Hello! Welcome back to the second part of this three part post overview of a road trip to Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Sierra National Forests that Jay and I went on a few weeks ago. If you haven’t already, head over to the first part to read about the first few days of our trip.
We last left the overview with Jay and I turning in for the night at our campsite a little ways from the Hume Lake Recreation Area. The next day we made our way over to the Hume Lake after breakfast and started exploring the area. First though we had to pick up a few things from the General Store. It was then that we realized that there is a christian camp that provides the few services you can find in that area: the General Store, Snack Shack, Boat Rental Shop, and a Gas Station. While Jay found the items we needed, I attempted to go online to see if I could get a reservation ticket for a trip to Yosemite while Jay hiked. This area being in the middle of nowhere, didn’t have any service and apparently I would have to pay for wifi. Thankfully the store cashier was kind enough to lend me his phone with wifi, but unfortunately by that time of day all the tickets were gone so I decided to try again early in the morning the next day when the tickets became available at 7 am before dropping Jay off for his hike. We asked the cashier about things to do in the area and he suggested renting a boat to go out on the lake for a few hours, but we’d have to wait until the Boat Rental Shop opened.
After picking up a few gallons of water (we couldn’t find a spigot to refill our 5 gallon container anywhere…) and some bug spray for Jay while he hikes (Jay and I aren’t used to mosquitoes! Arizona doesn’t have any since there’s not really any humidity), we drove over to one side of the lake down a road that leads to a “closed to vehicles road” where you can walk along the lake a bit and then on a path with a bridge just below the dam for the lake. Since Southern Cali is so dry, pretty much all of the lakes are man made, except for the alpine lakes that are small in the mountains. The walk was short but it gave us a different view of the lake and gave us something to do while we waited for the Rental Shop to open.
After our walk, we made our way back over to the services area and rented a rowboat for two hours. Since my shoulders were bothering me that day Jay graciously offered to row, I tried it though and went in circles a bit but then felt my shoulders getting sore and let Jay continue. The lake is very peaceful to row around if you’re able to get away from the crowds of other tourists and campers. My original plan was to go swimming, but I decided against it because the lake is a bit cloudy and warm and just isn’t too appealing when you’re the only one in your group that wants to go swimming.
Once we got back I still wanted to go swimming REAL bad because I was sweating like crazy from the heat. Jay makes fun of me for “melting” even when its in the 70s and 80s, but I can’t help it, I guess I just run hot! We knew there was a stream that fed into the lake and so on our drive back to our campsite we stopped at a pull-off with a trail down to the stream. Not sure if it would be considered a river or stream but it was big enough that a few small pools had formed that one can wade in. There’s even a spot where you can slide down the rocks while being pushed by the current in to one of the small pools. I had a blast doing that letting my inner kid out to play. After a bit of coercing I finally got Jay to do it too, and even though he didn’t show it as much as me, I think he had a bit of fun too.
We swam for awhile and then made our way back to our campsite for the evening. We hung out on a boulder over looking a bit of the meadow near the site. While sitting on our Kelty chair relaxing, I noticed a deer across the meadow. Jay got excited and went to grab his binoculars, but by the time he came back it had gone. We’re always making the joke that we never have the binoculars when we need them, and in this instant we proved that theory right again! We made our dinner and went to sleep, and we both set our alarms to 5:45 am.
The next morning we packed up our camp and headed over to the services area so I could get online for a little while and try again to get the Yosemite reservation ticket. Because of the pandemic, the NPS (National Park Service) is limiting the number of people entering the park by offering a select amount of reservation tickets. You can either select the start day (that then lasts for seven days of entry) during the previous month when the next month opens up, or two days prior to when you want your start day. Obviously one is less likely to get a ticket two days prior because the number of tickets is low at the point. I logged into my account and waited for 7am to roll around. At 7am the drop down tab is supposed to show availability for the start day two days from then but instead I ended up waiting a few more minutes most likely because of all the people trying to get a ticket online that time, and then it showed no availability. I was bummed but decided to try the next morning, as long as I ended up camping close enough to drive to a spot with service.
It was time to drive Jay to the trailhead for his hike, and so we began the hour drive in to Kings Canyon where there is no outlet. The drive is quite scenic as you drive up, over, and around the mountains and hills of the Sierras. We reached the trailhead that is literally at the end up the Kings Canyon road and Jay began gathering the last of his things to start his hike. I sat in the car eating a nectarine while watching him pack his things and started thinking about what I was going to do for the next three days without him, especially if I wasn’t able to get the Yosemite reservation ticket.
After we said our farewell for the next four days I drove out of Kings Canyon and back to the Hume Lake services area to use a bit more wifi for planning what to do next. There were a few free National Forests Camping areas in the Sierra National Forest near Huntington Lake so I decided to head to that area and find a site. I knew that tomorrow I wasn’t going to be able to do Yosemite so my plan was to explore the area around my campsite and then head closer to Yosemite if I got a ticket for the 10th of July. Before I left the Hume Lake area I decided to do a run around the lake, cool off in what I call a cold tub (little eroded rock pools of cold stream water), and then make a bit of lunch.
After cooling off and eating lunch I headed out on my drive out of the sierras, through Fresno, and then back into the mountains to the Sierra National Forest. When I reached Fresno I stopped at Whole Foods to get a few items for my meals for the next few days. After getting my groceries I headed over to a gas station to refill before heading in to the mountains again. While at the gas station I plugged the name of one of the camping areas I had found on Campendium in to Google Maps since before my destination had been the Whole Foods.
Once the location had been entered it popped up with the usual description of the location….and claimed it was closed! I went on the National Forest Website and confirmed this and that a lot of the camping areas in the area were also closed. Still not entirely sure why, but at that moment I knew I had to re-make my plans. I still had hope that I’d get a ticket for Yosemite, so I found another camping area somewhat on the way to Yosemite that wasn’t too far from a lake that I could hang out at for the days leading up to the 10th. There also were several other areas to disperse camp at in case this one area was full.
Nelder Grove is a camping area far into the foothills of the Sierra National Forest, just outside the town of Oakhurst and before the Yosemite West entrance. It takes about a half hour to drive up into the hills, and as you drive there you notice an area that must have had a fire at some point awhile back because all the trees are standing dead with no leaves and have bushes and new growth in the understory.
The entrance road up to Nelder Grove is a very steep one-way rocky road that brings you to a basic Interpretive Center, then past a host for the camping area, then to a parking lot for a trail of sequoias, and finally to a fork that leads you to either the drive-in camping area or the walk-in camping area. I first checked out the drive-in area of course but there was no area to park my car on a flat surface- which was necessary since I was sleeping in my car. I then drove over to the walk-in area and only one car was parked. There was a small flat spot off to the side of the parking area that I decided could work. I felt okay to stay there only because I wasn’t causing too much extra impact other than parking my car there and setting up my table and chair. Thankfully no one told me to move, so I claimed that as my spot for the next three nights.
That wraps up part two of this adventure! Originally I was planning on giving you an overview of my first day exploring this area but instead I’ll be saving that for part three since part two had so much content. Thanks for waiting a few extra days for this post! This week kind of got away from me. I’ve been on unemployment so long that it’s hard to keep track of what day it is nowadays. Thanks for reading, see you next week in part three!
Mahalo and Kia Ora!
Peace Wellness Resource 