California National Parks of the Sierras - Trip Report - Days 1 and 2
Day 1 - Wednesday 6/20 – On the way…
We had an easy morning getting ready since we did 90-plus percent of the packing the previous weekend. I got a head start on the critter count this morning with a Red Tail Hawk, Great Blue Heron and a Ruby-Throated hummingbird around the house as I was doing chores.
It was a bit of a hectic day at work trying to get the last minute details in order before heading out for over 2 weeks, but we left the base on time for Cleveland Hopkins as planned at 3:30. Just a bit of a wait during check in as we were trying to figure out what happened to our seat assignments. I blew mileage for first class tickets and we had seats 1A and 1B, but we got changed to 1A and 2B. The ticket agent could not help us (and it took a while to get aid from an agent) and we were told to work with the gate agent. After flying through security, we asked the gate agent about the seating. All he could do was to ask the passenger in 1B to swap seats with Lynn. I don’t think that he ever asked. Oh well, no big deal. But that is a ding on the “new United” customer service attitude.
On time departure and we arrived about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. We did hit a few bumpy spots, but it was generally a smooth ride. I had time to review the hiking books for the parks and found a few interesting hikes. The Eagle Lake hike in the Mineral King area of Sequoia sounds very interesting, but I’m not sure that we have time to get to that area. We flew over NASA Ames on the approach to SFO; I got a decent shot of the base from the air…better once I ran it through Photoshop. Also saw a lot of sail boats and several paragliders which was a pretty cool sight. We were on the ground at 7:00. No issues with luggage; it was waiting for us on the carousel. We hopped on the AirTran to the rental car area, grabbed our Chevy POS from Thrifty, after listening to the freaking insurance sales pitch (c’mon, take no for an answer already!). We were clocked out at 7:34, so record time from touchdown to driving away.
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We made good time to Livermore where we were spending the night. The GPS on my phone guided us straight to the Doubletree. I reckon we were checked-in about 8:30 and in the hotel bar by 9:00 with a couple of Sierra Nevada pale ales. But it had been a long day, so we just had one beer and called it a night.
We did make the first additions to the critter list for CA: Red Tail Hawk at the airport, scores of Cormorants on the high-tension towers lining the San Mateo Bridge and a few mule deer in a field adjacent to a golf course along I-580 just west of Livermore. Good omens for things to come.
Day 2 - Thursday 6/21 – Cats and Canyon
As expected, I was awake early since I was still on east coast time. But there is no rush today; this is vacation! We just had breakfast at the hotel. It was not free, like is often the case at a Doubletree, but the buffet was still quite good. I highly recommend the breakfast burrito! Cost for the full buffet was $12; not a bad deal.
We were on the road at 7:40 AM, on our way toward the parks! It was actually a pretty interesting drive for the first 30 minutes or so with the squadrons of windmills lining the hills. I was glad we were heading east as the traffic was backed up for miles on the westerly lanes. Uneventful drive until we got past Fresno, then we were heading into the Sierras, and the road became more fun.
The only significant stop we made before reaching the parks was at Cat Haven near Dunlap. We arrived about 10:40 AM. There were a half dozen Sherriff’s vehicles in the parking lot and three school buses, so we were not sure what to expect. As it turns out, the deputies were leading a field trip for a bunch of kids. When we asked about a tour, our options were to go out with the kids at 11:30 (next tour) or go get some lunch and come back in about an hour and a half for a more sedate and private tour (after the kiddies were done). We opted to go with the kids and that turned out to be fine. The kids were well behaved and their escorts kept them inline (hey, the escorts were with the sheriff’s department, so no wonder the kids were well behaved!). We just hung to the back of the group and enjoyed the tour.
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There are 24 cats on site and quite a variety of species; it seemed like they had just about every type of cat, from bobcats and lynx to jaguars, snow leopards, tigers and lions. The young lady who led the tour did a great job of explaining and enforcing the rules, and in answering questions about each cat. The folks who work at Cat Haven are very hands-on and interact with the cats, so when the handlers are near an enclosure, many of the cats came over to see what was going on. That made for great viewing opportunities. The owner happened by at one point when we were at the lion enclosure, and took the time to get the lions out into the open since they were lounging in the shade. It is quite obvious that the staff and management at Cat Haven want folks to have a positive experience and to learn about these amazing animals.
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The tour took about an hour. Just a stroll through the enclosures along a dirt path. The trail is a little rolling, but no significant hills to scale. The enclosures were decent size and provided the cats with places to hang-out as well as space for exercise. Well worth the stop, particularly since Lynn is such a cat nut.
After Cat Haven, it was on to the parks. Our first stop was the General Grant tree in Kings Canyon. We walked the short loop through the grove and marveled at the mega-flora. It is simply amazing to see trees this huge and this old. It just boggles the mind at the variety of wondrous sights in the National Parks. In addition to General Grant, there were several other named trees in the grove. I believe it was here that we learned that naming the trees was never really made official so some of the names were lost over time. The practice of naming trees has been discontinued. There are a lot of little critters in the grove, lots of birds, chipmunks and the ever present ground squirrels. There was also a nice variety of flowers and a few butterflies. All of this made for a very pleasant introduction to Kings Canyon.
After the Grant Grove we continued on the scenic byway (route 180) to the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon. This is quite a road! Not for the faint of heart. Great views, but the smoke from nearby forest fires really obscured and muted the scenes (note, the fires were prescribed fires). Along the upper end of the road there are magnificent vistas over the entire valley. The road drops in elevation quickly along a very winding route, eventually reaching the canyon floor and running along the Kings River which was a beautiful raging torrent as it dropped through the canyon along its boulder strewn route. After a quick stop for a photo of the park entrance sign, we made our way to the Cedar Grove Visitor Center to get an idea on how to best spend the afternoon. My original thought was to go to the vista point along the Hotel Creek trail, but the valley was so smoky that we figured the views would not be that great. Ranger Reed indicated that Misty Falls was a nice hike, but too long for today. He suggested Zumwalt Meadows and Roaring River Falls as good stops for the afternoon. The latter was just a 100 yards of paved trail to a 75-foot water fall that was gushing out of a side canyon. Certainly worth the short uphill walk. Zumwalt Meadows is a 1.5-mile loop along the river and around the meadow. Ranger Reed suggested that we join the Ranger-led hike that was starting in a few minutes. We did catch the large group with the Ranger, but their pace was rather slow, so we opted to move on rather than join.
The loop around Zumwalt Meadow is really two hikes in one. There is about a half-mile access trail that runs mainly along the river to get to the meadow loop. The trail crosses the river via a bridge, which is a popular beach area. Once at the loop, we took the left fork which sticks to the river and along the edge of the meadow and works through the pine trees. We saw a Red Breasted Merganser and her chicks cruising the river at this point. Once you get to the far side of the meadow, the trail climbs a bit and returns along the base of the granite formations that frame the valley. This portion of the trail is a bit more difficult as you climb through the boulders (no real scrambling, just a bit of a difference from the flat, open dirt trail around the meadow). Nice views of the valley wall on the opposite side of the canyon. There were also a few patches of wildflowers along the trail, with Pale Swallowtails flitting about. We also saw a few squirrels and several birds (woodpecker, Robins, finch and Dark-eyed Juncos).
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On the climb back out of the canyon, we stopped at Vista Point for a few big picture photos. We saw a Red-tailed Hawk floating on the breeze, looking for dinner. We took the road to Hume Lake on the return so that we could get some fuel (really the only game in the area) and for a milkshake, as suggested by Ranger Reed. Nice summer youth camp set-up at Hume Lake. Gas was $4.59/gallon. Rather than backtrack, we opted just to continue on the Hume Lake Road to get back to the General’s Highway, which allowed us to see more of the area.
We reached Wuksachi about 7:00 PM and were checked-in and in the room by 7:30, then in the bar by 8:00 PM. Walking between the main lodge and the lodging buildings we saw several mule deer along the trail and in the parking area; dinner time for them as well. We tried the two local beers from the Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Company out of Fresno. We preferred the General Sherman IPA over the Tamarack Amber (Marzen) Lager…but then, I am a bit of a hophead. Dinner was at 9:00 in the Wuksachi dining room. The service was great but it took a while for the food to arrive. But it was worth the wait as the meal was quite tasty. I had the shrimp and corn chowder and the steak quesadilla, and both were very good. Lynn had the tenderloin which she liked, although it was a bit overdone. As it turns out, this was a good example of things to come in terms of food. It seems that the Delaware North Company that runs the Wuksachi has a clue about how to properly run a food service operation and has proven to me that it is possible to serve quality food in a National Park (something that Xanterra seems incapable of doing).
Here’s are some of the photos from today’s adventures.
Finally a few notes on the Wuksachi Lodge:
- Check-in is in the main building, which also houses the gift shop, bar and lounge, dining room and conference facilities.
- Do NOT bring your luggage with you to the main desk when you check-in. The lodging is located in the three buildings up the hill from the main lodge.
- There are no elevators in the lodging buildings, so be prepared to carry your luggage up some stairs (unless you are on the first floor) or get the staff to help. There is a paved ramp from the parking lot to the lodging buildings, so you do not have to carry you bags up steps on the short hike to the buildings.
- We were in the Sequoia Building, room 334. I believe that this is the newest of the three lodging buildings. Our room was very nice and good size. We had a room with 2 double beds but there was also a table with two chairs, desk and chair and a TV in the room. The bathroom was good size and well appointed. There was a coffee maker and a hair dryer in the room, as I recall (I used neither, but they were important to Lynn). The bed was very comfortable.
- This is a newer facility, brand new by National Park’s standards. Build in 1999 to replace the Giant Grove Lodge which was dismantled to protect the trees in the grove.
- There are nice walking trails through the grounds, which were nice for an early morning walk to look for critters or for an after dinner stroll.
- We found it interesting that there were a couple other parking lots in the complex with no building around them as well as utilities running through the area, but going nowhere. I asked about this later. Turns out that there are plans for expansion, including additional lodging, shopping and dining options, but so far the demand has not been sufficient to support the additional services.
Skip to: Days 1 and 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Day 5 - Day 6 - Day 7 - Day 8 - Day 9 - Days 10 through 13.
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California 2012 Trip Report Intro Page.
We went there in... 2012.
Travel Timeline.
Trip Report list.
Return to:
California 2012 Trip Report Intro Page.
We went there in... 2012.
Travel Timeline.
Trip Report list.