the noise of vacationing
crowds and motorized
tram tours during the
early morning or evening.
Notwithstanding a
cruel hack job back in
1895, the walk-through
California Tunnel Tree
continues to survive,
so pose your family in
front and snap away. If
you’ve got the energy for
a 5-mile round-trip hike
to the upper grove, the
Mariposa Grove Museum
(h10am-4pm May-Sep) has
displays about sequoia
ecology inside a pioneer
cabin.The Drive » From Yosemite’s
south entrance station, it’s a
120-mile, three-hour trip to
Kings Canyon National Park.
Follow Hwy 41 south 60 miles to
Fresno, then slingshot east on
Hwy 180 for another 50 miles,
climbing out of the Central
Valley back into the mountains.
Keep left at the Hwy 198
intersection, staying on Hwy 180
towards Grant Grove.7 Grant Grove
Through Sequoia &
Kings Canyon National
Park (%559-565-3341;
http://www.nps.gov/seki; 7-day pass
per car $20; c), roads
seem barely to scratch
the surface of the twin
parks’ beauty. To see real
treasures, you’ll need to
get out and stretch your
legs. North of Big Stump
entrance station in Grant
Grove Village, turn left
and wind downhill to
General Grant Grove,
where you’ll see some
of the park’s landmarkGERHARD ZWERGER-SCHONER / IMAGEBROKER / CORBIS ©
CENTRAL.CALIFORNIA.19
.YOSEMITE, SEqUOIA & KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS