We were up early, before sunrise..that was at 7am..we got up at 6.55am!  Breakfast was provided which was lovely! The air was really crisp and fresh and lovely and refreshing! We headed for the park, filling up with petrol on the way which is much cheaper than at home!
First stop in the park was the forest museum. Was only small but gave some fascinating facts about the huge Sequoia trees which this park is known for. We decided to visit the Giant Sherman tree as it was much busier! On the trail down to it we kept thinking we could see it, but that’s because all the trees are so massive! When we did reach it we were both surprised at its 275 foot height and the fact the trunk weighs 1385 tones! Although I had a short drive around the car park the previous night, we decided that it was my turn to drive! I was just getting used to it, when Mark shouted at me to stop as he’d seen a bear! So, emergency stop performed, Mark then decided to get out of the car to get a better picture!! Crazy boy! The bear was roaming through the trees above the road and Mark managed to get a picture of him, but not a great one because of all the trees. Further on down the road and we hit road works where we had to wait for a bit before being allowed through. There was a ranger there who advised us that bear sightings are common and that there hasn’t been any bear attacks on humans which was reassuring! He said that one had been seen around the area where the Giant Sherman tree was which would explain why we saw lots of rangers around! The previous day a bear had walked through the trees by the road where the road works were!
Our next stop was to observe the third largest tree, the General Grant tree. Again it was impressive and was on a pretty trail. There was a fallen tree on the trail which you could walk through. No one knows how long ago it fell and whether the fire which burnt through it was natural or intentional. From here we crossed the road and went up the very windy track to Panoramic point where you could overlook the valley below. There were some beautiful views and again it was very still, apart from a religious group who had congregated at the top.
We continued the journey into Kings Canyon National park along the Kings Canyon scenic bypass which is attached and associated with Sequoia. Again we stopped at various points to observe the spectacular views, which can be seen in the pictures, including junction view and canyon viewpoint which is where the countries deepest canyons are.
From Kings Canyon we made the journey to Yosemite National Park It took longer than we thought it would, perhaps because of the very twisty mountain roads! At one point, when it was dark, we were the only ones on the road which was scary and spooky! On the route we startled a large white/silvery cat, which we think was either a bobcat or a cougar!
We stayed in a hostel in Groveland which is about 45mins from the park.