Parks 41 & 42: Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, Day 1

11/29/13. On Thanksgiving morning, Catherine, Brad and I left Burbank at 8:30 am and drove north through the mountains on I5. Once over the mountains, we were amazed at the agricultural fields that stretched for mile after mile after mile on the flat valley. Eventually, we worked our way east on Kings Canyon Road and entered the park.

The views were beautiful and the weather was clear and warm. We stopped first at the Kings Canyon Visitor's Station in the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park and got maps and an orientation from a very helpful ranger. I felt a little bit bad that she was working on Thanksgiving. The John Muir Lodge is close by, so we checked in and unloaded the car, being sure to take in all food, and anything smelly to prevent the bears from being interested in our car.

We bundled up and headed out to the trail around the General Grant tree. As expected, the trees were incredible and it was hard to even comprehend the massive height and width. Even the sequoia cones are huge! We enjoyed the trail, climbing around some of the trees and through the woods. As the sun got lower in the sky we worked our way back to the visitor's center. Having had some experience in the woods, we watched the park film and read the exhibits with more interest and understanding.

We returned to our room in the John Muir Lodge which is a new structure tucked in the woods and very comfortable. We are at 6600' elevation.

Resting on the porch outside our room at the John Muir Lodge

We rested a while, chatted with Jason, and changed for dinner, then set out on the drive south through the park on the General's Highway to Wuksachi Lodge where we had our Thanksgiving dinner. This lodge is more upscale and the dining room had huge windows overlooking the woods and a huge fireplace. The food was exceptionally good - we all thought it was the best Thanksgiving food we remember. Catherine and I had a fantastic vegetarian dish of butternut squash lasagna and Brad had baked halibut. It was a wonderful meal!

After dinner we returned to our car and were stunned by the night sky. Living in New Jersey, there is never a time we can see even a small part of the stars we could see. They were so brilliant it looked like a show put on by Disney. Both directly overhead and peeking through the trees were millions of points of light, some so bright they seemed like we could touch them.

Night sky in Grant's Grove from  http://thegoldensieve.com/andromeda-and-the-primeval-sequoia/

Brad drove us back up the windy mountain road to our lodge - about a 45 minute drive. When we got back we dropped right into bed, exhausted. It had been a terrific Thanksgiving day.