Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks — Attraction in Exeter

Visited a couple weeks ago on a Monday as a day trip. We did the General Grant trail first. Not many people there, and all wearing masks. Then as we were leaving that area of the park, the parking lot filled up with large groups of family being loud, ignoring the rangers who asked them to take their ball throwing to a picnic area, no masks, and crowding around our car. We were happy to move on.

We took the winding road into the canyon and enjoyed hiking around the meadow. We found a picnic area with no one else in it to enjoy our lunch. Beautiful views! More twisty roads to go to the side of the park by General Sherman. Glad I brought Dramamine since I can get a bit motion sick.

While driving, we had to stop where there was road work and only one lane of traffic could go at a time. We waited about 40 minutes before it was our turn, and the one lane stretch lasted several miles.

The trail to General Sherman was very crowded when we got there later in the afternoon. About half or less were not wearing masks. I often got glared at by people not wearing masks. We often stopped just off the trail to let groups of people go by with no masks and no intention of keeping a safe distance.

Also, the trail to General Sherman is downhill. It’s short, but going back up at that elevation was a tough for me. Worth the effort though!

We saw at least 5 dear and two bears. The trees and the canyon are so beautiful!

My complaints are about people being rude and unsafe about covid, despite the signs up everywhere and rangers doing their best.

Go toward the middle of the week if you can. Bring toilet seat covers since most bathrooms...

This is a review of Sequoia National Park.

Entry logistics UNLIKE Yosemite, entry through the gate was a breeze. The wait was not long and the park ranger processed my reservation in 5 seconds (read my review on Yosemite which took me 1 hour). Kudos to the folks at Sequoia.

Park amenities Yes yes yes... this is a natural/nature park, but I wish there were a couple of places where you can buy simple snacks and water. Maybe there was a vending machine or something at the gift shop but I didn't go in so I don't know if they have or not.

Drive in and out You actually visit this park for the GIANT trees which I've seen already, as this is my 3rd time visiting the park, but I actually enjoyed the drive in and out of the park. I didn't realize how fast I drive until I came here. I must have passed (or other drivers must have yielded) many many cars both on the way up to the park, and out of the park. Thank you all. The signs are very simple and well laid out. I didn't get lost (i guess it's hard to get lost here) at all and I had no issues.

Park amenities (part 2) I wish there were more bathrooms scattered across the park. There were plenty around the museum and around Gen. Sherman tree, but everywhere else, I don't think I've seen too many toilets nor portable potties. Be prepared to use the facilities often as you can.

Overall, a very nice park with good roads and easy to...

When visiting yosemite region its definitely worth going down to see these parks. We visited in middle of week. didnt seem overcrowded. we started south to north which definitely seems the right way to do it as you continuously are going up and up building excitement and watching the change of terrain and trees. (having a GPS audio tour app running in your vehicle makes it even better explaining the changes, stops and turns). The views from general Sherman hwy are amazing capped off once you make the turn for moro rock and view the region from the top of the world there with 360 degree views of the alpine vistas on a not so difficult climb of 300 + steps. stop at tunnel log after that which is nearby and then head back down and drive to the general Sherman and congress trail for a short and not too difficult hike on a well done path to the famous sequoias. stop by a visitor center too on the way. There's some traffic and delays in summer 2020 due to road work on way from there to kings canyon. Big stump picnic area was closed when we were there but we found a gem in driving up the narrow ( sometimes scary)road to panoramic point, there were picnic tables up there and was a very pleasant picnic supper. we then went up the short trail to panoramic point for sunset time. the drive out of kings canyon toward fresno was incredible watching the sunset and changing skies as we drive. all this...