Day 217, Kings Canyon NP – Squaw Valley, Nov 6th 2

We woke up in our nice comfy warm room, but had to emerge into the cold as we headed down to the restaurant for breakfast (5min walk). After breakfast, we decided to walk to the General Grant tree, in the Grant Grove of Sequoias not far from the village. A nice little walk and we got to see another few giant Sequioas, this time with less other people. 

We walked back to our room, checked out and rode up the narrow twisty road to Panorama Point, where we saw our first glimpses of Kings Canyon.

From there we took the CA-180 out of the park through Sequoia national forest then back in the Kings Canyon NP further down the road. We lost altitude and the scenery turned golden yellow with outcropping granite rocks once more. The scenery got dramatic as we neared the Park entrance, the narrow winding road lined with steep cliffs and drop offs. The road slowly widened and lost its steepeness due to the glacial erosion from the last ice age. 

Pine forest lined the canyon floor with the occasional meadow, we found some deer grazing there and lots of campsites all closed for the winter. This whole section of the park would be closed off in a week.

The canyon road is a dead end so we rode back out the way we came in stopping at grizzly falls then took an alternate route via Hulme lake back to Grants Grove where we picked up our bags from the hotel.

The temperatures we falling fast and it was obvious it would be a cold night.we defended into the valley before dark and found a small motel in Squaw Valley where we got a tiny room to spend the night. The only diner option was the pizzeria next door…. So we had pizza.