The main entry point to Kings Canyon is at Roads End, west of Fresno.
Hikes
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Pictures of these hikes
Driving directions
Directions for Roads End from the Bay Area.
Take 101 south, 152 east lo Los Banos (about 1 hr 30') to 99 (about 2hr),
99 south to Fresno (about 300 kms, 2h 30').
In Fresno, take 180 east and follow it
to the Big Stump park entrance (85 kms, 1h 15')
to the fork with Sequoia Park (5') to Grant Grove village (3kms, visitor center,
restaurant, water, restrooms, market)
to Cedar Grove (50 winding kms, 50', via Kings Canyon Lodge 20', Boyden Cavern 30', Kings Canyon border 40') and then (10 kms) Roads End.
Park at Roads End, at the first parking lot, marked by the sign "Information".
Cheap gas in Fresno: Arco on Kings Canyon Ave, or the gas stations on Clinton Ave & Weber. Cheap lodging: Belmont Ave exit of 99.
- 101 south, 152 east lo Los Banos 1 hr 30'
- 152 east to 99 30'
- 99 south to Fresno 30'
- 180 east and to Big Stump park entrance 1h 15'
- to the fork with Sequoia Park 5'
- to Grant Grove village 5'
- Kings Canyon Lodge 20'
- Boyden Cavern 10'
- Kings Canyon border 10'
- Cedar Grove 10'
- Roads End 10'
Camping near Roads End
Several options:
- There are four campgrounds between Cedar Grove and Roads End: Sentinel, Sheep Creek, Moraine, Canyon View (each a hefty $18 in 2008)
- There is a road where free camping is popular (legal as long as you can park the car safely). If you are coming from Sequoia Park, turn right after the Montecito lodge. This is a short distance before the junction with 180 in Cedar Grove.
- You can try and sleep in your car or near your car at Roads End, but rangers are inflexible and have an unlimited amount of time, so most likely they will find you and send you away (Note that it is environmentally much better to sleep in one's car than in a campground, but rangers are not paid to care for the environment, they are paid to maximize revenues)
- Just before Cedar Grove (before the bridge) it's national forest, therefore you can camp anywhere it is safe to park. There are a few turnouts on 180 just before Cedar Grove where you can park and camp.
Food before Roads End
Fresno is the last reliable place. Once you are on 180 heading east, there
are still a couple of restaurants and a pizza place in Squaw Valley but hours
are unreliable. Once you enter Kings Canyon Park, there is only food (and only
in the peak weekends of summer) at Grant
Village (an expensive restaurant that mostly serves sandwiches during the day,
and a pizza place that is open only when you don't need it) and at Cedar
Village (a fast-food place inside the hotel with a very basic menu).
Information
- Kings Canyon's visitor information: 559-565-3341.
- The Cedar Grove ranger station closes at 4pm and it's open only in summer.
- Grant Grove visitor center (180 entrance): open 8am-6pm in summer, 5km east on 180 from the Big Stump Entrance Station.
- Don't count on food once inside the park. There are only two or three restaurants and they are likely to be closed when you need them.
- Rae Lakes loop
- High Sierra weather
- Campgrounds (GORP)
- Campgrounds (NPS)
- Kings Canyon
- Kings Canyon (GORP)
- Campgrounds in the Sierra
- Kings Canyon's website
- In a sign of the continuing decline of the USA, there is no public transportation (not even an old-fashioned bus, let alone a Japanese/European-style bullet train) to this popular destination. If you are a tourist, you need to rent a car or book a super-expensive tour. It is also a sign of how much the USA cares for pollution, greenhouse gases and oil consumption that it forces everybody to drive their own cars to a popular natural attraction.
Warning
Beware of
- mosquitoes pretty much anywhere from Roads End to the John Muir Trail
- snakes between Charlotte Camp and Vidette Meadow
- the Bubbs Creek crossing (no bridge)
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