At the end of July I'm staying in a tent cabin for three nights with my three children, all under 12. I've never been to KC before and would love some ideas of what to see and do there.

Also can anyone advise about eating there? Should I take a bunch of snacks? How's the restaurant, snack bar etc?

We stayed in the Cedar Grove Lodge in June. I didn't know there were tent cabins. There is a small restaurant/snack bar and a small grocery so I would take a cooler. We saw several bears, so be careful where you put your food.

There are two very pretty waterfalls, one right near the end of the road and one about 3 miles before you get to the lodge. There are some good hikes and the river is beautiful.

The thing I enjoyed the most was sitting out at night and staring at the stars. Because it is so dark down in the canyon, you can see millions of them. The only other time I have seen that many stars, was when my kids and I were laying on the lawn of the hotel on the rim of the Grand Canyon.

Have a great time!

it is more than "be careful where you put your food"

http://www.nps.gov/archive/seki/snrm...od_storage.htm

Has the VERY strict rules about food storage and other items in cars, tent cabins, etc . . . .

Thanks for this. I'll take snacks and drinks but put my cooler in the bear box provided. I didn't know about taking a child's seat out of the car, though it makes sense with all the crackers that end up stuffed in the padding.

I'm looking forward to the stars and the river!

Oh, and the tent cabins can be found via this link.

http://www.sequoia-kingscanyon.com/cabins.html

Hi, we went to Kings Canyon in June. We'd been to Sequioa once before in April but the road into Kings Canyon was closed due to snow that year.

Anyways, we camped near Grant Grove where it looks like the tent cabins are. There's a little grocery store and a restuarant. We cooked at our campsite so dont' know how the food is at teh restuarant.

I'm sorry to say that according to the moon phase calendar...you're going to have a full moon at the end of July like we did when we visited...so you won't be seeing that many stars. Also Grant Grove is not in the same location as Cedar Grove where Imsa_mc stayed.

I'd spend one day going out to the Cedar Grove area. This is the area that is like a mini-Yosemite with grante walls and a couple of waterfalls. Grizzly Falls can be seen from the pull out, but a short walk will take you right up to them. Roaring River Falls is a little longer hike and you can hike up on both sides of the falls for a little different view. The better of the two hikes is the second one past the bridge where there is more parking. At the road end there is a nice hike across the river and around a little meadow with nice views of the canyon. After the hike we went down to the river to cool off our feet...ahhhhhh. This would be a good place to let the kids play in the river.

I'd spend the second day going into Sequoia and seeing the giant trees.

We kept putting off doing the hike to the General Grant tree and never got a chance to do that one this time. This right in the area you will be staying.

On the hike we did around Crescent Meadow there was a bear spotted right off the path...so keep a close eye out!

Utahtea

Below is my trip report from May 2004. There is also a cave in Sequoia that your children would probably enjoy. I always took snacks on trips with my kids (and cereal, peanut butter, etc.). There is what I considered a well stocked grocery/gift shop type place in Lodgepole on the way to the main Sequoia area (and also a smaller one in Grant's Grove) but I think it is easier to take some stuff with you. It isn't a place where you can get fast food on every corner.

Definitely stop in the visitor center at Grant's Grove to see if there is anything going on that your kids would like to see/do.

We arrived at Grant's Grove Thursday evening 5/20/04. (it took about an hour and a half from Fresno). We stayed for 3 nights in a bath cabin and then 2 nights in the John Muir lodge. IMO it is the best place to stay if you want to visit both parks and want to stay in the same place. They state (and we found it to be true) that it takes about an hour to get to either Cedar Grove or Giant Forest in Sequoia from Grant's Grove. We ended up spending 2 days in each park. We went to the Visitor Center in Grant's Grove and picked up some pamphlets on different walks/hikes etc.

Friday we went to Panoramic Point (right next to John Muir Lodge and the General Grant Tree Loop (my favorite of all the giant tree groves) which is also right in the Grant Grove area. Then we drove to Kings Canyon--great views on the way down--and the Canyon itself is unbelievable. The Kings River (at least at this time of year) was continuous rapids. We stopped at Boyden Cavern (didn't do the cavern tour) to get an ice cream and just sit by the roaring river.
We walked the Zumwalt Meadow Trail and stopped at Canyon Overlook and Roaring River Falls (there is an overlook on the other side of the falls that isn't marked, but you can see it from this trail and you get a little different view. There is a small turnoff before the falls parking area--you follow a short trail to the left.

The next day we went to Giant Forest in Sequoia. We did the Big Trees Trail, Congress Trail, Crescent Meadow/Log Meadow Trail (seeing Tharp's Log and Chimney tree), stopping at Parker's group, tunnel log, auto log and Dead Giant trail (about 0.2 mile) along the road. We stopped at the Museum where there was a mother bear and cub. We saw quite a few bears in that area. The ranger said that since the snow melt was so early, the bears were out and the berries they usually eat weren't ready yet, so they were "grazing like cows" in the meadows. There were 3 or so bears in the meadow in the Big Trees trail and one near the parking lot in Crescent Meadow. Also when we were on the log meadow trail, one ran up the hill away from us. We've been trying to see bears on trips for years (only place we saw them was in Glacier)--this was unreal--there were bears everywhere.

Sunday we decided to try the Mist Falls trail. Excellent trail--the trail to the Falls is at least as good as the falls themselves. If you go to the top of the Falls, you get a great view. On the way we stopped at Grizzly Falls (right by the road), and on the way back we went via River Road (a one way unpaved road) which was okay, but not a must see IMO.

The last day we climbed up Moro Rock (back in Sequoia). On our way down, some rock climbers were walking up with their ropes. If you go on down General's Highway past Moro Rock and Crystal Cave, you can look back and get some good pictures of Moro Rock (and we saw our rock climbers). We then went to the Hazelwood Nature Trail which is across the road from Big Trees Trail--and were the only ones there, except for a man who had been following a bear and cub for a few hours--so we did the same for a while. We spent some more time then, just sitting at Big Trees Trail's meadow, watching the bears there. Relaxing day before our trip home.

There is a restaurant at Grant's Grove where we basically ate most of our meals (not too many choices of eating places). The food was fine. There is a snack/grill place at Cedar Grove, a grill and deli at Lodgepole area, a restaurant at Wuksachi (you need reservations), a restaurant at Stoney Creek, and that is about all we saw. There is a pretty well stocked market at Grant's Grove, but I'm not sure where you are allowed to cook/have fires in that area. You can buy gas at Stoney Creek, Hume Lake and there are 2 old pumps at Kings Canyon Lodge (I think it is called) about half way down the road to Kings Canyon.

Thanks everyone!

I really have a feel for the area now and will make a rough plan, so I can maximize the three days we have there. My kids don't need much to make them happy, just dangling their toes in a river and seeing tall trees will do it, so I'm looking forward to our trip next week

If you end up looking for a little more to do with the kids, you might take them to Hume Lake; it's not in the park, but in a section of national forest between KC and Sequoia. A pretty lake, with a nice beach area at the east end. Be aware that there is a quite large youth camp at one end, so while there are more things to do (boat rentals, stores etc), there will be a huge mob of kids in the area as well.

When we went to Sequoia, we stopped at Grant Grove on the way in (camped at Lodgepole). We had lunch at the restaurant, which was ok. The food was fine - basic diner type stuff. The service was really slow though, so just be ready for that.

D'oh, hit post too soon.

At Grant Grove, there is a ranger tour through the grove that is really good. It only takes about an hour and you cover about a mile.

If you make it over to the Giant Forest area, there are some cool things - a tree that fell over the road and a tunnel was carved out, another fallen tree that is big enough that people used to drive on it - you can see all the roots, which is cool. If you want an easy hike over that way, Crescent Meadow is good - about a mile, mile and half around, pretty much flat.