Sequoia National Park and Forest

The Adventure Travelers take you on another adventure and this time it’s to the Sequoia National Forest and Sequoia National Park. We take this adventure during the height of COVID-19 and the campgrounds (Balcher Campground) we were looking to camp at were closed due to the virus. There was no mention of them being closed on their website, so we thought we had a good chance. Nope.

We then drive from one mountaintop to another and luck out getting the last campsite at Quaking Aspen Family and Group Campground. This campground is near the town of Ponderosa (which is the only place around with Wifi at the Ponderosa Lodge – ask for password).

Now that we have a campsite for a few days, we venture out on the local hiking spots. We hit up the Dome Rock Trail and the Needles Lookout Trail which are both within about 15 minutes from the campgrounds. Having a high clearance vehicle will get you closer to the trailheads. The Needles Lookout Trail was an incredible hike and the stairs and lookout vantage point offer some truly incredible views. It could have been the lack of oxygen, but I was in total bliss 🙂

In hindsight, we should have stayed in this local area, but adventure called to us once again, and we drive off the mountain and drive 3 hours to get to Sequoia National Park. This park is beautiful but it’s a little misleading. Once you get to the park entrance, you still have over an hour to get to the actual Sequoias and other features. Some of the areas were closed as well as the Visitor Center but the crowds were almost non-existent, which was amazing since this was high-season.

We hike the Tokopah Falls Trail, which was really beautiful. Some of the trail was in direct sun, which was a little warm but the altitude helped keep things somewhat cool. The river along the way was absolutely beautiful. We were looking for a bear the whole time but didn’t see any, which was a shame.

We venture off to see the General Sherman Tree, which is over 2,000 years old and again, there was almost no one at the site and it felt like we had the entire park all to ourselves. Note: Don’t expect this if you go, it’s usually packed!

This was an impromptu four-day trip, which started out pretty rough since all the campgrounds were closed, but it ended up being an incredible time because we kept a positive mental attitude and we got to enjoy some incredible hiking and camping.

Sadly, some of the areas that are in this video have been decimated by fires. The SQF Complex fire burned a lot of the forest east of Ponderosa but didn’t affect the town itself. As of this post, the fire has burned over 42,000 acres and is only 1% contained. Go here for more info as things develop: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7048/

#Sequoia #SequoiaNationalPark #SequoiaNationalForest

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