Day 1:
During the Labor day weekend we planned to do a quick weekend getaway to the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Its only about a 5 hours drive from our home.
We started the day fairly early and made our first stop for lunch at Three Rivers, California.
There was about a 1 hour wait to enter the park and after paying the park fees we made our way through the Sequoia park.
We had planned on covering the Sequoia Park on our first day so we drove towards the Giant Forest. It was fascinating to drive with so many huge sequoia trees.
One of the biggest attraction of this national park is The General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world by volume. We took the shuttle bus from the parking lot to the tree and spent some time walking the trails in the area.
We spent a couple of hours walking the trails in the Sequoia tree grove and it was after 6 PM and we did not realize that the last shuttle back to the parking lot had already left!! Another off-duty shuttle bus driver was gracious enough to take us back to the parking lot otherwise it would have been a long hike back.
Day 2:
On our second day, we set out to explore the Kings Canyon National Park. We drove to Hume Lake first.
We wanted to do some boat rental but it looked like the rental center was closed for the weekend so we just sat on some chairs next to the lake and relaxed.
After spending an hour by the lake, we started our drive down the Kings Canyon. After reaching the bottom of the canyon we came across a river creek.
We drove along the river creek to Grizzly Falls.
The water was very cold but it was refreshing sitting on the rocks next to the falls and getting drenched in mist.
Further down the Grizzly Falls is the Roaring River Falls.
By this time it was late afternoon and we decided to exit the park but not before visiting the Grant Grove. This place is home to the other famous tree in these parks, the General Grant Tree.
By the time we spent an hour at the Grant Grove trails, it was getting late and we left the park for the town of Visalia where we were staying for the night before our drive back home the next morning.