Although these two parks are generally considered the domain of hikers, and have only 127 miles of paved roads between them, you will have a use for your car here. Those not willing or physically able to lace up a pair of hiking boots and take off down a trail will be able to enjoy the scenery, often from the comfort of their motor vehicles or from roadside and near-roadside viewpoints.
The Generals Highway runs almost 50 miles from Sequoia National Park's Ash Mountain Entrance to Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park, passing through the Giant Forest, where you'll see the world's largest sequoia trees. It's a very pretty drive, and you can stop to see the Giant Forest Museum and the General Sherman Tree. There are also several easy walking trails along the way. From several miles inside the Ash Mountain Entrance to Giant Forest, Generals Highway is narrow and winding and not recommended for vehicles over 22 feet long.
For a short, scenic drive in Sequoia National Park we recommend the paved Moro Rock/Crescent Meadow Road, a 3-mile dead-end road (open in summer only) that runs from the Giant Forest Museum, along the Generals Highway, south and east through a grove of sequoias. Along the way you can see the fallen sequoia at Auto Log (now too rotted to support a vehicle), drive through a hollowed-out fallen sequoia at Tunnel Log, and stop for a steep 0.25-mile walk up to the top of Moro Rock for a spectacular panoramic view. This road ends at Crescent Meadow, known for its colorful wildflowers in summer.
Kings Canyon Highway, from the Grant Grove area to Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon National Park, is a lovely drive of some 35 miles, but most of the especially scenic sections of this drive are not in the park. Instead, some of the best roadside scenery is in Giant Sequoia National Monument (see the box earlier in this chapter). Kings Canyon Highway (also called CA 180) is high above the Kings River for part of its journey, offering breathtaking vistas of the canyon, but then seems to almost join the river, giving motorists a close-up view of the rapids, as the water crashes over and among huge boulders. Well worth a stop along this route is the spectacular Grizzly Falls. Allow about an hour. The eastern two-thirds of this road are open during the summer only.
A Vacation from your Car
Beginning in 2007, the National Park Service and the City of Visalia have put together a transportation system that makes it possible to explore Sequoia National Park without a car. From Visalia (or Three Rivers), the Sequoia Shuttle (tel. 877/287-4453; www.sequoiashuttle.com) will take you to the Giant Forest Museum for just $10 round-trip. From here, riders can connect with the free park shuttle to get to Wuksachi Lodge or one of the numerous trail heads en route. The former makes five runs between 7am and 6:30pm (reservations are accepted); the latter runs from 9am to 6pm. Both run in the summer only.
