Sequoia National Park, California

During a recent vacation to Northern California we squeezed in a visit to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.  Here's our experience:

This map gives you an idea of our route (we entered from the North/top).  We followed the red line for a quick visit.
This would also include a stop at the General Sherman Tree.

This is our map that was used to highlight the key stops in the park:  the Lodgepole Visitors Center, The General Sherman Tree, and the Foothills Visitors Center.

Okay, our trip was in April.  I worried some about snow when it came to our visit to Yosemite National Park because of the mountains.  I had also heard that Yosemite had some road closings through mid April.  But, I followed their Facebook page and everything seemed to be perfect for our trip.  So, no worries of snow!  Or at least that is what I thought...

I NEVER would have imagined that we would run into snow in Sequoia National Park!!!  

We entered the park on the Northern side.  There is a fee to get into the park but we have a yearly park pass that we purchased at Yosemite National Park.  It will more than pay for itself with all the national parks we have on our bucket list for this year.  The fog and ice were so bad that we opted to not enter into Kings Canyon.  There was a small park sign for Kings Canyon but we didn't stop due to the road conditions and limited vision.  I'm pretty sure that we missed most of the beauty of Sequoia National Park due to the fog...

The Lodgepole visitors center was CLOSED for the season yet... So we weren't able to get our  passport stamped (we do this for every national park we visit).  

We finally made it to the General Sherman parking lot!
There is a restroom ;-)

Cold wet trails.

The General Sherman Tree.  Our picture is much different than the ones you would normally see.
But, I have to say that I actually love my pictures!
We visited some redwood trees during beautiful weather a couple of years ago.
This visit was amazing in it's own way!

The General Sherman is the tallest tree while the General Grant Tree is the biggest around.

More fun along the path.

Part of the road as we continued south - heading out of the park.

Lots of curvy roads!

All of a sudden we were out of the snow!  The south entrance was in way better weather conditions!
The visitors center was also open for the season.  However, it was late in the day so the visitors center was closed by the time we got there.  So - still no passport stamp for us...

I thought this was interesting.

Sunset

Our visit wasn't what I expected but it was rememberable.  Plus, now I know where to find snow in California!