Beth and I made short order of packing everything up Saturday morning at the Pinnacles campground and we were on the road early to our next stop, the Mountain Chapel Campground in Badger, California. Along the way, we stopped at a Walmart Supercenter in Visalia to restock our cooler with food supplies for the coming week. We are so glad that we spent the time in detailed planning for our trip as we do not have to worry about where our next stop for supplies is going to be. This has made it a much easier time on the road.
National Parks numbers 12 and 13, Sequoia and Kings Canyon are next up on our itinerary. I was unable to book a campground at Sequoia, so I found a private camp ground using the Hipcamp campground app. Hipcamp is like the AirBnB for the camping world. I found the Mounain Chapel Campground through the app and booked two nights there to use as a base for exploring Sequoia.
Of all of the campsites we booked, I was the most uncertain about this one. For some reason, I was a bit unsure of what to expect since I couln’t find a website specifically for it and had to rely on the information on the Hipcamp app. What Hipcamp didn’t mention was the condtions of the roads we would be traveling to get to the Mountain Chapel. They were quite challenging to say the least. Once we had turned off of the highway and were on the local roads, the drive became like a course from the video game Mario Kart. Every 50 yards there was a 90 degree turn and for at least an hour we traveled on roads like this, uphill all the way. Beth astutely pointed out that what goes up must come down. She was right.
In many places along the drive, the road narrowed to a single lane. With blind curves constantly, we had to go very slowly to make sure we didn’t run head-on into an oncoming vehicle. Thank God, we only passed one or two cars during that long, tortuous trek upwards, and we were able to get by them both without incident.
When we reached the summit of one particularly steep stretch, Beth’s prophetic words played out. We started heading down the other side of the mountain. I shifted to low gear to try to minimize my braking, but it was no use. Even in low, the descent was so significant, that I pretty much had to ride the brakes for a solid 20 minutes as we made our way off that mountain. The smell of heating asbestos filled the air as I’m sure we used up 20% or more of the remaining brake linings on all four brakes.
At long, long last, the GPS mercifully announced “in a quarter of a mile, sharp right, and your destination will be on the left.” We made it. As we pulled in, we could see the white chapel from which the campground got its name.
Mountain Chapel is not your traditional campground. The property is on the side of a hill and has an amazing view of snow capped mountains. The campsites are scattered randomly among the grounds, and you can pretty much set up wherever you want. We didn’t see any picnic tables, but we did see the bathroom building, which included two showers, and also a washer and dryer for use for only $1.00 each per load. Something we would definitely take advantage of during our stay.
As we were surveying the grounds, Jack, the owner, came over and greeted us. He is a very friendly and accommodating man, and when we asked about a picnic table, he immediately went to get us a folding table to use while we were there. He gave us a brief overview of the campground and wished us well before getting back to work on the grounds. Given the remote location of the property and its distance from Sequoia, we were considering looking for another palce to stay. In the end, we decided to stay put and it worked out fine. There were flush toilets, showers, laundry facilities, and a strong wifi connection, plus the amazing view. We set up our tent and settled in for the two night stay.
It was an eventful first evening. At one point, a young couple arrived in Tesla. Their first question to Jack was where the charging station for their vehicle was. Jack seemed a bit confused. I doubt he had planned for incorporating a Tesla charging station as one of the amenities. Being the accommodating man he is, he quickly arranged a way for the couple to recharge their car by adjusting some wiring in the laundry room. Problem #1 solved.
As dusk approached, a couple of young ladies arrived. In the fading daylight, they did not see the remains of a tree stump near the driveway and they drove right onto it. We heard a terrible scraping sound, followed by the sound of spinning tires, as the young ladies tried to extricate their vehicle from the stump. It was no use, they weren’t going anywhere as their car’s axle was lodged on the stump. For the next hour, Jack and another camper tried to fee the car using various techniques, to no avail. Beth suggested using a jack, but Jack said he didn’t have one and the ladies claimed they didn’t either. We have a jack, but it is buried in the Jurassic level in the car, and I was hoping not to have to try to excavate it unless absolutely necessary.
At some point, the ladies opened their trunk and low and behold they did have a jack. Once this crucial discovery was made, it took maybe 5 minutes to get the car off of the stump and problem #2 was solved. Beth was right all along. The ladies tried without success to set up their tent. Beth and I jumped in and set it up for them. The third and final problem of the night was solved, and we made a beeline for the tent to avoid any more issues.
We were up early on Sunday. Our plan was to attend the 8:30 worship service at the amphitheater in Kings Canyon, and then spend the day exploring the park since you have to pass through Kings Canyon to get to Sequoia. Plus it was closer to the Mountain Chapel campground where we were staying. Unfortunately, the worship service was cancelled for some unknown reason, so we quickly shifted gears and decided we would visit one of the main attractions in Kings Canyon, the General Grant Tree. It’s the third largest tree by volume in the world with the largest base of any tree in the world. It would take twenty people holding hands to encircle General Grant. We then drove south to Sequoia and spent the rest of the day there. I had learned that there would be a worship service at the amphitheater in Sequoia at 11:00, so we planned on attending that and then explore the park afterwards.
It took almost an hour to drive to Sequoia. We arrived about 9:30 and immediately stopped at the visitor center for maps and information. We really didn’t have enough time to do much before the 11:00 worship service, so we checked out the exhibits in the visitor center and then made our way to the amphitheater to wait for the service to start. It never did. While the information online said the service would be held beginning at 11:00, no one ever showed up. At 11:05 we left disappointed and a bit frustrated, but we were not going to let it ruin our day. We decided to watch a service from our home Church, the SonRise Church of Christ in Kill Devil Hills, when we returned to our campsite at the end of the day.
The park was extremely crowded as it was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. The ranger at the visitor center recommended we leave our car parked and use the free shuttle bus to get around a d avoid driving in all the traffic and struggle with finding parking at the sites. That was the best advice we could have received. As we sat back (or actually stood back, as it was standing room only on the bus) and watched other visitors drive hopelessly around looking for parking, I kept thinking to myself, “I’m so glad we are on this shuttle.”
With relative ease, we were conveniently dropped off at each destination we wanted to see and this made it a much more enjoyable day. Our first stop was to see the General Sherman Tree, which is the largest tree by volume in the world. To be honest with you, we couldn’t tell much of a difference between it and the General Grant Tree back in Kings Canyon, they are both massive. It is nearly 300 feet tall and towers above the valley floor. Beth and I were concerned our necks were going to get sore from looking up so much. We passed on the line that had formed to get a picture in front of it, but continued on the trail and were able to get plenty of pictures from the other side. We ate our lunch on a bench right next to the giant. It was a very nice picnic experience.
Our next stop was the Big Tree Trail, a 1.5 mile loop around a scenic meadow filled with more of the massive sequoias. These giants, while not quite as large as General Sherman, still dominated the meadow. They were everywhere and we were able to get up close and personal for some awesome pictures. This trail was the highlight of the day and made the long drive worth every minute. We hope that someday you can experience this for yourself as words will not do it justice.
It was around 2:00 p.m. when we finished the trail. We had several options. We could stop at Moro Rock, a .5 mile trail to a vista from which we could get great views of the surrounding valley and mountains, or hike the Tohopka Falls trail to view a pretty waterfall, or head back to our campground. We were sure we wanted to be back to the campground in the daylight given the difficult drive on winding roads. With the crowded roadways in the park causing travel delays, we were concerned that we would not make it back to our car in time to get back to Mountain Chapel before dark. We chose option #3 and boarded the shuttle to the visitor center and our car. It was a wise decision, as it took almost an hour for the return trip. The roads were packed with cars, and visitors had parked on both sides of the road for miles because the parking lots were full. I felt really sorry for the shuttle driver as he had to take extreme caution to make sure he didn’t hit any of the cars lining the travel lane. I told him when we reached the visitor center that whatever he is being paid, it isn’t enough. He laughed at that.
We were able to get back to the campground before dark. I showered while Beth prepared supper, and we enjoyed the rest of the evening looking at the great mountain view before us. We ended the day by watching the SonRise worship service in our tent. It had been another great day. While we couldn’t do everything we originally planned in Sequoia, we saw enough of it to be satisfied with our visit, and we were not the least bit disappointed. We had the chance to walk in the shadows of the giants, and it was an incredible experience.