Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

How was our weekend at Sequoia &Kings Canyon National Parks with two under 4 year old kid?
It would have been great if everyone were healthy!



Let's begin. My cousin came to visit us from Europe with her husband and their two kids; an 11 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. We decided to go hiking together. They came from  Los Angeles, we are from the  North of California. To meet in the middle the big sequoia trees seemed like a good idea. We have a good tent, which we wanted to spend the two nights in at the forest, whilst they rented a nice mobile home.

This was not our first visit to this national park. Tree years ago, when our first daughter was the same ages as our younger now, we spent two weekends there, and it was that time, that I fell in love with this beautiful nature.

I was very excited to travel with my extended family. I thought that for my 4 year old would be great to hike with other kids, not just with parents, as usual. The idea was good, however I didn't think that everybody would be sick, except my two little ones.  We'd probably eaten something bad, causes some people vomiting for other diarrhea. For me the big take away was that, I forget to bring any medicine for this problem. Unfortunately we had to come home earlier than we wanted.

Nevertheless, I will not tell you that it was a bad weekend. We had one great hike at Sherman Tree Trail; we made some good experiences and our 4 year old just loved the whole camp life. She helped us to make the tent and to make a camp fire. We had some good experiences with the youngest one too. She was very comfortable with sleeping in a tent between her sister and me. We stayed at the Lodgepole Campground. We were lucky with the weather. Even the night wasn't cold; the temperature didn't go under 50 F. For my oldest daughter we got a nice, warm sleeping bag and  for our little one, she just used a thick blanket.

The most interesting thing from our trip: The first night, the ranger warned us of a bear trap, which incidentally  was very close to our camp site. She told me about 5 bears which they want to catch for identification.

Luckily they didn't find one this time. Maybe because two big dogs were very close to the trap and the bear could smell them too, not just the food.

About the bears:

Three years ago we saw seven bears during our hike. They were calm, eating the cone pines. They were not scary at all. One was even swimming in a small lake. When I saw him or her (I am not sure), I thought this is a dog but soon enough, figure it out: my guess was wrong, it was a big brown bear.

Do you see the bear?

 You have to remember something; these bears are Brown Bears. They don't attack people but they love the food and they can brake into a car if they smell any food or something similar such as toothpaste or deodorant.  So, in every campground and even in a lot of trail-parking-lots you will find a bear safety box. You have to store all of your foods and anything with a scent such as garbage, recyclables, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, sunscreen, first-aid kits, baby wipes, lotion, hairspray, scented tissue, air fresher, pet food, insect repellent, tobacco products, baby car-seats, and window cleaner.

Here is a picture of

 the bear safety box.

The last time we visited Sequoia National Park, we went on two awesome hikes.

One is called Heather Lake trail. It's 7 miles hike up hill. If you are in a good condition you definitely can do this. It's worth it and just look, how amazing the view was from the top:

The other famous view is from Moro Rock. This is much easier as you just have to walk up 200 stairs, and it takes just a half an hour.

There is also a few visitor center you can visit at the park and you can even visit a a museum.
Happy walking!