Junction View of King's Canyon
I slept quite well in our cosy cabin, although the bed was a bit saggy! We had breakfast in the same casual onsite restaurant which meant plastic cutlery and weak coffee, but at least the pancakes were good.
We went up to the lodge to make use of the WiFi for an hour, then stopped off at the small supermarket to buy drinks and snacks. Then we set off to explore Kings Canyon. There is just one road in and out, with several sights along the way.
We stopped a couple of times on the road to the canyon, once to take photos of some of the mountains looking hazy in the smoke from the Happy Fire, and once for views into the canyon itself. The latter were against the sun, so we resolved to stop again on our way back to try to get better shots.
Happy Fire smoke
Junction View of King's Canyon (the road we were to drive on the right in the second shot)
This stretch of road leaves, and then re-enters, the national park. There are a couple of stopping points between the two areas of park and we pulled over at one, where you can walk the short distance to Grizzly Falls. These were impressively full for so late in the season, although some rather pesky flies detracted a little from our enjoyment of the scene, as they were to do at several other places today.
Grizzly Falls
Once back inside the park we stopped again at another set of falls, Roaring River, which lived up to their name! And the walk to and from them was a pleasant stroll among the trees.
Roaring River Falls
Clear water near Roaring River Falls
On the path to Roaring River Falls
At our next stop we did a slightly longer walk, to Zumwalt Meadow. The path led initially again among trees before emerging by the river. We crossed via a bridge with good views in both directions, and went down to the river’s edge for photos.
River views near Zumwalt Meadow
Continuing our walk we discovered that the trail through the meadow was closed for restoration, but we were able to take another path that led us up between large boulders with glimpses of the meadow between them. It was quite a rough and stony path however, so after a few hundred metres more we decided to turn back as we seemed to be veering away from the meadow.
The path between the boulders
Meadow views
We returned to the car by the same path and drove the last mile or so to the end of the road. We visited Muir Rock, named for the Scottish-American naturalist John Muir who is considered the inspiration behind the US national parks system. According to the park’s website,
From this rock overlooking a relatively quiet bend of the Kings River, he would address anyone who would listen. He shared his love of the wild and his theories on how these canyons formed (carved by large rivers of ice called glaciers, which later proved to be correct). These talks and the articles he wrote celebrating the area helped lead to its becoming a national park.
The view from Muir Rock
Having enjoyed the river views from the rock we had our snack lunch at a picnic table nearby.
From here the only way was back on the same road! We stopped at a couple of different viewpoints, including Canyon View, and again at Junction View to get the better lit shots we'd hoped for when here earlier in the day.
Canyon View
At Junction View
Back at Grants Grove we got ice creams at the shop and muffins for tomorrow’s breakfast, to save a bit of time in the morning. Then we went back up to the lodge for another session with WiFi before returning to our cabin to relax on the deck.
In the evening we again had dinner in the onsite restaurant, there being no other options! The food was fine (a generously filled chicken wrap) and the beer good, despite a lack of atmosphere. But the sunset on the way to the restaurant made up for that!
Sunset at Grant Grove
This featured blog entry was written by ToonSarah from the blog Travel with me ....
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