Sequoia Nat'l Park

Sequoia adjoins Kings Canyon. Actually, it was hard to determine where one park stops, the other one starts, and then there's also Sequoia National Forest which is intermingled in there as well. Not too important, except knowing which agency to go to for trail information. You could get basic trail maps for the USFS at the NPS, though.

Lodgepole Campground (Sequoia) is about an hour drive, or more by RV, south of Azalea Campground (Kings), so it was worth moving to reduce driving time for touring. A great plus about Sequoia is the new pilot program for a shuttle service. Shuttles will take you from Wuksachi Lodge to Crescent Meadow with several stops in between. This worked great so we could both enjoy the view, feel good about helping the environment (air pollution is a big concern in these parks believe it or not), and allow us to do one-way hikes from one shuttle stop to another. They just started the service a week before we arrived, so they were still working out some kinks. Outside of one delay, we didn't really notice any increased waiting periods. We think all of the National Parks should offer shuttles.

We had two days to hike before my girlfriends arrived (with a 1 1/2 & a 3-yr old), so we tried to do the longer hikes on our own. We ended up just doing multiple short hikes. One was from Lodgepole to Wuksachi. Just 3 1/2 miles, but we couldn't resist a little respite at Clover Creek. Water rushed over the granite rocks, the sun was hot and the rocks were cool, and birds chirped in the background. It was a perfect resting area.
Then we hiked from Lodgepole to Sherman Tree and did the trails down in that area. Heres a segment of a stump to give you an idea of the diameter of these tree trunks.

And here Andy is standing next to a branch that fell off of the giant Sherman Tree. Yes, I said this is a *branch*. The diameter on this branch is as big as most of the trees back home.
Another day we hiked up to Moro Rock. 400 steps with a 300' elevation gain. This is a worthy stop, unless you're afraid of heights. Some of the railings seem a little low or are non-existent, which makes it all the more fun.
But the view is amazing with snow-capped mountains in the background. The view east wasn't as spectacular because of the air pollution haze that reduced our view. On good days you can see the Pacific coast. We could maybe see 20 miles? But that was much better than the day we drove out - where we swear the maximum sight was 5 miles. Pollution from San Fran and LA flow into the valley and just hangs there.
Then my girlfriends arrived! Their arrival is a story in itself. They drove in from San Francisco. We expected them around 5-6pm, they arrived at 11:30 that night. Unfortunately without cell service, I was a nervous wreck waiting for them. But there were work delays, child getting car sick, time to clean up the car, missed an exit, and you name it, it happened to them. After hearing their story, I wouldn't have blamed them if they turned around. But they made it and we had the four of them sleep with us in the RV that first night - it was a full house! The next morning we assembled Stacy's tent (another story: the tent was dubbed "The Palace" since it was 18x20! - almost bigger than our RV) and then we went out to play.
Here are the girls (L to R): Cassandra, Stacy, Diane, Alexandra, Tatiana
We took the girls out to look at all of the giant trees.
Andy even took Alex inside a tree, and inside a cave, and we had her playing with pine cones and ice skating on wet rocks, and all sorts of exciting things. I think we wore her out! This was her second camping trip and we wanted to make it memorable.

Here's Andy and Alex inspecting the roots of a downed Sequoia. The root system is shallow, which is amazing for such a tall and thick tree.
Sadly, it was a quick visit - just two nights and they were gone again. But spending time with dear friends is so valuable, I will always take what I can get and appreciate every moment.

The only thing we could say that we were disappointed with at these parks was the limited wildlife. Sounds surprising, doesn't it? It appears to have all of the right habitat, but we only counted 6 deers, one bear, and lots and lots of chipmunks and squirrels. We had hoped for more (safe) bear sightings or other mammals. At least we got 60 seconds of a bear running across the road behind our shuttle bus...at the Visitor Center.