New Destination #1 - Sequoia Kings Canyon NP

It was a wonderful September filled with new destinations. The first was a trip to Sequoia Kings Canyon NP over the Labor Day weekend. We scored Cabin #9 in Grant Grove Village which was the perfect location for our first trip to the sprawling park. We finished each day on the porch of our cabin with a cold beer looking out on our own pretty meadow as the sun set.

There were so many amazing areas and such a diversity of landscape, from the depths of the marble caves to the towering sequoias. Spending our first day to the North in Kings Canyon we hardly saw another vehicle on the road and rarely passed a person on the trail. It was a tranquil and leisurely day that included Boyden Cave, Zumwalt Meadow, Roaring River Falls and Grizzly Falls, along with Hume Lake and many many canyon vistas.On Saturday, upon emerging from Crystal Cave we quickly became mired in the tourist onslaught in the Giant Forest area of Sequoia NP where the General Sherman Tree is located. After viewing it's magnificence we had planned on scaling Moro Rock and strolling around Crystal Meadow, but we quickly skedaddled to a quiet creek for a picnic lunch, kicked off our shoes, and got our toes wet.

We found that, like Yellowstone, there may be a bazillion people in the park but it's easy enough to get away from them just by getting out early in the day or getting on a trail. So, returning to Sequoia the next day early enough to avoid the incoming waves of people, we did scale Moro Rock and walked the trail from there to Crystal Meadow (where we saw two bears). Then we took our new Ford Escape off the beaten path to a steep and rutted dirt road leading to the base of Buck Rock. We climbed the switchback of about 200 metal steps to the working fire lookout perched on top of the rock.The cinnamon giants (aka sequoias) are so beautiful and the meadows are like a dream, the waterfalls take me back to a time when I was free-spirited teen, and it's all right within a few hours drive. We will be going back again.

More photos (with more to come) on flickr.