King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

We had a great camping trip up in King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. It's been 21 years since I've been in those parks and they are still absolutely stunning. A lot more bear boxes! I remember going up there for my first ever backpacking trip and being lucky to not have my food stolen by a bear. We didn't see any bears but talked to some folks who saw a mom and two cubs near the road.

It was pretty cold in the high (6000-7000 ft) reaches of the park and we spent one day in dense fog where it looked like the tops of the Sequoia trees were in the clouds. There was still a lot of snow up there:

Leo had one cold, wet butt after sliding down this slope.

The roots of a giant fallen sequoia:

King's Canyon is like a smaller, less crowded version of Yosemite - glacial cut granite with beautiful meadows:

and lots of great rock for climbing:

Zumwalt Meadow:
Lots of fire damage. The fire is actually beneficial to the sequoias reproduction as it clears out the undergrowth:

The largest living thing on earth is this tree - General Sherman tree:

The requisite drive-through-log:

Pine cone from maybe a sugar pine? The sequoia pine cones are really small.

The highlight for Leo was spelunking in Crystal Cave. Huge rooms, lots of cool formations.

Requisite family photo at random water fall. There were tons of water falls in the park. The water flow was spectacular. All that great Sierra snow melting. Rafting those rivers looked pretty deadly.