Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Mike White
alt="images"/> 4.2 miles
Stables: Horseback rides are available from the Grant Grove Stables during the summer months.
Kings Canyon National Park boundary: Just before the boundary between the park and Giant Sequoia National Monument, the highway crosses the North Boundary Trail. Beyond the boundary, the highway enters lands administered by Sequoia National Forest.
McGee Vista Point: From a pullout on the left-hand side, you have a sweeping view of the western Sierra. An interpretive sign offers information about the McGee Burn forest fire of 1955.
Cherry Gap: Here the Kings Canyon Highway reaches its high point (approximately 6,800 feet). On the left, FS 13S03 heads into Converse Basin, where thousands of giant sequoias were sacrificed to the lumberman’s axe in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Only a small percentage remains, including the Boole Tree, eighth largest (see Trip 69), of what was once the largest grove of giant sequoias in the world.
FS Road 13S55: On the left, another dirt Forest Service road heads into Converse Basin.
Princess Meadow: Near lovely Princess Meadow is the right-hand turn into Princess Campground. Look for deer and other wildlife in the meadow right after dawn or before sunset.
Hume junction: The Hume Road on the right leaves Kings Canyon Highway and makes a steep, winding descent on narrow road to Hume Lake. Along the way are some airy views. The lake, which is a reservoir created by a dam, offers swimming at Sandy Cove, picnicking at Powder Can, and camping at Hume Lake Campground. Hume Lake Christian Camps above the southwest shore has a general store with gas pumps, a snack shop, gift shop, and boat rentals available to the general public. In winter, the Kings Canyon Highway is closed past this junction.
Junction View: For about the previous 3 miles, you’ve had limited views of the deep hole created by the Kings River. At this pullout is a staggering view straight down to where Middle and South Forks converge thousands of feet below. Near this confluence, the two canyons reach their greatest depths. When measured from the top of Spanish Mountain, the South Fork Canyon at 7,800 feet is one of the deepest gorges in North America, more than 2,500 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon. While the Middle Fork is wild and virtually inaccessible except by hardy hikers, the highway continues upstream along the South Fork into the heart of Kings Canyon.
Ten Mile Creek: The highway crosses a bridge over Ten Mile Creek, which carries water released from Hume Lake dam down to the Kings River. Between here and Yucca Point, the road closely follows the creek downstream, providing a definite contrast between the riparian foliage alongside the creek and the chaparral-covered hillsides away from the water.
Junction View (stop 16)
Kings Canyon Lodge: This rustic resort has been in operation since the late 1930s, offering cabin-style lodging, a restaurant, ice cream bar, and gasoline from the oldest double-gravity gas pumps in the country.
Yucca Point Trailhead: The highway drops into the inner gorge of Kings Canyon near Yucca Point, a point on a knife-edge ridge 200 feet above the road, which also serves as the westernmost boundary of Monarch Wilderness. Watch for the namesake plant through this section, especially in late spring and early summer, when the upper part of the plant is covered with white, bell-shaped flowers. A moderately steep, 2.5-mile trail descends more than 1,000 feet from the trailhead to the confluence of the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River. Anglers accessing the South and Middle Forks of the Kings River are this trail’s primary users.
Lockwood Creek Vista: A half mile from Yucca Point is a broad, paved turnout on the left with an interpretive sign about birds commonly seen soaring above the canyon. The visual highlight of a stop here is in the opposite direction, especially when a year with abundant water enhances a beautiful display of cascades and falls on Lockwood Creek, which tumbles down a narrow, steep, and rocky side canyon. Shortly beyond the turnout, the highway crosses over the creek and continues down toward the river amid the towering metamorphic rock walls of the canyon.
Convict Flat Picnic Area: Construction of the Kings Canyon Highway began in 1929 and took ten years to complete. Much of the work was done by convicts. The picnic area resides on the former site of the prisoner camps.
Horseshoe Bend Vista: The pullout at Horseshoe Bend offers a dramatic view of the canyon, where high, unbroken cliffs composed of hard metamorphosed rock forced the South Fork to take a winding detour.
Waterfall in Lockwood Creek Canyon (stop 20)
Boyden Cavern: On the right-hand side of the highway, just prior to a bridge over the South Fork, is the turnoff for Boyden Cavern. The west side of the Sierra has considerable deposits of marble. Caves are formed when underground channels of water erode away some of the minerals in such marble over time. A private concessionaire, under supervision of the Forest Service, offers 45-minute tours of Boyden Cavern from April through November. The tour visits many extraordinary features, including various stalagmites, stalactites, draperies, and columns.
Beyond the first bridge over South Fork Kings River, the highway closely follows the river upstream, which can become quite a torrent during spring snowmelt.
Grizzly Falls Picnic Area: A small picnic area (restrooms) on the left side of the highway under the shade of mixed forest provides a pleasant rest stop. Just 50 yards above the picnic area is Grizzly Falls, which drops 80 feet over a ledge of granite. The falls can be quite robust in spring and early summer, when melting snow on the south side of the Monarch Divide high above fills Grizzly Creek and its tributaries.
Deer Cove Trailhead: A small parking area on the left-hand side of the highway marks