What time to leave Anaheim for King's Canyon?

[melk]

i know it will be at least a four hour drive, but am wondering what's the best time to leave so as to avoid a lot of traffic? It would be either a Wednesday or Thursday in June. Had thought an early morning departure would be good but am now thinking maybe just have one more morning in DL and hitting the road after lunch.

Thank you!

 

[StageTek]

Early (early!) morning is the best time to leave so as to avoid a lot of traffic. You will
hit traffic on HWY5 after lunch. But it might be worth it to have just one more morning
in the park.

 

[Purrkins]

Once you hit the grapevine, driving is fast. Morning departure would put you diving against the majority of traffic, afternoon departure would have you driving with the majority of the traffic. I'd either go super early morning or late morning. Or right after lunch. Big fire ran through there this summer (I was in Sequoia), interested to see how the park looks now.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Giant Forest in Sequoia is closer, and takes me more than 5 hours to get to it from Los Angeles. I would expect at least 5 hours for Grants Grove. I recommend leaving at 6am or earlier, if possible, so you can miss most of the traffic. We typically leave around 4-5 am, but I like to get to the Sierra Nevada early, and love that morning drive.

 

[bcla]

What's the specific destination? In any case it's probably going to involve CA 99. Up through the Foothills section of Sequoia NP is kind of slow, especially if there's construction and flag crews.

 

[melk]

We just made reservations at the Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia National Park, so that will be our destination.

Thanks for all the advice, earlier sounds better according to you all. Right now I'm aiming to leave around 5-5:30.

 

[Purrkins]

We just made reservations at the Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia National Park, so that will be our destination.

Thanks for all the advice, earlier sounds better according to you all. Right now I'm aiming to leave around 5-5:30.

Fun. We like to stop in Visalia for gas and a meal. Keep in mind, once you enter the park, you still have about an hour drive to the Lodge. Have a great trip!

 

[bcla]

There are many ways to get there. Theoretically through the Foothills entrance is the fastest way from Anaheim, but it's extremely winding. It has the coolest park entrance sign though:

I'm not kidding that it's winding:

Google Maps says it's 22 miles from the Foothills Visitor Center to Wuksachi Lodge, and should take about an hour. You could also go from the north through the Big Stump entrance, which is the most common way to get into SEKI.

Also - there will probably be a lot of references to "SEKI". While they were theoretically established as two national parks, they effectively operate as one unit with a single superintendent and a single management. They also have their management tied closely with the US Forest Service, with a part of Sequoia National Forest (Giant Sequoia National Monument) that's important in terms of resources and visitor services. It is a little bit different though, since it's legal to collect stuff like pine cones on Forest Service land, but not on NPS land.

 

[Purrkins]

Not sure if the OP is into hiking but Redwood Canyon is a wonderful hike. We like the Hart Tree / Fallen Goliath Loop. 6.5 miles and you won't see more than 2 or 3 other hikers. Plenty of bears and deer.

http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/upload/RedwoodCanyonInfo&Map.pdf

And yes, the drive is not for those who get carsick.

 

[bcla]

Not sure if the OP is into hiking but Redwood Canyon is a wonderful hike. We like the Hart Tree / Fallen Goliath Loop. 6.5 miles and you won't see more than 2 or 3 other hikers. Plenty of bears and deer.

http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/upload/RedwoodCanyonInfo&Map.pdf

And yes, the drive is not for those who get carsick.

I've mentioned it. The grove itself is called Redwood Mountain Grove. It's technically part of Kings Canyon NP, but again NPS runs the place as one unit. This is the map they hand out at the visitor centers:

We did the little loop along the left. My wife wasn't too thrilled when we came across a mama bear with cubs. I didn't panic. Maybe I was too stupid to panic or maybe I'd been drilled too many times about what to do. In any case, that bear wasn't interested in us and walked away.

 

[quinnc19]

I did this last June. We did not leave until about 11 (after having early entrance to the parks and late breakfast at Storyteller's Cafe) and made it in time for early dinner at Wuksachi Lodge. Great experience!

We just made reservations at the Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia National Park, so that will be our destination.

Thanks for all the advice, earlier sounds better according to you all. Right now I'm aiming to leave around 5-5:30.

 

[melk]

I did this last June. We did not leave until about 11 (after having early entrance to the parks and late breakfast at Storyteller's Cafe) and made it in time for early dinner at Wuksachi Lodge. Great experience!

That does kind of appeal to me. How long was the drive? Did you hit any traffic?

I would also love to hear what you did while visiting there and how you liked Waksachi Lodge!

 

[quinnc19]

Traffic wasn't too bad, I think it took about 5, 5.5 hours. It was beautiful driving through the Sierras to and from Sequoia . The lodge has a great location but is pretty basic. In the morning, we spent some time in the visitor center and walked rather than took the shuttle to the section of the park with the General Sherman tree. So peaceful. We didn't have very long to explore because we drove all the way to Joshua Tree National Park by 5 o'clock in the afternoon, stopping for In-N-Out burger! That was a long drive for one day but it was very cool to see the dramatic change in landscape (this was on the way to the Arizona/Utah ABD).

I really hope you enjoy your trip. We loved our visit to California last year, so much so we're going back this year! This time to Yosemite before Hawaii/Aulani and Disneyland after.

 

[melk]

Giant Forest in Sequoia is closer, and takes me more than 5 hours to get to it from Los Angeles. I would expect at least 5 hours for Grants Grove. I recommend leaving at 6am or earlier, if possible, so you can miss most of the traffic. We typically leave around 4-5 am, but I like to get to the Sierra Nevada early, and love that morning drive.

OP here, I was just rereading the replies on here while trying to decide what to do. Then I realized you are from the podcasts and wanted to let you know I really enjoyed your podcasts on Sequoia and Yosemite. I have them downloaded on my phone so I can listen to them again on our flight out to CA. There was a lot of great information in them, thank you!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

OP here, I was just rereading the replies on here while trying to decide what to do. Then I realized you are from the podcasts and wanted to let you know I really enjoyed your podcasts on Sequoia and Yosemite. I have them downloaded on my phone so I can listen to them again on our flight out to CA. There was a lot of great information in them, thank you!

Awesome! Thank you for listening, and I hope they will be useful for your trip. I am going again in May. I can hardly wait.

 

[longboard55]

5:30 to 6:00 am will work. After 6:30 and you will regret it

 

[robert_j]

First time poster -- I would be curious about an updated answer to this. I was originally planning to spend July 3-4, 2017 in Disneyland (after spending the weekend at Legoland and Seaworld) and then drive up to Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia on Wednesday, July 5. But it ended up being more economical to do the Southern California Citypass, so now I unexpectedly have a ticket for a third day in Disneyland.

Probably the best way to use the third day is to spend the morning at Disneyland and then drive to Sequoia, with the aim of visiting Sequoia on Thursday before heading up to Yosemite for the rest of the week. But I am worried about the traffic through L.A. If I end up spending Wednesday morning at Disneyland, how late should I leave? Would it be okay to leave as late as 1:00 or 2:00 (i.e., after lunch)? Or should I just spend 3 hours in the parks and leave before lunch? (say, by 11:00?)

 

[melk]

First time poster -- I would be curious about an updated answer to this. I was originally planning to spend July 3-4, 2017 in Disneyland (after spending the weekend at Legoland and Seaworld) and then drive up to Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia on Wednesday, July 5. But it ended up being more economical to do the Southern California Citypass, so now I unexpectedly have a ticket for a third day in Disneyland.

Probably the best way to use the third day is to spend the morning at Disneyland and then drive to Sequoia, with the aim of visiting Sequoia on Thursday before heading up to Yosemite for the rest of the week. But I am worried about the traffic through L.A. If I end up spending Wednesday morning at Disneyland, how late should I leave? Would it be okay to leave as late as 1:00 or 2:00 (i.e., after lunch)? Or should I just spend 3 hours in the parks and leave before lunch? (say, by 11:00?)

I'm the one who started this thread and I had to go back and look at my trip notes to remember what we did. We ended up having a leisurely morning at the Grand Californian. We had a big breakfast, did some laundry and made a quick visit to Downtown Disney. We got on the road just about 11:00 and we did end up hitting horrible traffic in L.A. Our only stop was in Bakersfield where we stopped for a quick take out lunch. We ended up reaching Sequoia around 6:00 and checked into the Wuksachi.

Our experience was that traffic in L.A. was always horrible. I would spend the morning in Disneyland but would leave by 12 or 1 at the latest. It's a beautiful drive into Sequoia, some absolutely gorgeous vistas. But I wouldn't want to drive into it in the dark.

You will love Sequoia and Yosemite...so beautiful. It was easily our best family vacation ever. Have fun!

 

[robert_j]

Thank you, it sounds very encouraging that you made it to Wuksachi by 6:00 even despite horrible traffic. Maybe leaving before noon is the right approach -- if only so that we can actually see those vistas when we are driving in!

Possibly if we get into Anaheim early enough on the Sunday (after a day at Seaworld), then we could go into the parks that evening as our third night, but I don't want to wipe out the kids. My guess is that we could get a lot done if we enter the parks right at 8:00 on Wednesday and then stay for just a couple of hours. That would also give the kids an opportunity to walk and get some of their energy out before being cooped up in the car all day.

 

[melk]

Thank you, it sounds very encouraging that you made it to Wuksachi by 6:00 even despite horrible traffic. Maybe leaving before noon is the right approach -- if only so that we can actually see those vistas when we are driving in!

Possibly if we get into Anaheim early enough on the Sunday (after a day at Seaworld), then we could go into the parks that evening as our third night, but I don't want to wipe out the kids. My guess is that we could get a lot done if we enter the parks right at 8:00 on Wednesday and then stay for just a couple of hours. That would also give the kids an opportunity to walk and get some of their energy out before being cooped up in the car all day.

You're welcome! If you have any questions about our trip please don't hesitate to ask. Like I said, it was the best vacation and we saw so many unforgettable places. I would love to do it again, but money and time prevents us!