Two Days in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks With Kids

About Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

Sequoia and Kings Canyon are two separate national parks in California’s southern Sierra Nevada, but they border one another and are managed together by the National Park Service.

Sequoia National Park was established in 1890 and is best known for its enormous giant sequoias, including General Sherman, the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth by volume.

Kings Canyon National Park sits immediately to the north and includes Grant Grove, home to the General Grant Tree, along with mountains, forests, meadows and the incredibly deep Kings Canyon.

Because the parks connect, it can be tempting to think you’ll simply drive around and see everything in a day. You won’t.

Distances on a map can also be misleading. These are mountain roads, and driving between different areas of the parks takes time. If you have a couple of days, I highly recommend dividing the parks into areas instead of trying to race between every major attraction.

We had two days available and essentially did exactly that.

Our first day focused on the Giant Forest area of Sequoia National Park. Our second took us into Grant Grove and Kings Canyon.

Day One: General Sherman, Moro Rock & Crescent Meadow

Our first day in Sequoia also happened to be our son’s birthday, so we weren’t exactly racing out the door at sunrise.

We had birthday breakfast at our campground in Badger and left around 10:00 a.m.

We reached the park around 10:30 and arrived at the General Sherman area at approximately 11:30.

General Sherman Tree

General Sherman was our first real introduction to the giant sequoias, and it was incredible.

The entire walk took us about an hour.

The trail down to General Sherman is relatively easy, although there are stairs and you’ll obviously have to regain the elevation you lose when you walk back to the parking area. For our family, it was a very manageable walk.

There were a LOT of people.

Considering we were there to see the largest tree in the world, that wasn’t particularly surprising.

There is a designated area where you can get the classic photograph with the General Sherman sign and the tree behind you. We waited approximately ten minutes for our turn.

If you don’t care about having the sign in your picture, though, don’t feel like that’s the only place to take photographs.

A small path continues around the tree, and we were able to get some beautiful pictures from other angles without standing in the photo line.

And then there is the tree itself.

It’s difficult to adequately describe the size of a giant sequoia because photographs don’t really convey it. You’re standing there looking up and up and up, trying to comprehend the fact that this living thing has existed for thousands of years.

General Sherman is estimated to be more than 2,000 years old.

Standing beside a tree that was already alive before Jesus Christ was born was one of those facts that stopped me in my tracks.

Entire civilizations have risen and fallen. Generations upon generations of people have lived their lives.

And this tree was standing here.

That was probably the moment when the scale of these forests really hit me.

A Note About Parking at General Sherman

We didn’t have much trouble parking when we arrived around 11:30 a.m. and were able to get relatively close to the trailhead.

That changed quickly.

By the time we left around 12:30, the parking lot was extremely full and access was being limited.

There were bathrooms at the trailhead, and this was also one of the few areas where we had some cell service.

If you’re visiting during a busy period, earlier is definitely better.

Giant Forest Museum & The Shuttle

After General Sherman, we drove toward Giant Forest Museum.

This was where parking became considerably more difficult.

The area was packed. We eventually found what appeared to be roadside parking behind several other vehicles and left the truck there.

More on that brilliant decision later.

From the museum area, you can use the park shuttle to reach several of the major attractions. We saw one shuttle running toward General Sherman and another serving the Moro Rock and Crescent Meadow area.

We waited approximately 15 minutes for ours.

The wait wasn’t bad.

The buses themselves were packed.

Still, using the shuttle made it much easier to visit this section of the park without repeatedly trying to find parking.

Climbing Moro Rock With Kids

Our next stop was Moro Rock.

Moro Rock is a granite dome with a staircase built directly into the rock leading toward the summit.

And when I say staircase, I mean a lot of stairs.

There are roughly 350 steps, and they are steep.

The pathway is also quite narrow in places. There aren’t many areas where you can step aside for an extended break, and passing people coming in the opposite direction can occasionally be awkward.

But all five of us made it.

At the top, you’re rewarded with incredible views across the surrounding Sierra Nevada.

It was absolutely worth the climb.

I wouldn’t describe Moro Rock as particularly difficult because it’s short, but the stairs and exposure make it considerably different from an ordinary family trail. Take your time, especially with younger kids, and be prepared to share a narrow route with other visitors.

Crescent Meadow: Where We Finally Lost the Crowds

Junior Ranger Books, Passport Stamps & Our Parking Mistake

We eventually took the shuttle back toward Giant Forest Museum.

We had almost no cell service throughout this part of the day.

The museum was also having an internet issue while we were there and could only accept cash, so we weren’t able to buy our usual stickers and magnets.

The girls did pick up their Junior Ranger booklets, though, and we stamped our National Park passports.

Then we walked back to the truck.

Remember that roadside parking spot where lots of other people were parked?

Turns out we weren’t supposed to park there.

We saw other vehicles receiving tickets and somehow escaped without one ourselves.

Consider this your reminder that a line of illegally parked cars does not magically turn into a legal parking area.

Don’t follow the herd. Read the signs.

At that point, the park was extremely crowded anyway, and we had a birthday boy waiting for dinner, cake and presents, so we headed back to our campground.

Day Two: Grant Grove & Kings Canyon

Our second park day felt completely different.

From our campground in Badger, it took us about 30 minutes to reach the Grant Grove area.

Our first stop was the Kings Canyon Visitor Center.

We were finally able to buy our stickers and magnets, and all three kids finished up their Junior Ranger activities and received their badges.

There was also a park movie playing that we would have liked to watch, but we were already running short on time and decided to keep moving.

This area had more services than I expected, including a large restaurant nearby, which is useful to know if you’re planning to spend an entire day exploring this section of the parks.

General Grant Tree

Driving Into Kings Canyon

After Grant Grove, we decided to continue along the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway.

We knew we’d gotten too late of a start to drive as far into the canyon as we’d originally considered, but we wanted to see at least part of it.

The drive alone was worth doing.

This was when Kings Canyon started making sense to me.

The canyon drops dramatically below the roadway, with mountains and forests stretching around you. There were places where simply looking out from the road was breathtaking.

But the biggest surprise of our entire visit was still ahead.

Hume Lake: The Place We Didn’t Expect to Love

We decided to stop at Hume Lake.

I really didn’t know what to expect.

In my head, we were driving farther into a rugged mountain area and would find a rustic lake surrounded by wilderness.

Instead, we pulled into what felt like this beautiful little community hidden in the mountains.

There were manicured grassy areas, beaches, lodging, restaurants, boating facilities, a chapel, camp facilities and people enjoying the lake.

And there was an unmistakable Christian presence.

Hume Lake is home to a Christian camp and conference center, and throughout the area we saw messaging about God, Jesus and Christianity.

We travel constantly, and we’d never stumbled into anything quite like it.

It felt peaceful.

The lake itself was gorgeous.

There were several areas where you could access the water, and naturally, we had not brought swimsuits.

That didn’t stop everyone.

Some of the kids jumped in anyway.

They swam, ran around and spent forever playing on the grass. We’ve spent so much time surrounded by forests, desert, beaches and campgrounds that I didn’t realize how excited they’d be to simply have a big manicured lawn to run around on.

There was also a campground at Hume Lake, and we noticed another resort-like area with a pool overlooking the lake.

The whole place was completely unexpected.

And I loved it.

Had I known what Hume Lake was before we arrived, I honestly would have planned much more time there.

I’d happily come back and dedicate an entire day to swimming, relaxing and exploring the area.

Other than standing underneath the giant sequoias themselves, Hume Lake may have been my favorite discovery of the entire trip.

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Where We Stayed: Sequoia Resort & RV Park in Badger, California