Summer in California can be a trying time for hiking and backpacking with some brutal temperatures in areas even just miles off the coast. If the beaches are crowed, it's time to head for the mountains. While beautiful any time of year, the Sierras are a great destination for summer hiking and backpacking with generally cool nights, comfortably warm days, and just a little rain here and there. It's a great time to grab your boots and head off to see the big trees.
About Sequoia National Park
Sequoia National Park is the southernmost unit of a whole complex of national parks, forests, and monuments that protect a number of Giant Sequoia groves. While usually snowed in during the winter, summertime brings some of the best access to the big trees and great entry points into the High Sierra. The park itself covers a wide variety of altitudes, from around 2000' to 10000' and above. This makes most of the standard weather sites not terribly useful. Your best bet is to check out the NOAA Weather Forecast directly. "Foothills" roughly refers to the Foothills Visitor Center at the south entrance of the park, and Giant Forest to, well, the Giant Forest! It's not uncommon to have a 10 to 20 degree temperature difference there, so keep checking up until you get there.
Getting There
The standard roads to get into Sequoia NP are the 180 from the north and the 192 from the south. During the summer the roads are open through the park, so you can drive from the Kings Canyon NP entrance from the 180 in the north through to the Giant Forest. If you have enough time, you can drive a beautiful loop between the two entrances using the 245. This highway runs just outside the western boundary of the park and will take you from the foothills up through some beautiful small Sierra towns on a nice windy road with great views. A couple nice taverns and restaurants are nestled in the towns, and I highly advise stopping to take in a bit of the atmosphere and some nice cold ones.
Day Hiking
If you only have a day or two, make sure to stop by the Giant Forest. About 40 miles of trails loop through the Giant Forest area, making for a wonderful area to day hike. If you haven't been there in the last five years, the parking area that used to be by the General Sherman tree has now been relocated about a half a mile north outside of the Giant Forest, so you'll be parking either by the Giant Forest Museum or in that further away parking area. Not all of the maps in the park have been updated yet either, so watch out you don't think it exists. There's a shuttle that makes stops at the museum, the General Sherman tree itself, and the upper parking area, so if you don't want to do a loop just hop on the bus and take a one way trail up or down. While this makes getting to the General Sherman itself take a bit more planning, a gorgeous side-effect is that it really reduces the traffic noise in the Giant Forest. Now you can hike through the forest loops like the Congress Trail and not hear the constant background drone of engines, car alarms, and the like...a very welcome change. All of the trails I've done in the Giant Forest area are beautiful, but make sure you take some time off to see the big Sherman tree.
Stand of sequoias close to moro rock
Crystal Cave is also a fun place for spending a day. It takes a while to drive down the winding road, but there are a number of different tours that you can take. The cave has some very beautiful formations which are easily accessible. The entry level tour takes about 45 minutes to an hour and doesn't involve too much walking in the cave itself, mostly listening to a guide who has to tailor the show to entertain kids. If you're looking to make it more of a cave hike or don't have family tagging along definitely get there early and get on the extended tour or the caving tour.
Formations at Crystal Cave entrance
Camping and Weekend Backpacking
If you're thinking of car camping within the park itself, your best bet is to bet against it. The drive in campgrounds within Sequoia NP itself will generally always be full during summertime, so unless you get there early or do a reservation you'll be out of luck. The majority of the park has no roads going through it, however, so the best place to camp is to get out into the backcountry. If you're looking for a place to spend the night, stop off and get a backcountry pass for the Pear Lake area. This wonderful area is off of the Lakes Trail. Park at Wolverton and then just put on your pack and hike on up. You'll get some gorgeous views of some granite lined valleys and some stunning camping at the top with bear lockers provded. To protect the lakes there's even a wood chip outhouse up there (but still bring your own paper). For a couple hours in and out, Pear Lake and the lakes trail can give you just a taste of what the stunning backcountry in this park has to offer.
Campground view at Pear Lake
Originally posted 2008-08-09 05:00:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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