Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

To break up the drive a bit heading back to Nebraska, we stopped at Sequoia National Park (then realized due to a recent snowfall that only 6 miles were open to the public!) and then went on to King’s Canyon National Park to see if we could actually see some giant sequoia trees. We had a great time and although the parks are actually connected, due to snow-packed roads, we couldn’t pass through. We decided the nearly 2 hour drive would be worth it and spent time in both parks. The second day, they had opened Sequoia National Park further, so we went through there again before heading out. Here are some of our photos from those parks and the motel we stayed at. They had sheep and goats and lots of hummingbirds as well as a beautiful hiking path that made me feel like I was in Scotland with all the boulders sticking out of the ground. The weather was pleasant and although we had a lot of fog when we were off the mountains, it really made for some cool photos. We even got to see the sun set above the clouds on our last day, which was absolutely gorgeous. I am a sucker for old barn photos and there were several on our way back and forth between parks. Tons of fruit and nut tree orchards as well. Interesting fact….we found HUGE pinecones and figured they were from the giant sequoia trees. Nope! They have small, tight cones. The large cone from the smaller sugar pine. The redwood trees actually have even tinier pinecones than the sequoias. I have a photo of Lily holding a sequoia cone. Sorry for the amount of photos…but know for each one, there is 5-10 I am not showing you. I had such a marvelous time!