As a Brit visiting California for the first time I have picked a vacation that I hope will let me see the best of California. The bit in the middle where I need more help is the ambition to drive from Yosemite through Sequoia to Dan Diego. I have planned for an overnight stop somewhere on the route but the place I was looking at Bakersville didnt have a good report on the net. Does anyone have any suggestions about the feasibility of driving through Sequoia and what to see there and wgere to stay overnight enroute to San Diego.

I think you meant BakersFIELD - and you are right - not a great place.

The closest place for accomodations (other than in the park itself) is Three Rivers where there are several motels, a couple of B&Bs and even a Holiday Inn Express. That is where I'd stay.

Sequoia is not really on the way to San Diego from Yosemite. You would need to come out of the southern entrance from Yosemite and travel west for several hours, then go south and cut back in east again for a few hours. Spend more time in Yosemite and exit the park through the Wawona area. There is a grove of giant sequoia trees in Yosemite there, right before you exit the park. They have a tram that will take you all over the forest to see the Sequoia trees (many are very, very large and very old). Or you can hike it. I don't see much reason to drive all the way to Sequoia when you can see them on the way out of Yosemite. Granted, there are some larger trees in Sequoia and it is a beautiful park, but most of the scenery is similar to Yosemite, especially the area near Crane Flat on the north side of the valley, up in elevation from the valley at about 6500 feet. You can also see meadows and forests on the road to Glacier Point. That cut off is between Wawona (south entrance to the park) and Yosemite Valley. It takes about 30 minutes from the cutoff to get to Glacier point, but do not miss it. The views from there are absolutely spectacular.

Well, yes, Sequoia is on the way to San Diego. Obviously, you'd exit Yosemite by the South gate and drive to Fresno. That is actually the quickest way to get to San Diego from Yosemite. It's not a massive detour to get to Sequoia and this was my backup plan if the Tioga Pass had still been closed when we visited Yosemite a couple of weeks ago.

Janis' advice about lodging is good, however it's not as difficult to find lodging in the Sequoia as it is at Yosemite, so it's worth a try.

donk, I'm from Edinburgh originally (though I've lived in San Diego for almost thirty years!) and I had my mum, who still lives in Edinburgh, with me on this recent trip. It was her first trip to Yosemite and she LOVED it. I hope you do too. Be aware of the high altitude and depending on when you're coming, possible high temperatures. Combined, that can really slow you down. Buy a cheap cooler from a grocery store and always carry water with you.

I had to chuckle when I saw dbaker's post. She's planning to drive the length and breadth of Scotland in less than a week - yet thinks a short detour to Sequoia is too far to drive?

Believe me, a trek out to Inchnadamph/Loch Assynt is a LOT longer/harder than a nip over to Sequoia from Fresno.

donk: If you have the time, definitely include Sequoia/Kings Canyon.

janis, LOL!

LOL Janis and Barbara! ITA, Sequoia would be a great and easy stop to do en route to SD.

The difference is that the poster will see the exact same thing in Sequoia that they can see in Yosemite. If they spend that time doing something else, they can see something completely different, which is why we are driving so far in Scotland - to see something different in the time we have alloted.

While I don't agree that Sequoia is "the exact same thing" as Yosemite, they do both have a lot of the same trees, the biggest ones being in Sequoia.

If you did decide to do something else, you could exit Yosemite to the East, via the Tioga Pass, go south on US 395 (which is great until you get to Ridgecrest/Edwards Air Force Base, then the traffic is awful all the way to I-15S. But, to avoid that (!), you could take a detour -not short! - to Death Valley, then stop in at Las Vegas, then San Diego. That may not fit into whatever time you have, though.

There is one thing really different in Sequoia than Yosemite and that is Crystal Cave. If you do decide to go there, it would be something to see if you have not been in caves before. There is info on www.nps.gov for both parks that gives extensive information on what to see and do in each park. California has such wildly varied scenery and I hope you get to see lots of it!

I agree that the Toulumne Meadows area and Tioga pass, and the eastern sierra nevada, is well worth the detour if you want something different. It will add some mileage to your trip, but maybe not time, depending on when you would have hit the LA basin traffic. (Lee Vining (at the eastern entrance of Yosemite) to San Diego is 419 miles, verses Oakhurst (at the Southern entrance to Yosemite) to San Diego is 385 miles) The scenery is rocky and much more desert-like than anything you will have encountered in California on your trip. By going this way, you could still end up in San Diego and bypass the entire LA basin (traffic) and the whole Fresno area and come through the high desert via the 395 to the 15. The 15 goes all the way to San Diego. Traffic is nothing through the Cajon pass and into the Inland Empire (San Bernardino/Riverside area) until you hit the juncture of the 15/91 freeway in Corona. Then the 15 can load up pretty bad on weekday evenings going towards Temecula. We live in Riverside and come home from Yosemite every time from our annual week-long camping trip there. If we leave Toulumne Meadows by noon, we get home by 8, including stops. San Diego is about another 2 hours from us.

Don't get me wrong - Sequoia is beautiful and you won't be disappointed if you choose to go there. But it is very similar to Yosemite. Growing up in California, I have been to both parks probably 30-40 times.

Sequoia is quite a bit different than Yosemite. I would check out the nps website:
http://nps.gov/seki/
I don't recall see the type of Big Trees that are at Sequoia at Yosemite. And I don't think one needs to have gone 30 - 40 times to know that. If you want my credentials I''m a native CA person, over 50. I've been to Yosemite, maybe 15 times. And Sequoia 3 times. So not the expert here I guess, LOL.

Have you been to the Wawona Grove of Sequoia trees in Yosemite?

Search under Mariposa Grove to see some of the trees that are in Yosemite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariposa_Grove

An alternative to Bakersfield for the night would be Valencia. It is another hour and 15 minutes towards LA from Bakersfield and is a very new, surburban area with many hotels and traveler services. Like night and day compared to Bakersfield It is right on the 5.

*

Hi Donk. To confirm - there is a large grove of Giant Sequoia trees near the Southern entrance inside Yosemite National Park. Maybe you could see them when leaving the park and then, if you want more, you can keep on with your plan of heading over to Sequoia.

I didn't think I was imagining them the last time we hiked through them.....LOL

If you decide to drive through Sequoia, please realize that these mountain roads will be rather slow and may require some time adjustments in your schedule.

Hwy 198 from the Giant Forest to the Ash Mountain entrance near Three Rivers, has 130 curves and 12 switchbacks.

To get to Sequoia, you will have to take the Central Valley route (Hwy 99) to San Diego, which is not very scenic. You will also have to go right throught the middle of LA on the way.

If you take the eastern route, over Tioga Pass on Hwy 120 to Hwy 395, you will have a much more scenic drive, and you can miss LA by passing through the deserts to the east.

There is a world of difference in the two routes, going to Sequoia you will have to come down out of the mountains, travel through utterly flat lands through Fresno, head back up into the mountains to get to Sequoia, then come back down again, and take 99/5 through LA to get to San Diego.

Taking the eastern route, you will climb up to 9950 feet over Tioga Pass, descend dramatically to 4000 feet, can see the famous Mono Lake at this point, then head south through a high desert valley with high snowcapped mountains visible on both sides.

Yosemite has three groves of giant sequoias, the Mariposa Grove is the largest and most impressive. Sequoia has more groves, and has the two largest, the Giant Forest grove and the Redwood Mountain grove. Giant Forest is the "main attraction" it also has large meadows ringed by giant sequoias, which you don't see at Yosemite. Other differences, at Yosemite you can drive up to the high country and see the granite peaks up close, at Sequoia the roads are down in the forest zone, you don't get the views of peaks so much as you can at Tuolumne Meadows. The Sierra Nevada has three basic zones, the foothills up to about 3000 feet, hot and dry in summer, with oak woodland, grassland and chapparal; the forest zone, thick coniferous forest, giant firs, pines and sequoias; and the high country, alpine lakes with smaller trees (still quite large, though) and granite peaks. At Yosemite, you can drive up to the alpine zone, but at Sequoia you need to do an all day hike to even get to the beginning of it.

The 120/305 route will give you a much greater variety of scenery, while the 41/180 route to Sequoia is pretty boring except for the parks themselves.

That is a very good explanation of the "zones". Good job!