Sierra Cascades - Day 16 - Kings Canyon National Park
Date: June 21, 2021
28.4 Miles
2,803 Feet of Gain
Sequoia National Park, CA to Sunset Campground in Kings Canyon National Park, CA
The morning creeps on gold and slow. We had planned for today to be a short, easy day. Our goal is to stay high in the Sierras riding among sequoia groves and granite peaks between Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park. We sleep in, feeling absolutely lavish to get up after 6 am for the first time in days. Janna and I have such a rhythm to moving quickly in the morning that we blink and find ourselves done with breakfast just sitting in the campground. We force ourselves not to pack up the tent but to accomplish some other tasks and just sit around instead. Being slow is lovely but demands focus.
We decide to leave the campground in the late morning. I feel relaxed for the first time in days riding past granite-lined creeks flowing steadily down the slopes of the Sierras. I'm riding in a zone of cool temperatures above the cranking heat of the lowlands below; I feel untouchable from the heat dome. The two of us casually head down the highway shoulder where traffic has fallen off on this side of the Park. It makes for comfortable riding without having to look over our shoulders constantly. And being on bikes provides us the opportunity to stop at every overlook and every grove of sequoias.
Late morning finds us pulling up to the Lost Grove. And somehow, the light is shining right through the heart of the giant sequoias standing russet and sentinel off the parking lot. We have the place to ourselves so we eat snacks, snap photos, and just take time to appreciate the beauty. Then, it's onward along the road which carves along the ridge of the Sierras with white granite outcrops providing us hallway corridors. I round a corner and greet the first glimpses of the High Sierra. Distant peaks still stacked with snow jut from a distant heart of the range. In that place is found true alpine and tundra and some of the most magnificent terrain I've ever viewed. My heart soars a little higher in chest in response. I can feel myself really absorbing the route and dreaming of what's to come.
The granite around us begins to build with green. Lush low-lying vegetation smatters the white rock while more wind-hewn tree trunks surround us. And there, suddenly, is an overlook of Kings Canyon proper. The hulking Canyon sits folded into the Earth distantly beyond a forest of evergreens with a backdrop of range rising up behind. We roll on and cross the boundary between Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park. I feel a strong sort of satisfaction at that thought that we have now both thru-hiked and biked across these two national parks on the respective John Muir Trail and Sierra Cascades Bike Route. I beam and then set my eyes downhill on a coasting ride into Sunset Campground. We talk to the rangers at the entrance station about living in Grand Canyon and where they've worked. Turns out we have some common NPS friends. They warn us that we should strip our bikes of all framebags as the bears here are so conditioned for food that any "pack-like" item, regardless of food content, will be torn up.
Janna and I bike to our campsite, set up the Triplex, and get to work dismantling the bags from our bikes for storage in the bear box. Afterwards, we bike load-less to the Grant Grove Village which serves as the developed hub of Kings Canyon. There are not a lot of visitors - probably due to the fact that the Visitor Center is still closed from COVID-19. Luckily, the Grand Grove Restaurant is serving food with outside seating available only. We put in orders and take turns waiting with our bikes at a table while one of us heads into the Grand Grove Market to purchase resupplies for tomorrow. Janna also sends out post cards from the Kings Canyon Post Office. We spend much of the afternoon just lazily enjoying our food and resting. A bikepacker pulls up on a Surly Pugsley outfitted with plus tires. The three of us talk routes and approaches. He's trying to find legal places to ride his bike off-pavement here but is having difficulty navigating the NPS regulations. Janna and I wave goodbye and then head off-route for some biking downhill to the General Grant grove. It's a twisting steep descent where we park our bikes at an empty parking lot and then make our way hiking along the established trails to General Grant Tree - the second largest tree on Earth by volume. Parts of the trail walk through the actual middle of fallen tree trunks carved away to allow steps and passages.
We abruptly arrive at General Grant tree to find it completely to ourselves (such a contrast from yesterday with General Sherman). The two of it walk its base and bask in the impressive size. Then, we hike along the trail past more giant sequoias and Gamlin Cabin. Shortly thereafter, we run into another cyclist walking towards us. He's also touring the Parks but doing so on a self-created route separate from the Sierra Cascades. He's heading back to his rig, and we wish him luck. I languidly soak into the rest of the views of the trees before we jump back on our own bikes. We climb up the steep punchy hill to the Generals Highway. The two of us arrive at our campsite to find the campground has quickly filled in the evening. The family next to us comes over to talk for a good bit with welcome conversation. I pull up a temperature report and Janna agrees to leave before dawn tomorrow, again. We give our neighbors a heads up that we'll be waking up early, and that we'll try not to disturb them. They laugh and say it's all good. Night comes on cool and strong under a streak of stars.
