Sequoia and Kings Canyon, A brothers excursion.

This is a recap of a trip I took with my little brother to the Sequoia and Kings National Park. My brother and I had several days that we were finally able to take off and go for a road trip. We had our eyes set on Sequoia and Kings National Park. We drove from Phoenix, AZ and left early in the morning. We drove up the I-17 and then went west on the I-40 out to California. We pulled into the park late at night and could not find a campsite in the First campground, none available at least.

We ended up leaving the park and found a small hotel and just took the room. The place was  called the Western Holiday Lodge Three Rivers. It was cheap and not far from the park entrance. We decided to get some sleep and explore the park the next day and find a campsite then. We got up early again and entered the park from the south side. We drove along the road looking over the side at the Middle Fork Kaweah River below.

We passed by the Tunnel Rock, and a few campsites. Soon we passed Hospital Rock, and continued driving on as the road zig-zagged up the mountain. After a while we passed the Crystal Cave turn off, we never toured this because it wasn’t really in our budget and we wanted to see so much more in such a short time. We came up to the Giant forest museum and checked out everything inside, there are a lot of interesting facts on the Sequoia trees, such that the bark can grow up to two feet thick, allowing the trees to withstand forest fires.

They are also the largest trees in the world. I’m amazed by them personally. We took some photos, and walked around and explored a little bit and then continued on our way on the main road in the park.

We drove through the rest of the park without making any stops in hopes to find a campsite for the next few nights. The road came to a T and we went right then took a left and found the Azalea campground. We found a spot and set up camp for the next few days.

The next day we explored all that we could, we drove through the Tunnel Log, hiked up Morrow Rock, and walked the path to the General Sherman Tree.

We got back to our campsite early in the day and met the neighbor campers and they were so cool! We ended up becoming friends with them and they invited us to come eat with them a couple of the nights we were there. They made us food and we got the beers for our dinners with them from the nearby Grant Grove Market. The beers were delicious, they were from the Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Company.

They had a few instruments and let my brother and I bang on the drums while they played other musical instruments. It was a lot of fun! Another day we got up and went more north in the park and explored the area of the General Grant Tree, and we were still in awe at how massive these trees really were.

Just a little dude in a big world.

We noticed that we were finally running low on gas, and we asked the people at the market where the nearest gas was, and they said there was a lake further up the road called Hume Lake, and there were camps and all kinds of  stuff to check out up there including a gas station. The drive was a little longer than i thought but we made it to the gas station finally, on empty. We filled up on gas but unfortunately our time had to come to an end and we needed to head home.

My brother and I had an absolute blast on this trip and still talk about it all the time and how much fun we had! My brother is my best friend and i’m glad we could share this experience together. I cant wait to go back again and explore deeper into the park, and venture a little further on into Kings Canyon, as well as check out the Crystal Cave. Can’t wait to be back in that forest!

“Brothers don’t shake hands, brothers gotta hug!” – Tommy Boy