there's something about new territory that stimulates the adventurer in me
it would be my first time visiting the pine flat lake area of eastern fresno
and also my first time entering into kings canyon national park
this had to be the first time ever that i had a multi-level campsite pretty cool
welcome to my camp here at the island park campground i am camped alongside
pine flat lake this is an area i've never been to this is the army corps of engineer campsite
which i think normally are free however this one is 30 dollars per night i do have full hookups
and i think that's a very reasonable price for full hookup site i have a lot of space here it's
a really huge site it's beautiful unfortunately it's a little bit of a gloomy evening but maybe
by the time i leave here some sun will come out it's still absolutely beautiful though the reason
that i'm here is because i'm about an hour outside of kings canyon national park tomorrow i plan to
explore kings canyon national park i've never been there before kings canyon national park
and sequoia national park are jointly run and both were affected recently by the complex fire
unfortunately sequoia national park is pretty much closed however portions of kings canyon
national park are open including some big sequoia groves where i can go in and do some hiking so
i'm excited about that i'm going to go in and explore whatever i can see there whatever is open
and yeah it's gonna be a great day tonight it is a little bit uh late i got here about
a half hour ago it's almost four o'clock and it gets dark about 4 30 so i'll just make myself
a simple dinner and get to bed pretty early so that i can get it early start tomorrow as i said
i'm about an hour away from the park i couldn't find anything free near the park unfortunately
so this uh was something that came up on my app campendium and it looked really cool so
here i am anyhow i'm going to go ahead and get dinner started shortly and get to bed pretty early
and this is dinner tonight just a simple dinner of some brown rice
and i'm reheating some leftover chicken some green beans
do
good morning i am on my way to the park it is another foggy overcast morning
i'm hoping the sun comes out but it's going to be a great day no matter what
the skies may have been gray for now but the hills were emerald green
and after traveling through the densest fog i ascended above the clouds
i'm so excited i drove above the clouds
kings canyon national park is located in the southern sierra nevada in fresno and tulare
counties california originally established in 1890 as general grant national park
the park was greatly expanded and renamed to kings canyon national park on march 4th 1940.
the park's namesake kings canyon is a rugged glacier-carved valley more than a mile deep
other natural features include multiple 14 000 foot peaks high mountain meadows swift flowing
rivers and some of the world's largest stands of giant sequoia trees i am the only vehicle in
this parking lot looks like i'll have this trail to myself look how tiny my rig looks my goodness
the park's groves are the world's most dramatic examples of old-growth coniferous forest
some tree species live longer have greater diameters or grow taller
like their cousins the coast redwoods but no tree is larger than the giant sequoia
in total volume of wood it is the largest living tree on earth
it is truly impossible to grasp the scale of these trees
in video the general grant tree is the second largest giant sequoia tree in the world
once thought to be well over 2000 years old recent estimates suggest the general grant
tree is closer to 1 650 years old the tree also features the third largest footprint of
any living giant sequoia measuring 107 feet in circumference at ground level
the tree was named in 1867 after ulysses s grant union army general and the 18th president of the
united states president calvin coolidge proclaimed it the nation's christmas tree on april 28 1926
it's difficult to put into words what it felt like walking among these living giants
but it felt like an honor
so
it's so peaceful here and quiet all i hear are the birds and the squirrels it's amazing hiking
among these massive and beautiful trees i'm so happy that the sun came out it is a gorgeous day
i love vast expansive views but sometimes it feels good to be in the forest especially this forest
from here you can see where the mcgee fire 1955
and refire 2015 burned through this drainage and changed the landscape
i just arrived here at hume lake but before i go check it out
i need to eat some lunch i am starving
well that was a pretty lake unfortunately not
all of the park is open and i will tell you a little bit more about that later
having seen all that was available for me to explore in the park
it was time for me to head back to camp
i'm back here at camp i take a nice shower since i'm hooked up and i don't have to worry about
conserving water it felt really nice and i'm going to make myself just a quick easy dinner
and then we will recap the day i bought myself this pre-shredded chicken at the store and i
need to use it so i'm going to make myself a chicken and cheese quesadilla easy and tasty
i had a great day today walking among those massive beautiful old sequoia trees that made
the trip up there worth it alone i'm so happy that i drove above the clouds the sun was shining up
there it was just a beautiful day a great way to spend the day unfortunately a portion of the park
was closed that i thought was open unbeknownst to me highway 180 that goes out to cedar grove
and i guess it goes into an area that looks very yosemite like with waterfalls and things that i
really didn't want to see had closed a couple of days prior to my arrival unbeknownst to me and
that was a big part of the park that i did want to explore so that really kept the day short and
limited my options as to what there is to do there it didn't have anything to do with the fires the
recent complex fire it was a seasonal thing it happens every year and i just missed the cut off
that really did limit me i was able to go to hume lake as you saw which was really pretty
but basically really the groves uh you know walking around the groves and then hume lake
was all that i really could see i was told that there's a panoramic view look out and i
attempted to start up that road however it said no rvs and no trailers even though technically my rv
is on my truck i didn't want to chance it it was still worth it to me but i would recommend if you
plan on visiting the park to make sure that it is fully open so that you can explore it to its full
potential i'm just grateful they were able to open it all after the fires it was pretty devastating
and it's just good to see them still functioning and it didn't destroy the park entirely
on the drive to hume lake i was able to get a little bit of a glimpse of
some of that granite goodness that's back in there in the back country
i know that if you hike the ray lakes loop trail for instance you can get into the
kings canyon back country and i know that it is absolutely stunning i still have yet to do that
loop which maybe i'll do this upcoming year in 2022. regardless of the closures i still had a
beautiful day up there it was a great way to spend the day and i really enjoyed this camp
here this is an awesome camp on this lake and very scenic and pretty and quiet lots of birds and just
a peaceful place to spend a couple of nights i hope that you enjoyed joining me today and
getting a little taste of kings canyon national park i appreciate you coming along and watching
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thank you all so much for your support and i will see you on the next one see you soon bye
you