Yoesmite NP and Sequioa NP for me.

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MEL T

MEL T

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Joined
Jul 17, 2014
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Fort Smith, Ar
I was at Yosemite NP and Sequoia NP July  2017.  I did not have reservations and it was difficult to find open sites.
I found place at the Mariposa fairgrounds while visiting Yosemite. It was a large grassy field with campsites on the perimeter. They had water and 30 amp service. @$35.00 /night.

WARNING Do Not attempt to take a large camper into Yosemite on hwy 140 from mariposa. There is  $270 fine for attempting to take anything that?s overall length of exceeds 50 feet(including tow vehicle). There are 2 long 1 way bridges with sharp turns at the ends plus a narrow one way section of road that you will have to cross. It bypasses a large land slide along side the river.

The drive from mariposa to Yosemite on hwy 140 at the time gave me a new meaning to the word ?Canyons?. The route was as crooked as a snake, But it was awesome to see.

As far as Sequoia NP I was lucky to get a site at Sequoia RV park in three rivers 30 amp service again. Temperature was in the 90?sduring the day.
Cooler on top in the park. I thought hwy 140 in Yoesmite was curvy but it didn?t hold a candle to the hwy 198 ?the Generals Hwy? it was either a curve or a hairpin curve about every 30 feet. It straightens out a lot on top.
 
both have individual reasons to visit and I would hate to make such a choice. Although  I tended to like Yosemite 55 over 45 for sequoia, both have tremendous and impressive natural beauty. both are really crowded during the summer.
 
In between Yosemite and Sequoia is Kings Canyon National Park. It has two parts. The upper part is almost identical to Sequoia with General Grants Grove of sequoias. The lower part is virtually identical (vegetation, rocks, wildlife) to Yosemite except for the crowds. The two sections are separated by 30 miles of road and there is a cave to explore along the way. In the upper section there is an awesome no hook up campground called Sunset. Very convenient to everything and beautiful. You can walk to Grant's Grove. They don't take reservations there and if you arrive at 8 am there will always be open spots to camp in. And you can walk across the street to the visitors center and a great restaurant.

https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/sunset.htm 
 
Tom, have you ever considered writing a book on your travels out west? With your long time experience, along with your photos, it should definitely be one worth reading.
 
kdbgoat said:
Tom, have you ever considered writing a book on your travels out west? With your long time experience, along with your photos, it should definitely be one worth reading.
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Yes I did, but I am not a good writer. I actually did start to write an article for National Geographic. I sent it and a bunch of photos after my first year on the road and they turned me down without looking at it. They only publish articles that they have commissioned. Meanwhile I enjoy sharing on the Internet. There is a very large audience here and everything gets saved. I love the back and forth of these forums since sometimes I am wrong.

BTW - I traveled the entire lower 48. I made sure I visited all 48 states and all 46 of the National Parks. There is a lot more interest in the west so I write about it more.
 

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Write the book anyway. There are collage students that can help edit and wordsmith your stuff for class projects. From what I have read that you posted here, you write good enough for a fine rough draft.
 
SeilerBird said:
In between Yosemite and Sequoia is Kings Canyon National Park. It has two parts. The upper part is almost identical to Sequoia with General Grants Grove of sequoias. The lower part is virtually identical (vegetation, rocks, wildlife) to Yosemite except for the crowds. The two sections are separated by 30 miles of road and there is a cave to explore along the way. In the upper section there is an awesome no hook up campground called Sunset. Very convenient to everything and beautiful. You can walk to Grant's Grove. They don't take reservations there and if you arrive at 8 am there will always be open spots to camp in. And you can walk across the street to the visitors center and a great restaurant.

https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/sunset.htm
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Where is the cave Tom? We love Kings Canyon, shame the old lodge burned down.

Love your photos of the park signs.
 
jackiemac said:
Where is the cave Tom? We love Kings Canyon, shame the old lodge burned down.

Love your photos of the park signs.
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Thank you Jackie. It is called Boyden Cave and it is located about 15 miles from the Kings Canyon Visitors Center on highway 180 on the right hand side of the road. It is smaller than most caves but still well worth the time to stop. They offer guided tours.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/boyden+cave/@36.7269539,-118.9716146,10z/data=!3m1!4b1

http://www.visitsequoia.com/boyden-cave.aspx

There is also Crystal Cave in Sequoia and it is larger than Boyden but much harder to visit. Boyden is located right on the road with a nice parking lot and gift store. Crystal is 3/4 of a mile from the mail road and it is all down hill and steep. It is also well worth your time to explore.
 
Arch Hoagland said:
Tom has already written the book. You just have to follow his posts.

Nice picture of the parks he posted too.
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I have followed his posts. His knowledge and photos continually amaze me. I would still like the book! :)
 
SeilerBird said:
Thank you Jackie. It is called Boyden Cave and it is located about 15 miles from the Kings Canyon Visitors Center on highway 180 on the right hand side of the road. It is smaller than most caves but still well worth the time to stop. They offer guided tours.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/boyden+cave/@36.7269539,-118.9716146,10z/data=!3m1!4b1

http://www.visitsequoia.com/boyden-cave.aspx

There is also Crystal Cave in Sequoia and it is larger than Boyden but much harder to visit. Boyden is located right on the road with a nice parking lot and gift store. Crystal is 3/4 of a mile from the mail road and it is all down hill and steep. It is also well worth your time to explore.
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Thanks Tom, will look out for those next time we go! You are a fountain of knowledge when it comes to the parks, I do appreciate your wisdom.
 
You are welcome Jackie. I was lucky enough to discover Yosemite in the 60s when I lived a few hundred miles away. It is the most beautiful spot in the country in my opinion and I have been lucky enough to go there many times. The Sierra Nevada mountain range has a staggering number of caves. Some say there are thousands. The Park Service has this to say:

By some accounts Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks could have been set aside solely to protect the amazing caves found in this area of the Southern Sierra Nevada. The two parks protect half of the caves more than a mile long in California, the longest cave in the state, numerous karst streams, and some of the best alpine karst topography in the United States. The caves contain Pleistocene era fossils, rare minerals, and unique animals. They are the sites of numerous scientific research projects and provide recreational opportunities to thousands of park visitors each year.

These parks contain at least 275 caves. This number continues to rise as more caves are discovered. Caves are found primarily in the western one-third of the parks in narrow bands of marble. Caves form where streams on the surface are diverted underground, and the mildly acidic waters can dissolve soluble rocks like limestone, eventually forming caverns.

Park caves occur at a variety of elevations, from 1,640 feet to more than 9,800 feet. As a result, cave temperatures range from just above freezing to over 60ᵒF. Cave conditions vary across this elevation range. The parks' lowest cave is amidst oaks and grasses, and its passages are warm, dry, and dusty. In contrast, some alpine caves have floors or walls of transparent ice.
 
We visited Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite last summer (although not in an RV) and absolutely loved all three parks.  I just wanted to mention that Boyden Cave was closed last summer (I think due to damage from a forest file), so if anyone is thinking of trying to visit it this year, you might want to double check to see if it has re-opened yet. 
 
Also Boyden Cave is closed right now because it is winter. The highway 180 always closes in the winter. It is hard to imagine why a forest fire would close a cave though. I have not heard of a lot of underground fires. ???
 
SeilerBird said:
You are welcome Jackie. I was lucky enough to discover Yosemite in the 60s when I lived a few hundred miles away. It is the most beautiful spot in the country in my opinion and I have been lucky enough to go there many times. The Sierra Nevada mountain range has a staggering number of caves. Some say there are thousands. The Park Service has this to say:

By some accounts Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks could have been set aside solely to protect the amazing caves found in this area of the Southern Sierra Nevada. The two parks protect half of the caves more than a mile long in California, the longest cave in the state, numerous karst streams, and some of the best alpine karst topography in the United States. The caves contain Pleistocene era fossils, rare minerals, and unique animals. They are the sites of numerous scientific research projects and provide recreational opportunities to thousands of park visitors each year.

These parks contain at least 275 caves. This number continues to rise as more caves are discovered. Caves are found primarily in the western one-third of the parks in narrow bands of marble. Caves form where streams on the surface are diverted underground, and the mildly acidic waters can dissolve soluble rocks like limestone, eventually forming caverns.

Park caves occur at a variety of elevations, from 1,640 feet to more than 9,800 feet. As a result, cave temperatures range from just above freezing to over 60ᵒF. Cave conditions vary across this elevation range. The parks' lowest cave is amidst oaks and grasses, and its passages are warm, dry, and dusty. In contrast, some alpine caves have floors or walls of transparent ice.
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Lucky you, I bet it was a bit nicer and quieter then.

We have been to Lava Beds and did a few caves, I am not very adventurous so only the easy ones. Golden Dome cave was amazing!

Thanks for that info (your book is now a page longer ?). Really interesting and we will look into this when next in the area. California is such a beautiful State. Although each one has it's own special places.
 
jackiemac said:
Lucky you, I bet it was a bit nicer and quieter then.

We have been to Lava Beds and did a few caves, I am not very adventurous so only the easy ones. Golden Dome cave was amazing!

Thanks for that info (your book is now a page longer ?). Really interesting and we will look into this when next in the area. California is such a beautiful State. Although each one has it's own special places.
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Actually it is nicer now and quieter now. Back in the day there was no shuttle system so traffic was a lot worse. Now you can park your car and never use it all week. I did one lava tube cave at Lava Beds National Monument and I crawled only about a hundred yards and crawled back out. It was not my thing. I want caves I can walk in. Speaking of which Lehman Caves at Great Basin National Park is my favorite of all the caves I have been to. I liked it better than Mammoth, Carlsbad Caverns and Wind Cave.

California is an amazing beautiful place. There are nine National Parks in the state which is more than any other state. Alaska comes in second with eight most of which you can't visit. The parks in Cali are all basically very different from one another. You got the islands of the Channel Islands, the desert in Joshua Tree and Death Valley, the mountains in Yosemite and Kings Canyon, giant trees in Sequoia, Redwoods and Yosemite, a volcano in Lassen, and the Condors of Pinnacles. Every single one of these parks are spectacular. Only Yosemite and Sequoia are hard to find campsites in, all the rest are easy to find spots.
 
SeilerBird said:
Also Boyden Cave is closed right now because it is winter. The highway 180 always closes in the winter. It is hard to imagine why a forest fire would close a cave though. I have not heard of a lot of underground fires. ???
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Well, that too  :).  I don't remember the exact details, but I think the fire damaged a bridge or something that was used to access the cave.  So I don't think the cave was damaged, just the access to it.  And for some reason it was taking a long time to fix.
 
TrvlShell said:
Well, that too  :).  I don't remember the exact details, but I think the fire damaged a bridge or something that was used to access the cave.  So I don't think the cave was damaged, just the access to it.  And for some reason it was taking a long time to fix.
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Here is an article to explain it.

http://kvpr.org/post/two-years-after-rough-fire-boyden-cavern-still-sits-shuttered
 
You guys who like caves, if you happen to pass through Arkansas, check out Blanchard Springs Caverns near Mountain View.  This one's even got an elevator.
 
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