Yosemite to Kings Canyon/Sequoia

Hwy 41 is the way to go. We take it often. You can take it to Hwy 180 east into Sequoia. We take a fifth wheel into Yosemite without any issues with low branches. The road is curvy as expected. The tunnel you'll go through at 13.6 feet has never been an issue for us. Just stay close to the center line. A buddy of mine with his class A did damage his awning when he got too close to the side. Hwy 140 brings you out too far to the north and adds unnecessary miles.

I have been through it with my TT and 45ft tour busses use 41 all the time. Just hug the center line of the tunnel and you will be fine. 41 is a decent road just take your time.

You have gotten more out of Google Maps than most posters. The trick is to match what you see on the map and images with what you are used to driving and seeing. That will come with practice.

Thanks for inspiring my confidence. If a 5'er, or tour bus can make it without wiping out the on coming traffic, I guess my little class c can do it without taking the AC unit, or the awning off. Thanks again. :B

By the way, this forum is expressly FOR questions about roads and routes. I have heard that some folks are bugged by those questions, as the OP mentioned, but I just don't understand why. If you don't want to read such questions, just don't visit this discussion group. In the meantime, I want to encourage the person who posted the question to keep doing so -- those of us with useful info about the route will be happy to chime in, and the rest of us will happily read the thread to gain new info about the route.

profdant139 wrote:
By the way, this forum is expressly FOR questions about roads and routes. I have heard that some folks are bugged by those questions, as the OP mentioned, but I just don't understand why. If you don't want to read such questions, just don't visit this discussion group. In the meantime, I want to encourage the person who posted the question to keep doing so -- those of us with useful info about the route will be happy to chime in, and the rest of us will happily read the thread to gain new info about the route.

Exactly!

Stick with 41, tunnel should not be a problem, going south 41 splits off in Fresno to 180 Sequoia.

bukhrn wrote:
I know these road questions bug some people, but when all you have is Google Maps, and this site, with all the helpful folks, I find it much better to ask here.
We will be leaving Yosemite later this year,(hopefully) heading for the Sequoia area, Badger to be specific, we will be in our 29' class C with toad & dolly, google wants to send me down Ca 41, the grades don't seem extreme but the road looks very narrow, with many low hanging branches, at one point is a tunnel with a posted height of 13-6 southbound, but shown as 10-2 northbound, I know the 13-6 is probably at the center, but the lanes don't look wide enough to hug the center without wiping out the on coming traffic.
The other route, CA 140, looks like a much better road, but has a couple issues I'm confused on,
1. Google street view shows a couple temporary (Bailey) bridges, the view though is from 2007, have they been replaced by permanent bridges?
2. There are signs showing length restrictions, but with the poor quality of a "zoomed" view, I can't make out the sign to tell what the restriction is.

Rand Mc Nally has an excellent folding large scale map of Calif. and the Calif DOT has a great web site that has photos of the roads and tells of all the restrictions.

I personally have very little confidence in either Mapquest or Google maps for accuracy and detail.

4X4Dodger wrote:
....
Rand Mc Nally has an excellent folding large scale map of Calif. and the Calif DOT has a great web site that has photos of the roads and tells of all the restrictions.

I personally have very little confidence in either Mapquest or Google maps for accuracy and detail.

There's a level of detail on Google Maps that you can't get on print maps. GM has real 360 deg photos of most paved routes. They are 'sat' views, some high enough resolution to tell what direction cars are pointing. They have contour information that rivals USGS topos. The only road maps that I have with similar contours are in the DeLourme Atlases (2 books for California).

They don't totally replace print sources, or state DOTs. CA DOT maps on length restrictions are valuable if you have a larger RV. DOTs are also great for construction and weather conditions (esp passes).

Print maps are good at distinguishing among road categories, though the same info can be deduced from Streetview. And print maps can be just as out of date. But the best thing about print maps is that they can reside in your glove compartment.

The OPs problem wasn't with inaccurate information, except maybe the out of date bridge images, but with too much detail, and knowing how to interpret it.

The OP also wrote 'Google sends me down...'. We have to keep in mind what any of these routing programs does when we ask for a route - they search possible routes between two locations, and give a few of the 'best' - usually fastest, possibly shortest. The distance calculations will be accurate. Time calculations are subject to speed estimates. They are not based on the vague 'best' or 'easiest to drive in a 50ft rv' criteria that humans might apply.