Sequoia National Park is in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada. This park is filled with beautiful giant Sequoias. These things are just unbelievable and we were excited to be spending a whole day exploring this amazing park!
If you are planning a National Park Road Trip, looking for the top things to do in Southern California or planning a trip to Yosemite National Park you want to be sure to add Sequoia National Park to your list of places to stop! Here are our recommendations on things to do in Sequoia National Park.
If you can rent an RV to take and stay IN the park at the Azalea campground! It was so awesome to be parked right under these gorgeous giants and to be able to hike on amazing trails right out our door. Here are some great tips on how to rent an RV and planning an RV trip.
Table of Contents
Things To Do In Sequoia National Park
Lodgepole Visitor Center
As we have mentioned before, we enjoy stopping at the Visitor Centers to explore the small free museums they usually have and talk to a Ranger about what they recommend we check out while we are there. This time around, the Ranger really changed up our whole schedule with what she recommended!
General Sherman Tree
At 275 feet tall, this is the largest tree not only in the United States but in the whole world. It takes a half-mile downhill hike to get to it. The tree was unbelievable, and there were a variety of other Sequoias throughout the area, along with one fallen tree that you could walk through!
The only problem with being here was all the people. . . it was super busy, and there were a ton of people here to see General Sherman and all the other trees. It is great that so many people are out exploring the parks, but it can be frustrating when it is so busy.
The hike back up was uphill the whole time, but it was no problem for all six kids. It’s paved and has steps throughout most of it. They also have another parking lot much closer to the tree for handicap access. If you park there, getting to General Sherman is pretty flat and close (about a hundred yards or so).
Once we reached the top, the kids practiced their bouldering skills on a huge boulder by the trailhead. I guess they weren’t tired from the walk!
Giant Forest Museum
After checking out General Sherman, we headed to the Giant Forest Museum, which was surrounded by beautiful Sequoia trees. In hindsight, I wish we had stopped at some of the pullouts to walk among the trees. I would also recommend doing the 2/3 mile Big Trees Trail (we didn’t, and I wish we had).
The museum was good, with a handful of small exhibits to learn more about Sequoia trees. They had a fun spinning wheel where the kids could spin it and find out if their Sequoia seedling had grown into a huge tree!
Moro Rock
The Ranger recommended this one. . . It is 390 steps up to the top of the granite dome. It was cool but also scary! You are going up on steps with no railing on many of them, and it is a straight drop on the side! Our youngest, Knox, is not too sure about heights, and he made it up and down, but he cried the whole way down.
It was scary, and my legs were shaking . . . if your kids aren’t sure about heights or you don’t like them, then you might want to skip this one. Or if you take your kids, be VERY careful! It was really cool up top and well worth the walk-up, but you need to be ready for it.
Tunnel Log
We took our van and drove through a tree! It was an 8-foot clearance, so we had plenty of room at 7 feet, and it was plenty wide. It was fun to drive through a tree, and the kids loved it.
Crescent Meadow Trail
This was a 1.8-mile loop, but if you add in the side trails, it can be longer. I am not sure how long we actually went, but we were happy we did the extra loop. The main trail walks by a meadow, and you can see the contrast of the meadow with the large sequoias growing right on the edge of the meadow.
One of the side trails we opted to do was The Thorpe’s Tree loop. It took us to Mr. Thorpe’s summer house . . . a cabin he built into a Sequoia tree that had fallen down!
We also stopped at Chimney Tree, a standing tree that had been hollowed out by fire so you could stand inside of it!
Throughout the whole trail, there were lots of fun areas to stop and explore. The ranger highly recommended this trail, and we agree it was a great hike!
After this, we decided to head back since it was about 6 pm. It was a fun and full day and we ended it with a nice campfire by our RV.
If we had more time, we would have also done the following:
- Tokopah Falls
- Muir Grove
- Congress Trail
- Big Trees Trail
- Crystal Cave
- Mineral King
If you enjoy your time in Sequoia, be sure to check out and support the Sequoia Natural History Association.
Where To Stay – Sequoia
When we visited Sequoia, we stayed at the Azalea campground by the Grant Grove village in Kings Canyon. From Azalea, it was less than an hour to General Sherman in Sequoia.
Hotel options:
This lodge (The Gateway Restaurant & Lodge) will be very close to the Sequoia entrance.
The Wukaschi Lodge is located in the park and would be an amazing place to stay!
Campgrounds:
The Sequoia Campground & Lodge (which has been renamed AutoCamp—be sure to check when they open) is very close to the entrance. The Nelson Falls RV Park is about an hour and 45 minutes from Three Rivers, but the park is in the Sequoia National Forest.
For more on camping check out this great guide: Sequoia National Park Camping.
If you don’t have an RV rent one close to Sequoia National Park!
VRBO options:
Click here for more info on visiting Sequoia National Park In One Day or more tips on Sequoia National Park with kids.
We highly recommend visiting the Kings Canyon National Park when you are in Sequoia – we included it in our list since they are so close together. You can’t go to one and not the other. It has a whole different feel to it then Sequoia since you are up above the Canyon and then down in it.
Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon is a lesser-known National Park – I didn’t even know where or what it was until I started researching National Parks for our California road trip. I can’t believe more people don’t come! It was amazing.
We opted to try the first-come, first-serve campground. It was the weekend before Memorial Day, so we figured we had a good shot since it wasn’t hot travel season quite yet. We got in on a Friday at about 3:30 and easily found 2 sites (my sister and her family were with us, too).
I am so glad we stayed in the park – it gave us more time each day to explore so I would highly recommend finding a hotel or campground to stay at in the park when you visit.
We spent one full day exploring Kings Canyon and definitely could have used 2 if we wanted to get in a couple more hikes. Other than that, a day was the perfect amount of time to explore Kings Canyon Park.
Here Is What We Did In Kings Canyon
We started at Azalea campground, where we stayed for 3 nights exploring both Kings Canyon and Sequoia (note there are no hookups at the campground).
Please note you can stay in one place to visit both Sequoia and Kings Canyon – just be sure to check for any road closures before you book so you don’t find yourself having to drive further than anticipated.
High level look at what we did in Kings Canyon National Park. You can check out our full post for all the details here: 9 Top Things To Do In Kings Canyon National Park
- Hike to the General Grant Tree
- Grant Visitor Center
- Kings Canyon Scenic Byway
- On the Scenic Byway, we stopped at a couple of viewpoints:
- Junction View
- Grizzly Falls
- On the Scenic Byway, we stopped at a couple of viewpoints:
- Cedar Grove Visitor Center
- Roaring River Falls
- Zumwalt Meadow
Where To Stay For Kings Canyon National Park
We recommend staying at Azalea Campground. It’s close access to both King’s Canyon and Sequoia and the campground is really cool with all the giant Sequoias all around. Again, there are no hookups here, so be prepared with that. We had a small solar panel that we used to keep our battery charged up that worked pretty well.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park are well worth visiting if you are going to Yosemite. Don’t plan to just drive through, but plan to stay for a couple of days to really explore both parks. You will want to drive on the General’s Highway and stop to do some day hiking. The National Park Service is just amazing!
More Info Check Out:
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She loves being outside and exploring new places which is all made better when doing it with family and friends!
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Thanks for the tips! We are headed to Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Yosemite at the end of May with our 2 boys, so this info was perfect. We are so looking forward to our trip!
How was your trip?!