Kings Canyon National Park facts for kids

Kings Canyon National Park is a special place in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. It's a national park of the United States located in Fresno and Tulare Counties. The park was first created in 1890 as General Grant National Park. It grew much larger and was renamed Kings Canyon National Park on March 4, 1940.

The park is famous for its deep, rugged valley called Kings Canyon. This valley was carved by ancient glaciers and is over a mile (1,600 meters) deep! You can also find many tall mountains, peaceful meadows, fast-flowing rivers, and some of the world's biggest giant sequoia trees here. Kings Canyon National Park is right next to Sequoia National Park to the south. Both parks are managed together by the National Park Service.

Most of the park's 461,901 acres (186,925 hectares) are protected as wilderness. This means it's kept as natural as possible. Two main areas have visitor services: Grant Grove, where you can see the General Grant Tree (the second largest tree on Earth by trunk volume), and Cedar Grove, located deep inside Kings Canyon. To explore most of the park's high mountains, you need to hike overnight. The famous Pacific Crest Trail and John Muir Trail run through the entire park.

General Grant National Park was first created to save a small group of giant sequoia trees from being cut down. Even though John Muir helped people notice the huge wilderness area to the east, it took over 50 years for the rest of Kings Canyon to become a national park. Many people wanted to protect the area. However, some groups wanted to build hydroelectric dams in the canyon. The fight to protect the park continued even after President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded it in 1940. Finally, in 1965, the areas where dams were planned, Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley, were added to the park, protecting them forever.

After World War II, more people started visiting the park. There was a discussion about whether to build more resorts or keep the park natural for activities like hiking and camping. Those who wanted to preserve nature won. Today, Kings Canyon has limited services and places to stay. Because of this and fewer roads, it's one of the less visited major Sierra parks. In 2017, it had about 700,000 visitors, compared to 1.3 million at Sequoia and over 4 million at Yosemite.

Exploring Kings Canyon's Geography and Nature

Map of Kings Canyon National Park (click to enlarge)

Kings Canyon National Park sits on the western side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, east of the San Joaquin Valley. It has two main parts. The smaller, older western part is around Grant Grove. This is where many giant sequoias grow, and most visitor services are located. The larger eastern part is mostly wilderness. It features the deep canyons of the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River. Cedar Grove, at the bottom of Kings Canyon, is the only part of this vast eastern section you can reach by road, using Highway 180.

While much of the park is covered in forests, a large part of the eastern section is high alpine country, above the tree line. This area is usually free of snow only from late June to late October. You can only reach these high mountains by walking or riding horses.

The Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness covers over 768,000 acres (310,800 hectares) in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. This is almost 90 percent of their total area! Besides Sequoia National Park to the south, Kings Canyon is surrounded by other national forests and wilderness areas. These include the Sierra National Forest, Sequoia National Forest, and Inyo National Forest. The John Muir Wilderness is around much of the northern part of the park, and the Monarch Wilderness is between the park's two main sections.

Mountains and Deep Valleys

Kings Canyon is known for having some of the steepest changes in elevation in North America. Many peaks along the Sierra Crest on the park's eastern border are over 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) tall. Just 10 miles (16 km) to the west, the valley floor at Cedar Grove is 4,500 feet (1,372 meters high). The Sierra Crest forms the park's eastern edge, from Mount Goethe in the north to Junction Peak in the south. Several high passes, like Bishop Pass and Kearsarge Pass, cross this crest. All these passes are above 11,000 feet (3,353 meters) in elevation.

Mount Agassiz stands tall on the Sierra Crest, marking the eastern edge of the park.

Inside and around the park are several mountain ranges. The Palisades, on the eastern border, have four peaks over 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). This includes North Palisade, the highest point in the park at 14,248 feet (4,343 meters). The Great Western Divide runs through the south-central part of the park. It also has many peaks over 13,000 feet (3,962 meters), like Mount Brewer. The Monarch Divide, between the Kings River's Middle and South Forks, has some of the hardest-to-reach areas in the park. In the northwest, you'll find other steep ranges like the Goddard Divide, filled with high mountain lakes and deep canyons.

Most of the mountains and canyons are made of hard, igneous rocks like granite. These rocks formed deep underground over 100 million years ago. However, the Sierra Nevada mountains themselves are quite young, only about 10 million years old. Huge forces in the Earth's crust pushed and tilted the land, creating the mountains' gentle slope to the west and a steep drop to the east. Many cave systems have also formed in the rock layers, including Boyden Cave along the South Fork of the Kings River.

How Glaciers Shaped the Land

The upper part of Kings Canyon, seen here at Zumwalt Meadow, was carved out by Ice Age glaciers.

The high mountains we see today were mostly shaped by Ice Age glaciers over the last 2.5 million years. Huge valley glaciers moved up to 44 miles (71 km) down the South and Middle Forks of the Kings River. They carved out the unique U-shaped valleys at Cedar Grove, Paradise Valley, and Tehipite Valley. These glaciers didn't reach all the way to where the Middle and South Forks meet. Because of this, the canyons further downstream are V-shaped, unlike the U-shaped valleys upstream.

These glacial valleys have flat floors and tall granite cliffs and domes, thousands of feet high. They look similar to the more famous Yosemite Valley to the north. In the 1800s, John Muir even used the term "yosemite" to describe these valleys. He wrote about Kings Canyon, calling it a "grander valley of the same kind" as Yosemite. He described its "stupendous rocks of purplish gray granite" and its "flowery meadows and groves."

Dusy Basin has many small lakes, like this one, carved by glaciers from granite.

Other important glacial features include Tehipite Dome, the largest granite dome in the Sierra. It rises 3,500 feet (1,067 meters) above Tehipite Valley. In Kings Canyon, these steep granite cliffs often experience exfoliation (peeling rock layers) and frost weathering. Earthquakes can also cause sudden and dramatic rockfalls. Over thousands of years, these rockfalls have created large piles of broken rock, called talus slopes, at the base of almost every glacial valley.

Zumwalt Meadow, one of the few flat areas in the park, formed from dirt and rocks piling up behind a glacier's terminal moraine (a ridge of debris left by a glacier). In Kings Canyon, there are actually four such moraines. The Kings River flows over these, creating whitewater rapids in an area where it usually flows calmly through meadows. These "nested moraines" were each created by glaciers of different lengths during various Ice Ages.

In the high country, the landscape of bare rock and talus left by glaciers is full of hanging valleys, waterfalls, jagged ridges (arêtes), bowl-shaped hollows (cirques), and hundreds of alpine tarns (small lakes). Some of the highest peaks still have permanent snowfields and even glaciers. Palisade Glacier, the largest in the Sierra, is near the park's edge. These glaciers are not from the Ice Ages. They likely formed during colder times in the last 1,000 years. Sadly, the park's glaciers are now melting quickly due to rising temperatures and might disappear in a few decades.

Rivers and Waterways

The Roaring River, a branch of the South Fork Kings River

Grizzly Falls, near Cedar Grove

Many major Sierra rivers begin in the park. The South Fork Kings River starts near Taboose Pass and drains much of the southern half of the park. It carved the canyon that gives the park its name. The Middle Fork Kings River begins near Mount Powell and drains most of the park's northern half. A smaller part in the park's northern tip is drained by the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. The Kings River drops over 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) from the Sierra crest to Pine Flat Reservoir. This is the longest undammed drop of any North American river.

Most of the park's boundaries follow watershed divides between river basins. The eastern boundary follows the Sierra Crest. To the east, the Owens River drains into the Great Basin. The southern boundary with Sequoia National Park is the divide between the Kings, Kaweah, and Kern Rivers. Part of the western boundary follows the divide between the Middle and North Forks of the Kings River.

The different branches of the Kings River meet in the Sequoia National Forest, just outside the park's western boundary. Here, the river forms one of the deepest canyons in North America. Its walls rise as much as 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) from the river to the rim. This is about half a mile (0.8 km) deeper than the Grand Canyon. The canyons upstream at Cedar Grove are also more than 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) deep. While Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley look like Yosemite Valley, the park doesn't have waterfalls as tall as Yosemite's. However, there are several powerful, shorter waterfalls like Mist Falls, Roaring River Falls, and Grizzly Falls in the Cedar Grove area. The backcountry has some much higher falls, like Silver Spray Falls in Tehipite Valley, which drops about 700 feet (213 meters) in several steps.

Both the Kings and San Joaquin Rivers flow west into the dry San Joaquin Valley. The San Joaquin eventually flows into San Francisco Bay. However, the Kings River used to end in Tulare Lake, which was one of the largest freshwater lakes in the western United States before its waters were used for irrigation. The park's rivers rise and fall with the seasons. Heavy snowfall (usually from November to April) is followed by a quick melt in May and June. Water levels drop a lot by late July, and rivers are often just a trickle by autumn. Snow in the higher areas of Kings Canyon National Park can be very deep, often hundreds of inches, but the amount of snow changes a lot each year.

Climate in Kings Canyon

The climate in most of Kings Canyon National Park is a warm-summer Mediterranean climate. This means it has warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Only the lowest parts of the park have a hot-summer Mediterranean climate. The Plant Hardiness zone at Cedar Grove Visitor Center, at 4,613 feet (1,406 meters) elevation, is 8a. This means the average coldest temperature in winter is about 12.3°F (-10.9°C).

Plants and Animals of Kings Canyon

The amazing General Grant Tree, found in the General Grant Grove of giant sequoias in Kings Canyon National Park

Kings Canyon and Sequoia Parks are home to over 1,200 kinds of plants. This is about 20 percent of all plant species in California! In 1976, UNESCO named Kings Canyon part of the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Biosphere Reserve. Because the park has such a wide range of elevations, it has many different plant communities. At lower elevations, the park has dry Sierra foothills with mostly chaparral, bushes, and shrubs. Along streams, you often find oaks, sycamores, willows, and other hardwood trees.

In the middle elevations, most of the park has mixed-conifer forests. Here, you'll see ponderosa pine, incense cedar, white fir, sugar pine, and scattered groups of giant sequoias. These are found in places like Cedar Grove and the slopes around Grant Grove. Kings Canyon runs almost east to west. This means the north wall is hotter and drier because it gets more sunlight. The cooler, shaded south wall has more trees. Higher up, as you get closer to the subalpine zone, you'll find more red fir and lodgepole pine. Even higher, near the tree line, whitebark pine, mountain hemlock, and foxtail pine are common. Together, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks protect 202,430 acres (81,920 hectares) of old-growth forests.

While Sequoia National Park is more famous for its giant sequoias, Kings Canyon also has many of these huge trees. This includes the General Grant Tree, the second largest tree on Earth, located in General Grant Grove. The Redwood Mountain Grove, a bit further south, is the largest living sequoia grove in the world. It covers over 2,500 acres (1,012 hectares) and has the tallest known sequoia, standing 311 feet (95 meters) high. The Converse Basin Grove, just outside the park, was once much larger. However, it was almost completely cut down in the late 1800s. Many sequoia groves that were logged, like the Big Stump Grove, are now growing back. This process will take many hundreds of years.

The forests are home to many animals. You might see mule deer, Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and black bears. There are also many kinds of birds and reptiles. The Park Service is working to help the bighorn sheep population grow, as they are an endangered species in this area. In 2014, several bighorn sheep were released into the Sequoia-Kings Canyon area. Grizzly bears used to live in the park, but they were hunted until they disappeared by the early 1900s. The Kings River's branches at these middle and lower elevations are also known for their wild trout. The Kings River is considered "one of the finest large trout fisheries in the state."

An American black bear in Kings Canyon National Park

In the high alpine country, plants are mostly meadows, herbs, and shrubs. You'll also find scattered groups of foxtail pine and small, twisted whitebark pine trees. These trees often grow in krummholtz formations, where their branches stay close to the ground. Talus slopes are home to small mammals like pikas and yellow-bellied marmots. Birds like gray-crowned rosy finches and American pipits, and sensitive amphibians like mountain yellow-legged frogs and Yosemite toads, eat insects near alpine lakes and wetlands. Larger animals like bears might visit the alpine zone to find food. However, they don't stay there for the winter.

Protecting the Park: Human Impacts and Management

Even though most of the park is now wilderness, people have changed the environment here for a long time. Native Americans used to set controlled burns to clear areas for hunting and to help certain plants grow. In the early 1900s, a policy of "complete fire suppression" meant that all fires were put out. This caused a lot of dead plants and dry wood to build up in the forests. By the 1960s, scientists realized this was stopping the park's sequoias from reproducing. Sequoia bark can resist fire, but the trees need regular fires to clear away other plants, like white firs, that compete with them. In 1963, scientists purposely set fire to part of the Redwood Mountain Grove. This was the first fire in any of the park's sequoia groves in 75 years. Thousands of new sequoia seedlings grew! This success led to the park's first long-term program of controlled burns in 1972.

A beautiful meadow and forest along the Copper Creek Trail, on the north side of Kings Canyon.

A big problem for the park in the late 1800s and early 1900s was livestock grazing, especially sheep. Ranchers brought their herds into the Sierra Nevada to escape the dry, hot San Joaquin Valley. Meadows were trampled by thousands of hooves, which led to more erosion and damaged waterways. Grizzly bears and wolves, which hunted livestock, were trapped and poisoned. This caused them to disappear from the Sierra by the early 1900s.

The Sierra Forest Reserve, which included what would become Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, was created in 1893. But even then, as many as half a million sheep were illegally grazed there. In 1917, the government started to stop illegal grazing. They set up a system to manage and restore the land. Sheep were completely banned from Kings Canyon after the park was created in 1940. Livestock grazing is still allowed in some national forest lands around the park. Sometimes, hikers might see gated drift fences in the wilderness. These are designed to control where livestock can go. Visitors must close all gates behind them to keep livestock out of protected areas.

When natural predators disappeared in the early 1900s, the deer population grew very large. This problem got worse because park visitors fed the deer. This led to overgrazing, and plants on the forest floor almost disappeared in many areas. When the park expanded in 1940, the Park Service started to reduce the deer population. While this helped bring deer numbers to a healthier level, some people didn't like this method. Today, the only animals allowed to be ridden in the park are pack horses and mules. They are only allowed in certain areas along major trails, and usually not early in the season. This protects the wet, soft meadows in the spring.

The park still has a healthy population of black bears. These bears are usually not aggressive towards people, but they do like to steal human food. The Park Service has put bear lockers in campgrounds and requires campers to use bear canisters. They also try to move bears away from busy areas. This has worked well in the backcountry, where bears have mostly stopped connecting backpackers with food. However, it's still a problem near developed campgrounds. Visitors should store all food and scented items in lockers and put trash in bearproof garbage cans. Sometimes, rangers still have to remove "problem bears" who get too used to human food.

A Look at Human History in Kings Canyon

Early People of the Canyon

Kearsarge and Bullfrog Lakes seen from Kearsarge Pass. This pass was a main route for Paiute peoples traveling from the Owens Valley into Kings Canyon.

People have lived in the Kings Canyon National Park area for about 6,000 to 7,000 years. The Owens Valley Paiutes (also called Eastern Monos) came to this region from their home east of the Sierra Nevada. They mainly ate acorns and hunted deer and other small animals. They created trade routes that connected the Owens Valley with the Central Valley, west of the Sierra Nevada. The Yokuts lived in the Central Valley. They also traveled into the mountains during summer to gather plants, hunt, and trade. Because winters were harsh, they didn't build permanent villages in the high country. Before Europeans arrived, there were about 15,000 to 20,000 Yokuts and about 6,000 Monos.

Around the 1500s AD, some Eastern Mono people moved across the Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley. They built settlements next to Yokuts land in the Sierra foothills near the Kings River. This group became known as the Monaches, or Western Mono. They eventually split into as many as six different groups. One of these groups lived near Grant Grove. The native population suffered greatly when Americans expanded into the area in the 1800s. A smallpox sickness killed most of the Monache people in 1862. Very few remain in the area today.

First Explorers and Logging

Early Spanish explorers in California mostly missed what is now Kings Canyon National Park. In 1805, Gabriel Moraga led an expedition through the Central Valley. He crossed what is now the Kings River and named it Rio de los Santo Reyes (River of the Holy Kings). Fur trappers also visited the area in the 1820s. However, they probably didn't go into the high mountains because beavers, which they hunted, only lived at lower elevations. After them came prospectors during the California Gold Rush, which started in 1848. But not much gold or other minerals were found here. Hale Tharp, a gold miner who didn't find much gold, is credited with discovering Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park in 1858. This led to more exploration and the discovery of other sequoia forests, including Grant Grove.

Gamlin Cabin, built by loggers in 1872, is the oldest building still standing in Kings Canyon National Park.

In the 1860s, a road was built to Grant Grove, and many sequoias there were cut down. The first sawmill opened in 1862. Logging grew and almost completely cleared Converse Basin, which was once one of the world's largest sequoia groves. However, the Boole tree, the biggest tree in that grove, was saved. The General Grant tree was discovered by Joseph H. Thomas, a sawmill operator, in 1862. Thomas's business partners, the Gamlin brothers, owned the land around Grant Grove. Their home, built around 1872, is now a historic site.

In the 1870s, a government study showed how special General Grant Grove was. Israel Gamlin was convinced to give up his land claim so the area could be protected. But this didn't completely stop logging. In 1875, a 300-foot (91-meter) sequoia was cut down. A section of it was sent to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. People in the eastern United States reportedly didn't believe it was part of a single tree and called it the "California Hoax." The Centennial Stump, and most of the tree, are still important features in Grant Grove. Ladies from a nearby logging camp used to hold Sunday school services for their children on the stump.

Exploring the Wilderness

North Palisade from Windy Point, photographed by Ansel Adams, around 1936.

The first non-native people to go into what is now the Kings Canyon backcountry were likely John C. Fremont's group in 1844. They tried to cross the Sierra Nevada using the Kings River. However, a snowstorm stopped them, and they had to go back to the Central Valley. In 1858, the J.H. Johnson group successfully crossed the Sierra using the route Fremont had tried to find. This was through Kearsarge Pass at the far eastern end of Kings Canyon.

The first scientific trip to the area was the 1864 Whitney Survey. This was done by the Geological Survey of California and led by William Brewer. After trying and failing to reach the top of Mount Whitney, Brewer's group went down into Kings Canyon using Native American trails. They noticed how much it looked like Yosemite and were amazed by the huge height of its cliffs. Even though the rough land made travel hard, they found a way up the north wall of the canyon. They named several important features, including Mount King, Mount Gardiner, the Palisades, and Mount Brewer. From the top of the peak that would be named after him, Brewer described the view: "Such a landscape! A hundred peaks in sight over thirteen thousand feet... deep canyons, cliffs in every direction almost rival Yosemite... all combined to produce a view of sublimity of which is rarely equaled."

Brewer's group left Kings Canyon through Kearsarge Pass. There, they met a group of prospectors led by Thomas Keough. We don't know much about the Keough expedition. However, the miners had been looking for gold on the North Fork of the Kings River. They were returning to their homes in the Owens Valley. This means they must have crossed the Middle Fork, which was then thought to be impossible for white settlers to reach. This makes them the first non-natives to do so. Around 1869, a sheep herder named Frank Dusy discovered and named the Middle Fork's Tehipite Valley. He later grazed his sheep there. Besides these occasional uses, most of the high country remained rarely visited and largely unexplored.

Creating the Park

Paintings of Kings Canyon by Albert Bierstadt, an early California landscape artist. Left: Kings River Canyon, California (around 1870) Right: Mount Brewer from King's River Canyon, California (1872)

Kings Canyon didn't get much public attention until John Muir first visited in 1873. Muir was thrilled by how much the canyon looked like Yosemite Valley. This supported his idea that the valleys were carved by huge glaciers during the last ice age. This was different from Josiah Whitney's popular idea that mountain valleys were formed by earthquakes. Muir's writings about the park's geology and its magnificent sequoia groves led to calls to protect the area. Muir himself continued to work hard for this cause. In 1880, the government stopped logging claims in the Grant Grove area. This was largely due to the efforts of Colonel George W. Stewart.

In March 1890, a bill (H.R. 8350) was introduced to Congress by Representative William Vandever. It suggested creating Yosemite National Park. Later, some "political maneuvering" led to a different bill, H.R. 12187. This new bill also included plans for a General Grant National Park and expanding Sequoia National Park. We don't fully know how this bill came about. However, local politicians who wanted to protect the park were likely involved. Daniel K. Zumwalt, an agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad, which owned many lumber businesses in California, might have seen the park as a way to push their competitors out of business in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon area. On October 1, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed the bill into law. This created General Grant National Park, the United States' fourth national park. Today, it's part of the smaller western section of Kings Canyon National Park.

For many years, the main way for tourists to reach General Grant National Park was the Stephens Grade. This was a rough wagon road where a stagecoach operated from Visalia starting in the early 1900s. At first, the U.S. Army had to send troops to protect the park from illegal grazing and hunting. These problems eventually stopped. However, the growing number of visitors created new issues with trash and sanitation. In the summer of 1907, about 1,100 people visited the park. A new road reached General Grant National Park by 1913. That summer, almost 2,800 tourists visited. In 1914, the park's management changed from military to civilian control. The National Park Service was officially created in 1916.

Recent History and Park Growth

The new Kings Canyon administration initially found it hard to manage the huge park. It was more than 700 times larger than the original Grant Grove area. In the early years, staff and knowledge were often shared from Sequoia National Park. In 1943, the management of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks was combined. This was done to save money during World War II. After the war, this arrangement continued. Today, the two parks are still managed as one. After the war, the number of visitors grew a lot. It jumped from just over 82,000 in 1945 to 450,000 in 1951. People wanted more tourist facilities at Cedar Grove, where the state highway ended. However, the valley was not officially part of the park because of groups interested in water development. Extending the road through the valley was a debated topic because of possible harm to nature. By 1947, the Park Service had a plan for tourist lodges, shops, and a pack station.

A view of the Kings River at Zumwalt Meadow in 1940, the same year most of Kings Canyon became a national park. This area would have been flooded by the proposed Cedar Grove Dam.

Then, in 1948, Los Angeles again asked to build dams in Kings Canyon. The Kings River Conservation District (KRCD), which represented local water agencies, immediately claimed the same sites. KRCD didn't actually want to build dams. They hoped to stop Los Angeles from threatening their water supply. The Federal Power Commission rejected Los Angeles's request, just as it had before 1940. But the city kept trying until 1963. Finally, both the California State Water Board and the federal government denied the request.

One reason the project failed was that even though the Cedar Grove dam site was outside the park, the project needed two more dams upstream to be financially possible. However, those sites were now inside the park boundary, as set in 1940. On August 6, 1965, Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley were finally added to the park. This permanently protected them from new dams. These additions (except for a tiny section in 1984, south of Grant Grove) brought Kings Canyon National Park to its current size.

Starting in the 1950s, as more people visited national parks, the Park Service started Mission 66. This plan suggested building many new visitor facilities for Kings Canyon and other parks. This included new visitor centers at Grant Grove and Cedar Grove, electricity and sewage systems at Cedar Grove, and many new places to stay, trails, and parking areas.

After the Cedar Grove development was delayed by the dam debates, the Park Service released a new plan in 1972. It included cabins for 260 people and a large store and cafeteria complex. They hoped to develop the area like Yosemite Valley. In 1974, the park had 1,216,800 visitors, a number not reached since. However, by 1975, public meetings showed strong opposition to such intense development. In the end, only a small lodge and store were added to the canyon.

The increasing number of visitors to the backcountry, from 8,000 in 1962 to over 44,000 in 1971, created its own problems. These included litter, illegal campfires, and encounters with wildlife like bears. In 1966 and 1971, the Park Service suggested making most of the park a wilderness. This would place much stricter rules on its use. In 1973, the number of backpackers was limited for the first time using a quota system. Finally, on September 28, 1984, Congress officially made over 85 percent of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks into wilderness. In 1987, the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River were named Wild and Scenic.

Fun Things to Do in Kings Canyon

Grant Grove is the only entrance to the park where you can drive in. It's 60 miles (97 km) east of Fresno via Highway 180. You can also get there from Sequoia National Park to the south using Highway 198, the Generals Highway. These roads meet in Grant Grove Village. From there, Highway 180 continues another 35 miles (56 km) northeast to Cedar Grove. You cannot drive into the park from Highway 395 on the eastern side. Currently, there is no public transportation to Kings Canyon National Park.

A beautiful forested area of Kings Canyon National Park near Grant Grove, the original park established in 1890.

The National Park Service has visitor centers at Grant Grove and Cedar Grove. Grant Grove Village is the most developed part of the park. It has the 36-room John Muir Lodge (the park's largest hotel), visitor cabins, a restaurant, and a general store. Cedar Grove also has a small market, but its facilities are much more limited. The Grant Grove section is open all year, unless there's extreme weather. Cedar Grove is closed in winter. Highway 180 is plowed only up to Princess Meadow, where the Hume Lake Road branches off. This road stays open to Hume Lake in winter.

Because it has limited road access, Kings Canyon gets fewer visitors than Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks. The overall drop in national park visits in the late 1990s affected Kings Canyon more than other parks. From 1970 to 1990, it averaged almost a million visitors per year. But in the 21st century, it has averaged only about 560,000. In 2016, visits increased to 607,479, which was the highest count since 1995 (except for 2009). Since records began in 1904, about 53 million people have visited Kings Canyon.

Camping and Hiking Adventures

In Grant Grove, there are three main campgrounds: Azalea, Crystal Springs, and Sunset. They have a total of 319 campsites. Most operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Cedar Grove has 314 campsites in the Sentinel, Sheep Creek, and Moraine Campgrounds, also first-come, first-served. Sites at the Canyon View group camp must be reserved. During busy times, some campsites might require reservations. All campgrounds have flush toilets and showers, but water use might be limited depending on the season.

Roaring River Falls, 40 feet (12 meters) high, is easy to reach with a short walk in Cedar Grove.

There are many day hikes in the parts of Kings Canyon National Park that you can reach by road. In the Grant Grove area, a one-mile (1.6 km) trail leads to the General Grant Tree. Several longer trails go to nearby interesting spots like Redwood Mountain, the largest sequoia grove. In Cedar Grove, easy hikes include the boardwalk path through Zumwalt Meadow, which offers wide views of Kings Canyon. There's also a short walk to Roaring River Falls. Many longer day hikes are available, such as an 8-mile (13 km) round trip to Mist Falls, and a 13-mile (21 km) round trip climb to Lookout Peak above Kings Canyon.

Several historical sites in the park are easy to reach with short walks. These include Gamlin Cabin, built around 1872 by the Gamlin brothers. They had a timber claim at Grant Grove before it became a national park. It's believed to be the first permanent building in the park area. Knapp Cabin, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the oldest building still standing in Cedar Grove, dating back to 1925. Another interesting place is the large Boyden Cavern system. Its entrance is just outside the park's western boundary, in the Monarch Wilderness. The cave was temporarily closed from 2015 until 2019 because of damage from the Rough Fire.

Exploring the Backcountry

Most of Kings Canyon is wilderness, and roads only go a short distance into the park. So, backpacking (and sometimes horsepacking) is the only way to see most of the park. Unlike day hikers, overnight backpackers need a wilderness permit from a ranger station or visitor center. During the busiest tourist season (usually May to September), there's a limit on wilderness permits. 75 percent are saved for reservations, and the rest are for people who walk in. Outside this busy period, permits are still needed, but there's no limit. Even though backpackers are a small part of all visitors, some backcountry trails are still very popular. Because some backcountry camps are so popular, stays might be limited to one or two nights. In the summer, the Park Service has rangers at backcountry stations in McClure Meadow, Le Conte Meadow, Rae Lakes, Charlotte Lake, and Roaring River.

Rae Lakes (Middle Rae Lake is shown) is a popular backpacking spot in the park.

Road's End at Cedar Grove is a major starting point for trips into the backcountry. The Rae Lakes Loop, 41.4 miles (66.6 km) long, is one of the most popular backpacking trips. It goes through the deep canyons of Paradise Valley, over the high Woods Creek suspension bridge, and through open alpine country. It then reaches Rae Lakes, a chain of glacial lakes below 13,000-foot (3,962-meter) peaks. Hikers on the Rae Lakes Loop also climb over Glen Pass, reaching a peak elevation of almost 12,000 feet (3,658 meters). From the top of the pass, you can see amazing views of Rae Lakes and the surrounding area. The combined Pacific Crest Trail/John Muir Trail is the main part of the trail system. It winds about 77 miles (124 km) from Piute Canyon in the park's north to Forester Pass, 13,153 feet (4,009 meters) high, in the south. Many hikes in Kings Canyon, including Rae Lakes, use parts of the PCT/JMT. There are also trailheads at Grant Grove that lead to easier hikes in the lower western Sierra Nevada, many in the Jennie Lakes Wilderness (just outside the national park).

Many parts of the park, like the Middle Fork of the Kings River, are harder to reach. They require multi-day hikes over tough terrain. Simpson Meadow on the Middle Fork is a 23-mile (37 km) one-way hike from Cedar Grove. It involves climbing and descending over 12,000 feet (3,658 meters). Other trailheads outside the park lead to more isolated places, like Tehipite Valley. This is a 14-mile (23 km) one-way hike from the Wishon Dam trailhead in the Sierra National Forest. The 3,000-foot (914-meter) exposed and unmaintained descent into the valley is known as one of the park's most difficult hikes. Several trails also enter the park from the Owens Valley to the east. All of them cross passes over 11,000 feet (3,353 meters) high. The closest and most used eastern approach is via Onion Valley Road. This road ends about a mile (1.6 km) east of the park boundary in the Inyo National Forest. The Kearsarge Pass Trail starts at Onion Valley Campground and connects to the PCT/JMT through the pass.

In spring and early summer, crossing rivers can be dangerous. The Park Service has built bridges along some major trails to help. By late August or September in most years, rivers will have dropped to safe levels. The high country is usually free of snow between May and November. However, in very wet years, large areas of snow might stay until July. In winter, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are popular activities. The Park Service offers ranger-led snowshoe walks and keeps some trails groomed in the Grant Grove area. Longer trips into the backcountry are also possible. But because of the rough land, deep snow, and lack of ranger patrols in winter, this is only recommended for experienced winter travelers. Just like backpacking, wilderness permits are needed for any overnight trips in winter.

Climbing and Canyoneering Challenges

Tehipite Dome, in the Kings Canyon backcountry, has various climbing routes.

The large, exposed granite cliffs and domes in Kings Canyon offer chances for rock climbing. However, many of these features require long or difficult hikes to reach their bases, which discourages many climbers. These include The Obelisk, overlooking Kings Canyon at the park's western boundary. There are also multi-pitch climbs at Charlito Dome and Charlotte Dome, far up the Bubbs Creek Trail. Tehipite Dome requires a nearly 30-mile (48 km) roundtrip hike just to get there. Many of the park's tall peaks also need technical climbing. This includes North Palisade, the highest point in the park, and other peaks along the Sierra crest. North Palisade is described as "the classic peak of the High Sierra" with routes for climbers of all skill levels.

Canyoneering, bouldering, bushwhacking, and rappelling are often needed to explore parts of the backcountry without developed trails. A particularly challenging route is down Enchanted Gorge in the Middle Fork backcountry. Here, Disappearing Creek vanishes under huge piles of rock only to reappear several miles downstream, giving it its name. Nearby Goddard Canyon is an easier, but still rugged, route. It's known for its beautiful meadows and many waterfalls. The Gorge of Despair above Tehipite Valley is famous for its cliffs, waterfalls, and deep pools. Descending its 3,000 feet (914 meters) requires rappelling gear and wetsuits. Because the park is so large, has no cell service, and limited search and rescue teams, only experienced cross-country travelers should try to hike off-trail.

Water Sports Fun

A section of the South Fork in Cedar Grove

In Cedar Grove, about 10 miles (16 km) of the South Fork are great for fly fishing. The Park Service stopped stocking the river with trout in the 1970s. They wanted the fish population to return to natural conditions. While rainbow, brown, and brook trout are found in different parts of the river, only rainbow trout are native to the Sierra Nevada. The others were put there by fishermen in the early 1900s. The river is usually low and warm enough for wading by early autumn. To protect the natural fish, only catch and release is allowed for rainbow trout. Visitors 16 years or older need a California state fishing license. The rainbow trout in the Kings River are usually small, about 8 to 9 inches (20 to 23 cm) long.

To protect the plants and animals along the river, the gently flowing South Fork is closed to boating in Cedar Grove between Bubbs Creek and the park's western boundary. However, swimming is allowed in certain parts of the river. Muir Rock and the Red Bridge are popular swimming spots. Although there are many alpine lakes in the park at high elevations, most are too hard to reach for boating or swimming. Nearby Hume Lake, created by an old mill-pond dam, is in the Sequoia National Forest between the two sections of the park. It's used for boating, swimming, and fishing.

Most of the park's other rivers are very steep and fast-flowing. They are only suitable for advanced kayaking. The Kings River above Pine Flat Reservoir is a commercial whitewater rafting area. Its starting point is near the park's western boundary, but most of the trip is in the national forest. Most rivers inside the park itself cannot be reached by road. The Middle Fork is one of the hardest whitewater runs to access in the entire state. Boats and equipment must be carried for miles through the backcountry to reach it. Canoe Kayak magazine describes the Middle Fork run as "the very definition of epic." Kayakers travel from all over the world to experience this once-in-a-lifetime descent. Kayakers take about five days to go down the Class V Middle Fork from its 12,000-foot (3,658-meter) starting point to 900 feet (274 meters) at Pine Flat Reservoir.

See also

In Spanish: Parque nacional Cañón de los Reyes para niños

• Bibliography of the Sierra Nevada
• Ecology of the Sierra Nevada
• Giant Sequoia National Monument
• List of national parks of the United States
• List of plants of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
• List of U.S. National Parks by elevation
• National parks in California
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks
• Protected areas of the Sierra Nevada