Paradise Valley, Kings Canyon
Kings Canyon was our first destination, as the campground at Tuolumne Meadows did not open until July First. Most campers at Sequoia and Kings Canyon do not veenture off the paved roads and the trails that leave from them. But both parks offer a lot of back country, where you might see nobody else in the course of a hike or backpack trip. Since we only had a week for these two parks and a week for Yosemite, we did not get to go very far into the backcountry.
A lot of the emphasis in Sequoia is, naturally enough, centered on the giant sequoia trees. The largest are in these two parks. The roads are built to approach a number of magnificant groves. TRails wind through the groves or lead you from grove to grove, or, the ones I liked best, lead you from grove to meadow and vice versa. The wildflowers in Huckleberry Meadow in Sequoia National Park were in full bloom. In a square foot area, I counted 15 divverent wildflower species. And, usually, there was more than one instance of the species in the square foot. I wore out my flower guides. The biggest concern in the meadows was the occasional bear and her cubs or the multitudinous mosquitos. Ranger programs at night described the wildlife and the flora, as well as explaining the natural history of the big trees. The snow flower, a plant that grows without chlorophyl, grows at the base of the big trees.
The drive into deeper Kings Canyon is a thrilling trip. We made the drive a couple of times. After a steep descent (which is also fun in the opposite direction), The road follows along the (that year) swollen and crashing south fork of the Kings River (The middle fork of the Kaweah River rushed loudly through the campground at Sequoia, 70 feet from our campsite). The first time, we went to Zumwalt Meadow. Being lower than Huckleberry Meadow, it was almost bloomed out when we hiked around it. The second time we drove it was early in the morning two days later. We took a full day horseback ride up to Paradise Valley (and back). The climb is 3,000-4,000 feet in 6 miles. Better the horses go up and down than my legs. The scale of the granite along the trail is immense. The mountains are 10,000 foot chunks of solid granite. Atop the trail in Paradise Valley, we stopped for lunch. We stared at the 16-18 inch trout staring back at us in the river. Paradise is a hanging valley with a shaded meadow. The ride back was great; the sunsetting over the mountains in the cloudless sky was quieting
Snow Flower 71k
Yosemite Falls
The next day we hit Glacier Point and the Valley. The view from Glacier Point is outstanding. It is not to be missed. You can see all of the falls except Bridal Veil. Half Dome dominates the scene, but Yosemite and the Vernal/Nevada Falls pair are also quite apparent. The valley itself is a different story. It is crowded. Traffic is terrible. We did go to Bridal Veil and Yosemite Falls. Not to be midded desipte all the people. We stopped at the Ansel Adams store and a couple of others before fleeing the valley. Then it was back out of the valley to the Meadows. The drive along Route 120 is quite nice. We stopped at Tenaya Lake for a wade and some beachcombing. The lake is beautiful, even though it was covered with pollen, which gives it a yellow surface.
We spent most of the next day exploring part of the meadow. A ranger led walk took ys to the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River. It is quite different from the meadow. Another ranger walk took us to Lembert Dome. While we did not climb it, the geology portion of the walk was impressive. We then explored the Tuolumne Meadows visitor center and the stores there. Most of them exist in the summer in tents. They are taken down when the meadows season ends. A final ranger talk took us over to the Resort and further up the Lyell Fork.
We had intended to spend our last day exploring the meadow itself. However, some fool shot a ranger during the night and the rangers decided to do an old fashioned manhunt to find the culprit. This meant rushing everyone out of the meadows, closing it, and searching everyone as they left. Nothing was ever found, as I expected. Any fool that would shoot someone would have to be even stupider to stick around. The guy was probably already to San Francisco, Sacramento or LA. But the expulsion and the time spent waiting in line meant that it took us 12 hours to get to Bridgeport (where we spent the night), a trip that is 60 miles. We did have to go 300 miles - west out of Yosemite and north over Carson Pass to get to Bridgeport. So much for the meadows.
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