a 0.5 mile roundtrip paved walking trail, basically a short up and down. It is definitely worth a visit. And because the road here is so narrow and windy, you don’t have to worry about tour busses.
As an aside, Grant Village is pretty nice for a national park, with a visitor center, lodge, restaurant, gift shop, market, and post office.
We both really enjoyed Kings Canyon National Park, but if you are not going to drive to Roads End and enjoy the actual canyon, there is little reason to come here. If you only want to see the big trees, just go to Sequoia National Park.
Or, if you have time, like we did, visit both parks.
Hiking in Kings Canyon National Park, 7.1 very easy miles:
Trail to Bailey’s Bridge, 4.2 miles
General Grant Trail, 0.7 mile
Sunset Trail and North Loop Trail, 1.7 miles
Panoramic Point Trail, 0.5 miles
Garrett and Stephanie
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