1 Night Near Sequoia & King's Canyon Parks

[Lisa P.]

We're a family of 5 adult-sized people, without camping gear. After a few nights at Yosemite, we plan to visit Sequoia and/or King's Canyon Nat'l Parks for a day, then move on to Anaheim. Please help me narrow the selection for finding a place to spend the night near Seq./KC Nat'l Parks!

We could stay inside one of the parks:

Sequoia - Wuksachi Lodge (near Giant Forest)
King's Canyon - Grant Grove Cabins (obviously near Grant Grove)
King's Canyon - John Muir Lodge (in Cedar Grove Village)

Or, the Nat'l Park Service website for these parks lists several other areas, with a LOT of links to lodging options. It's kind of overwhelming. There are a couple general areas:

We could stay "on Sequoia Nat'l Forest lands bet. Sequoia & Kings Canyon Nat'l Parks, on the Generals Highway."

We could stay "within 20 miles of the Sequoia Nat'l Park entrance on Highway 198 (south entrance) & in Mineral King."

We could stay "within 20 miles of the Kings Canyon Nat'l Park entrance on Highway 180."

Then, there are links to the Chambers of Commerce for Sequoia Foothills, Exeter, Visalia, Sanger and Fresno.

Not sure where to plan for the 5 of us to spend the night on a tight budget - needs to be clean, safe, w/ bathroom - ideally, central to the sights or somewhat in the direction of our next day's drive to Anaheim.

Your help is MUCH appreciated!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

How long are you planning on staying in Sequoia? I think Kings Canyon is a 2-hour drive from Yosemite, and Sequoia is another hour. The Wuksachi Lodge is close to the Giant Forest, which I highly recommend as a destination spot. There is the fallen tunnel tree, Moro Rock (1/4 mile of steps to the top, but worth it), Crescent Meadow, and the General Sherman tree - largest living thing on Earth (volume wise).

If you stay in Grants Grove, there is a nice grove of sequoias called 'Grants Grove', with a fallen tree so big that the calvary stabled their horses in it at one time. You can stay there, then on the way to Sequoia, stop & visit the lost grove (on the way), and then visit the Giant Forest. You'd take the 198 through to Visalia, & make a 10 minutes stop at Hospital Rock before leaving Sequoia, where there are pictographs left by the natives that lived in this area years ago. At Visalia you'd get the 99 shouth, which will merge with the 5, and & you can take that all the way to Disneyland.