Thought I'd share a recent trip to Kings Canyon National Park. I was looking for my wife's 4H campground that she would go to when she was a child. The campground sits on a backway into the Park, but unfortunately it was too early to enter the Park that way as the road was closed.
With time to kill I decided to head towards Cedar Grove as that section of the Park had opened that day (this past Friday). If you've been down towards the Cedar Grove you might have noticed there isn't a ton of off-roading areas, especially like you have near Sequoia (granted most of that is National Forest). However I decided to go down one of the dirt roads that sits off the 180 a bit.
I realized even though I've been down to the Cedar Grove multiple times I somehow always missed this one, so I went down to see where it lead. Pretty good decision on my part as this road was actually quite nice.
The first quarter mile or so you are on a two way road (one lane), but once you pass the small establishment back there (not sure if horses or what), it turns to one way and comes out near the horse station behind the Cedar Grove Store.
The drive is roughly three miles and follows along the river for probably 2 to 2 1/2 miles of the total 3 mile trip. There are plenty of spots to pull off and setup to have a picnic, but there are limited spots by the river (I want to say 5 or so).
Road is in overall good shape. From the recent snows and rains there was a few rutty sections, but nothing my CR-V couldn't handle. Granted the one area I did have to get out (I was alone) and check where I should go so I didn't hit the bottom).
Thought I'd share this for those of you who might be visiting the Park at some point and didn't know about it. It's a nice drive that can give you a good 20 or so minutes of freedom from the tourist and smooth road. I would think this could be a good spot to see Bears.
Trailers aren't allowed on this road, nor are campfires or camping. It is also known as the "Motor Nature Trail," but according to the sign it's now the River Road.
Enjoy!
