After Yosemite National Park we were on a roll so, after a short cycle in the forest near where we camped, we decided to go to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. We drove in through Sequoia National Forest (where you are allowed to wild camp) and instantly saw that, even though it was hot, there was still quite a lot of snow on the ground.
This meant quite a few of the sideroads were shut but we could get to Hume Lake. The lake was peaceful (apart from a really loud squirrel) and the following drive overlooking Kings Canyon was beautiful.
Next we headed down into Kings Canyon and along the powerful, fast flowing river.
It was pretty and quiet so we pulled up near the river for the remainder of the afternoon. Pete decided to try to make some improvements to our bikes – make the brakes work, align the gears etc and also swap our brakes over to the correct sides (save us going over the handlebars by mistake). Pete was happy as a pig in muck with his tool box out.
I made a nice dinner and hoped where I drained the rice wouldn’t attract bears – eek!. What a lovely, chilled day – it made a nice change to get to our destination before dark !For fear of spending too long in a place that clearly was missing an apostrophe, we decided to visit a couple of waterfalls and then move on. First we stopped at the Grizzly Falls and was pleased to find a little side path to avoid yet another soaking at a waterfall.
Then we stopped at Roaring River Falls for a quick photo and then we started to back track out of the canyon and then head South into Sequoia National Park.
The scenery was stunning as We climbed back out of the canyon.
We were treated to see the largest tree in the world. while it isnt the tallest tree it does have a circumference of 31m !!!
We drove through quite a lot of snow and then wound our way down towards L.A.
L.A. was our destination until we saw a huge tailback in the traffic for a mountain pass. We decided to pull over and cook dinner. And then when the traffic didn’t ease we decided to crack open a sunset beer and stay here the night.
Luckily we hadn’t booked our accommodation in LA. You’ve got to love the flexibility having a van gives to you! We wouldn’t have met Chris and the Steere family otherwise – a family living and travelling in their converted school bus. What characters! ☺Oh and also we probably wouldn’t have been woken up by the thunder, lightening and rain at 3am if we’d been in a motel or hotel. It was an incredible storm!
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