Hiking and camping at Sequoia National Park is full of splendor and wonder. We love squeezing in mini camping trips over the weekend. With the Labor Day Holiday weekend we were able to head off to Sequoia National Park early Sunday morning and came home early Monday evening. Ideally I would want to go hike Sequoia during the week and not a holiday weekend to avoid the crowds but just like everyone else we need to be at work.
The days leading up to us leaving we assembled our camping gear, put the rooftop tent on the truck, meal planned, and finalized our itinerary. When we go on mini camping trips we minimize the amount of gear we will bring. We do this by not just prepping but cooking all our food beforehand, so we don’t have to bring our stove, pots and pans, and the list goes on. I made overnight oats for breakfast in reusable sandwich bags, cold brew coffee, sandwiches for both days and deconstructed our dinner. All that and some fruit fit in the cooler and in a tote some fun snacks.
Packing for hiking and camping trip it’s all about having layers. Our clothing fit in a duffel bag and some extra blankets for the rooftop tent. With the elevation and not knowing if we were going to have a campfire I did pack a few extra layers to sit at the campsite.
Day 1
As we slowly made the steep, winding, and narrow drive, we pulled into overlook spots to enjoy the views. The farther we went up, we were met by fog and were unable to see over the side of the mountain. For those that are like me that get easily get carsick on windy roads, I always have ginger ale and Trader Joe’s Ginger Mints easily accessible.
Short trip and busy holiday weekend equals efficiently in our visit. First day after making stops at different turnouts, we pulled over after we went through the Four Guardsmen. Throughout the whole park the scarring from past forest fires. It is a constant reminder of the destruction high and fast fires can case. However low and slow fires open the sequoia tree cones to release seeds.
We slowly made it to the base of Tokopah Falls Trail, that is along the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. Just yards before we made it to the top Marty spotted a young bear not far up the hill side eating berries. The waterfall was crowded but we enjoyed the view more as we hiked up.
After our hike we headed to the other end of the park to tour the Big Trees Trail. If you have the time, definitely take the tour with that the Park Rangers guide. The ranger talked about the trees, fire, and answered a bunch questions from a inquisitive little kid. We had to leave the guided tour early and went ahead because we had to go find a camping site.
The campsites are booked months in advances. We planned our trip about two weeks and this being a holiday weekend all sites were booked. Our plan was to find a dispersed camping site in the National Forest that is next to the National Park. After driving past reserved campsites and down a dirt road we found a site.
Day 2
On day two we slept in a little before breaking down camp and headed back into the park. Our first stop was General Sherman Tree. After admiring the tree and having our picture taken we headed out on the Congress Trail. There are quit a few trails that branch off that go rather far. The Congress Trail was like a Goldie Locks trail, just perfect for what we wanted to do and were prepared for. After lunch we headed home.
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