PaunchyPirate
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I just returned from three nights in Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks and five nights in Yosemite National Park. It was a fantastic trip. We flew into San Jose and picked up a rental car and drove straight to Kings Canyon where we stayed in the John Muir lodge. With no air conditioning during the recent hot spell, it was very warm sleeping. One of my group’s room had a fan and one did not. But we survived. We are “it’s part of the adventure” types for these type of trips. This was my first time seeing the amazing Sequoia trees. Awesome! Is all I can say.
We then drove to Yosemite for 5 nights. Three of us slept in a “heated” tent cabin in Curry Village in the Valley itself. What a fun experience. The heat isn’t actually turned on during the summer months. And we sure didn’t need it. But it was cooler than in Kings Canyon. In fact, it dropped into the 40s for a couple of the nights. It was very dry and dusty everywhere. My feet never really were clean the whole time we were there. But what views. None of us had ever been there so it was almost overwhelming to experience the place.
Most things were operating nearly normal outside the parks. Inside the parks, there was still no indoor dining to speak of. But we had great weather, so eating outside was never a problem.
We are not big hikers, but we did the easy trails and a couple light moderate ones that took us quite a while. But it was always worth it.
We were early enough in the summer season that the water falls still had water flowing. I hope to return for a fall visit at some point.
On the way back to San Jose, we swung by Pinnacles National Park. We checked it off the list, but really can’t say we saw enough to justify claiming we were there.
We then drove to Yosemite for 5 nights. Three of us slept in a “heated” tent cabin in Curry Village in the Valley itself. What a fun experience. The heat isn’t actually turned on during the summer months. And we sure didn’t need it. But it was cooler than in Kings Canyon. In fact, it dropped into the 40s for a couple of the nights. It was very dry and dusty everywhere. My feet never really were clean the whole time we were there. But what views. None of us had ever been there so it was almost overwhelming to experience the place.
Most things were operating nearly normal outside the parks. Inside the parks, there was still no indoor dining to speak of. But we had great weather, so eating outside was never a problem.
We are not big hikers, but we did the easy trails and a couple light moderate ones that took us quite a while. But it was always worth it.
We were early enough in the summer season that the water falls still had water flowing. I hope to return for a fall visit at some point.
On the way back to San Jose, we swung by Pinnacles National Park. We checked it off the list, but really can’t say we saw enough to justify claiming we were there.
