King's Canyon National Park, Thursday, April 18, 2013

This morning we went south to the King's Canyon National Park which is adjacent to the Sequoia National Park.  It was quite a drive from Coarsegold to the National Park but we drove through areas of vineyards, orchards of fruit trees and nut trees and farms with cattle.  Driving to King's Canyon we had a real climb but once up the nearly 7000 feet we were seeing those huge sequoia trees.  We walked about General Grant's Grove admiring the trees.  The tree named General Grant is the largest tree in this area and is also called "America's Christmas Tree".  We were allowed to walk through a tree that had fallen many years go and could do so without any stooping. 

We stopped at the King's Canyon Visitor Center in Grant Grove Village and watched a film about the canyon.  Since it was lunchtime we went to the restaurant at the Village to satisfy our need for food.

After lunch we drove on the Canyon road to the point that the road was closed, about 13 miles.  We turned around and then on the way out we drove a side road to Hume Lake.  This mountain lake was man made for a milling company that was cutting down sequoia trees.  This milling did not last too many years before this area became a National Park and the trees were saved.  The lake has become a nice recreation area for vacationers.  There are also a couple camps (church camps) on the lake that today had people busy preparing for the summer campers.

As we were returning back to the campground we noticed the temperature change.  In General Grant's Grove the temperature was 46 degrees but once we were in the lower altitude the temperature was 78 degrees- quite a difference.