Kings Canyon Trip #2

[austinado16]

Love Kings Canyon and were just there for 4 days on June 11th.  Had to go back one more time before our Grand Canyon trip at the end of this month.

We've never been into the Sequoia Nat'l Park sided of these 2 great parks, so we decided to go into Sequoia via the south entrance on HWY 198 outside of Visalia, CA.  Thought we'd camp at "Potwisha" which is supposed to be near a river (but it's really not).

Arrived at about 3pm Friday, and all the campgrounds in Sequoia were listed as "Full."  Option 1: turn around and take the HWY around the outside of the park, enter Kings on HWY 180 out of Fresno, CA and go camp where we usually camp.  Option 2: drive the 4mi to Potwisha and find out if "full" really meant full.

I picked option 2 and sure enough, they had one spot, a pull-thru.  We drove in and stopped long enough to use the bathroom, and drove back out.  We'll never camp there in a million years.  The sites are right on top of each other, it's hot in amongst scrub oak trees, and the oompah-pah-pah music is going full tilt in most of the sites.  That ain't campin'.  Plus, the pull-thru was so slopped that there's no way I could have leveled side-to-side.  I don't get why, if you're building a camp ground, and you've got the road building and grading equipment and asphalt layer and roller out, you can't take the extra 2min to make the parking area level.

Yes, those are all sites lined up just behind our pull-thru spot!


Needless to say, 2 more options then presented themselves.  Option 1: as before.  Option 2 drive directly through Sequoia Nat'l Park and into Kings.  At least a 2hr drive, and the first 45+min of which is labeled, "Vehicles over 22 feet not advised"

If you know me, you know I was all over Option 2!  19' of Suburban towing 15' of camper?  No problem.

Man, what a road!!  10mph hair pin turns and switchbacks for I think at least 45min.  But it was easily navigated and there were not times when I felt the need to "color outside the lines."

That being said, it was about 95*F+ out, and we were crawling along in 2nd gear at 10-35mph depending on road conditions.  Quite simply, a recipe for dissaster as far as engine and transmission cooling goes.........all kinds of load, and very little airflow through the radiator and coolers.

But I'm happy to report that once the radiator got hot enough, the radiator fan clutch locked up and began to roar.  I had the trans cooler fan running as well.  Radiator temps were never an issue, and the trans stayed below 210*F .

6.5hrs after leaving the house, we arrived in Sheep Creek CG, our favorite.  We found a great tent site and with the help of the BAL Leveler we quickly took advantage of it. (try a park job like this with Lynx or wood!)



Temps were in the 90's in the sun, 80's inside the trees in the CG, and cooling off to 52 at night (4,800' elevation).  The river was lower, and a little slower, and 11*F warmer, so we were able to get in alittle.  

This is a panoramic shot of the river that runs alongside the CG:


On Saturday we picked out a new hiking trail: "Bubbs Creek Trail" and wound up climbing a thousand or more feet above the floor of the canyon, for some amazing views.  The CG is back in those trees about 6mi into the background:


And at the turn around point, lunch at this waterfall/tree dam:


The campground was about 80% full, and I've never been in amongst such quiet and respectful campers.  Not one radio or drunken fool, or car alarm or anything.  It couldn't have been any better.

[waygard33]

Great trip and great pics! Wish I was headed out camping instead of on my way to work.

Wayne in Oregon

[JohnandLeann]

Very beautiful place indeed!  It is amazing how hot it is even up in the mountains!  I thought it would be cooler there than that.
How long does it take you to drive to this campground from your town when you take your normal route to get there?
I remember it took about 4 hours or maybe a bit longer to get to Lodgepole when I went there many years ago over a 4th of July outing.

John

[austinado16]

Hi John,
It's about 4:15min from here, if we could drive straight through and not stop.  But with a DD, there's a bathroom/food stop at the Quiznos (the only clean and decent place) in Kettleman City, so that burns up 15-20min.  The trip home is similar.  So I always say "5hrs door-to-campground."

It's not a bad drive though because it's broken into stages.......1:30 to Kettleman City, 45min to Fresno, 1:30 from Fresno to the entrance gate on Hwy180 and then about 45min-1hr to get to the bottom and Sheep Creek.

It starts getting scenic about 30mi out of Fresno, so it's actually a nice drive.

The pay-off is: no reservations, plenty of great sites, cool temps in the forests, and a great river.  Well worth it IMO.

Flush toilets in all the campgrounds with a big sink for doing dishes at each bathroom building.  Pay showers are just down the road a mile at the hotel/store/restaurant.