National Park #14, canceled November 5, 2020
As did much in 2020, our planned visits to the Utah parks and the Washington, DC area were canceled this year. But we did sneak in one short trip to two national parks near the end of the year. Our pod of social interaction included my extended family, and we all decided to go to Sequoia and Kings Canyon together when the girls had a few days off of school.
At Three Rivers on the way in, we stopped at Reimer’s for some amazing ice cream shortly before entering Sequoia. In the park, we first visited Hospital Rock, including a walk down to the river. Once we got to Giant Forest, our first expedition was wandering over Beetle Rock. We walked quite a ways out, and of course the kids found smaller rocks to scramble on. Our next stop was the Sherman Tree, the world’s largest living thing. Coming from the top down and seeing the whole thing at once, the kids seemed a little less than impressed, but once they got to the base of it and could see just how gigantic this tree is, they were appropriately awed. Even though the campground and facilities were closed, we swung by Lodgepole, getting some great photos near the bridge at the start of the Tokopah Falls hike. The kids were excited about staying in a hotel (not camping!), and we enjoyed a really good, socially distanced meal on the Wuksachi deck.
The next day was spent at Kings Canyon, and we had one more morning in Sequoia before heading home. We woke up to snow on the ground–the first of the season! The kids were delighted, especially when it started to actually snow. We had some breakfast and loaded up the car, then started back down to Giant Forest. Our plan today was to hike the Crescent Meadow – Tharp’s Log – Chimney Tree loop before leaving the park. However, with the snow they had closed the road to the trailhead. We visited the gift shop there, and Briella finished her Junior Ranger book, then we decided to get down the mountain before chains became a requirement. We were a little sad not to do everything we wanted to, but Sequoia isn’t too far from home and we have family nearby, and we have been back since this visit to do what we missed.
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