Doing the Southern Sierras Right: Our Winter Weekend in Sequoia National Park
This may be hard to believe, but our second date was an overnight scamper to the nearby, towering mountains and forests of Sequoia National Park. As far as dating is concerned, we set a pretty high bar for ourselves with this one. But why not head to the woods to up the ante from date number one? When you’re both in love with getting away to bathe in the forests, and it just so happens to be a short (for us) three and a half hour drive from our meetup spot at the Wal-Mart in Santa Maria, there’s almost no better way to find out how the other person adapts to sleeping in the back of a Subaru. When the car camping just so happens to be set in one of the world’s most picturesque locations in the world, that’s an entirely different set of circumstances, of course. So let’s get into that part of the date.
A Generals Highway lookout over central California
Sequoia has a convenient, central location, within driving distance for folks living in both Southern and Northern California, equidistant to both and especially accessible to everyone in California’s central valley. That’s not to say you won’t have to work a bit to get into the park, itself - if you arrive in the winter months, you’ll often be expected to be carrying snow chains even on 4-wheel-drive vehicles. We pit stopped for chain rentals for Molly’s Subaru in Three Rivers at one of the multiple chain outfitters, Totem Market & Gifts. What we came to learn eventually is that in the driest of the Sierra Nevadas’ Winter weeks, park rangers are often not checking for chains. If you stay on Generals Highway, you’ll most likely run up against zero issues with a 4WD car. (As we speak in Jan. ’22, Generals Hwy. is completely closed down due to massive amounts of snowfall this winter. Yay reservoir supply levels! Boo Winter Sequoia fun…) It goes without saying in all traveling cases, you’ll want to check the weather and road conditions on your weather app and on nps.gov before you take off, so you know what to pack and whether or not this is even a safe time to go. We were fortunate enough to make the jaunt during ’20-21’s historically awful drought, so the main park roads were open and freely flowing.
What should you pack for the trip that you don’t normally pack for a road trip into the mountains, you may be asking? A substantial winter jacket, a pair of winter gloves, a beanie/knit cap, and some thicker hiking boots are essential. The cold can be really cold when you’re in the mountains not all too far from the ocean. Like, bone-chillingly cold. you won’t want to have wet or bare hands and toes after even the shortest of hikes. In Sequoia, cell phone service is rare, so we also recommend (as always) picking up and keeping a physical map from the ranger station on your way in to the park. If you have a small camping stove, this can be helpful for warming water (it should go without saying that you’ll want to make sure you’ve brought plenty of water) or preparing hot food that can raise body temperature for the long, cold night. All of your other essentials are fair game here - don’t under pack in the winter months like you might be inclined to do in the warmers days.
Three Rivers, CA - Quesadilla Gorilla
After having packed and prepped with enough snow gear to make a winter hike and a below freezing camping night happen as well as securing your snow chains (if you don’t own any to begin with), we highly recommend stopping off at a Three Rivers-local food truck called Quesadilla Gorilla. They’re serving up smokin’ hot quesadillas like the ‘Evan Boling’ with house made dipping sauces (their top seller is called ‘Liquid Gold’, for good reason). We sat and chatted about our plans and our hopes for the next 24 hours in the park, piecing together some of the must-see’s and -do’s, all while keeping our quesadillas pieced together. Shopping for snacks and a decent sized dinner on the way in, in Visalia or further south in Bakersfield is highly recommended, as there won’t be much in and around Sequoia, especially during the snowy months. With snacks and scant but effective Trader Joe’s camping meals already in tow, we took off for the park through the Three Rivers area and southern side of the park.
Our drive in was hardly visible past 3500 feet of elevation. Sometimes you get unlucky and the fog begins to pack in. This, in its own way, can add to the majesty of the giant mountain passes and thousand year old, massively tall Sequoias. As our first major stop inside the park, we made it a priority to make the quick, flat walk to the General Sherman Tree. This will be, in all likelihood, the largest tree you’ve ever seen in your life. No small task in itself, we spent twenty minutes trying to figure out a way to frame a photo that would capture the entire tree within. Only at the end of those twenty did we come upon a couple who was taking pano shots from their iPhones with their phones flipped horizontally, allowing for a foot to sky photograph, no problem at all. The ingenuity!
Peace at the top - Little Baldy Dome
From General Sherman, we took our time driving through Generals Highway, partially scouting out places to pull over and crash - not literally - for the night. Along our journey, one of the hikes we’d had on our list of adventures to seek appeared in the form of the Little Baldy Trail. We slipped on our thick socks, laced up our winter hiking boots (okay, one of us forgot his at home in Northern California), and strapped up our day packs for the roughly three hour journey up Little Baldy Mountain. We were the only ones on the trail; an absolute fortune due to our choice to make this a winter’s journey. The beginning of the trail features a fairly steep 30 minutes of climbing switchbacks, and due to the altitude we had to take an occasional break. But the snow was shallow and the tippity-top was calling, so we pushed our way forward fairly quickly and made it to a gorgeous plateau of less than dense forest and a slight coating of fog. A few more elevation ascension segments later, we found ourselves nearing the massive stone clearing at the top, aptly named Little Baldy Dome. On most days, one would be met with miraculous views of the Kings Canyon area in the distance, with the Jennie Lakes Wilderness in the fore. However, on this particular day, we were met with thick, deafening fog - but we were content with the serenity of being alone at the top. Nothing but the stillness of the high Sierras enveloped us. We have never had such an experience in a National Park, or anywhere, since. Upon arriving back at Molly’s Subaru, James changed into a dry pair of socks and shoes and we started off on our hunt for a spot to watch the sun set over the West, where we might be able to see the entire Central Valley of California and beyond.
Sunset from Generals Highway
As the day was dwindling and becoming colder, darker, and less hospitable, we hurried along the highway and came to a breathtaking ledge just south of where Sequoia becomes Kings Canyon. The skies were pink and orange, of a blend and spectrum which we’d never seen before. Echoing the sunset above was the dense fog and rain covering the ground below and leaving us to feel like we’d just stepped up to the edge of the world as we knew it. There are plenty of these types of views to go around throughout the park as you make your way higher past the densest timberline. Here we had our first mountain sunset together. This was when we knew that we were onto something much bigger than just this trip. Surroundings like this have a way of doing that, don’t they?
Molly’s Soob at Little Baldy Trailhead
As we mushed our way back to the car through a little bit of snow at the edge of the mountain, we began to map out just where the best place to park the car and sleep for the night might be. As we drove further south - and I’ll omit the exact longitude/latitude points for our safe keeping - we came upon the perfect, hidden, paved turnoff behind some large trees where another family in their RV had set up camp for the night. We could smell steak on the grill, so we knew it was the right place for us for the evening. There were eventually multiple spots evident just like this one further south on the highway; no need to worry about where you’ll be able to pull off and sleep. We raced against the dimming sunlight to set up our…more humble setup of blankets and sleeping bags, plus a couple of thin sleeping pads in the back of the car. This was back in the day when we lacked an amazing and perfect Thule Tepui Kukenam 3 car-top tent to keep us roomy and surprisingly warm. Needless to say, that night was when we got to truly know each other, literally keeping warm from each other’s physical proximity while we got as much sleep as we could through the nearing zero temperatures. So keep your sleeping bags zipped up tight, kids. They’re made to keep you warm in the winter only if they’re being used as they’re intended.
When the sun woke us up after grabbing a few z’s, we took our time unfurling our sleeping setup in the trunk and appreciated the crisp, clear Sierra skies. We hopped in the front seats and warmed up our mittens, then zoomed off the way we came, down through the Giant Sequoia Grove and into the warmer climes, showing each other new music (and sowing the seeds that would sprout and become our M+J Away shared playlist) along the way. We drove through switchbacks and took pull-outs, every once in a while adding another amazing photo of the valleys below to our collection from the trip. As we drove on, into Three Rivers heading home toward L.A., we stopped for a late morning coffee and breakfast at Sage Roots. The perfect insides-warming end to a soul-warming weekend in Sequoia National Park.
Our second date and first national park together - Sequoia National Park.