Sequoia National Park?

profdant139 wrote:
Wow!! You probably already know this, but the third picture from the bottom (right before Grizzly Falls) is an "angular unconformity," which is a really fascinating geological formation. If you're interested in geology, I recommend googling that word. If not, I will spare you the exciting discussion of why this is so significant.

I have driven the road to Cedar Grove many times but have never spotted that particular geological formation. That's probably because I'm too focused on driving. Congratulations for pulling over and actually looking around.

By any chance, would you remember where along the road you saw that formation? I'm hoping that the next time we go to Kings Canyon, I can stop and examine this formation more carefully.

I'm guessing that this was not far before Boyden Cavern, where the highway crosses the river. Grizzly Falls is on the north or left side of the road as you are heading toward Cedar Grove, but (judging by the lighting) it looks like that picture of the angular unconformity is on the right side of the road as you were driving in a generally eastward direction.

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Hmmm. I'm not seeing it. All looks like part of the same formation to me. Most likely metamorphic, not sedimentary. I see a horizontal line, but I think it's vertical staining below that line (some kind of crack) that makes it look like an unconformity.

I could be wrong, I have been many times before.

To wrap up our photos and trip, we headed over Tioga Pass and skipped Yosemite Valley. Headed to a great little Day Use/Campground on the June Lake Loop Road called Aerie Crag. Though the campground sits right next to the main June Lake Loop Road, it turned into the quietest night of our trip.

The sign on the road just says day use, but the fee tube says $14 - $7 with a Senior Pass per night with a 3 night limit. Flush toilets, trash, picnic tables, but no fire rings or water spigots, and the layout is rather poor IMO. There are turn-arounds on both ends of the campground, and you will be parked on asphalt. Not particularly level sites, several pull through sites... We were the only campers the night we stayed, with a couple cars pulling in to use the facilities.

Heading east from US 395 to US 6 on California hwy 120... The scenery on this route is fabulous... We plan on an extended scouting trip of this area for boondocking locations as it's remote with some spectacular views!











So that's our story and I'm stickin' to it!

For anyone else that wants to boondock at SNP go to Big Meadows in between SNP and KCNP on the Generals Hwy. No water so fillup 1st and pit toilets, but no fees and fire permit reauired for campfires.

I been down in the canyon with a camper van, and a car pulling a pup
I don't think I'm going in with the 34 ft DP

On second thought, I am going to disagree with myself -- the horizontal break in the layers appears to be due to faulting, rather than to a true unconformity. Still a pretty darn cool formation! Those metamorphic rocks were uplifted when the Sierra granite pushed up from below. Sometimes, in the very highest country, we see big domes of granite with fragments of older metamorphic rock sitting up on the domes.

Wow!! You probably already know this, but the third picture from the bottom (right before Grizzly Falls) is an "angular unconformity," which is a really fascinating geological formation. If you're interested in geology, I recommend googling that word. If not, I will spare you the exciting discussion of why this is so significant.

I have driven the road to Cedar Grove many times but have never spotted that particular geological formation. That's probably because I'm too focused on driving. Congratulations for pulling over and actually looking around.

By any chance, would you remember where along the road you saw that formation? I'm hoping that the next time we go to Kings Canyon, I can stop and examine this formation more carefully.

I'm guessing that this was not far before Boyden Cavern, where the highway crosses the river. Grizzly Falls is on the north or left side of the road as you are heading toward Cedar Grove, but (judging by the lighting) it looks like that picture of the angular unconformity is on the right side of the road as you were driving in a generally eastward direction.

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

mrw8i wrote:
You drove over Sherman Pass to get to Quaking Aspen? Wow. Maybe in my Miata. I can't help but think Walker Pass to Kernville then up 99 would have been easier and faster. Although your route was prettier.

We really like the roads less traveled, and it's a good thing the road over Sherman Pass is lightly traveled! We saw MAYBE 20 vehicles all the way from US 395 to Quaking Aspen. The roads are poorly marked in the area to my way of thinking, and if you are not paying close attention to the maps, you WILL miss a turn, which we did twice. The first was an easy U-turn, the second not so easy when we missed the turn for Yokohl Road. I had to disconnect the Jeep to get turned around that time.

These roads are NOT for those the least bit nervous about mountain driving. Narrow, tight turns, encroaching vegetation, and steep grades, but as noted it's pretty and you're mostly all by yourself... we really enjoyed the drive!

After leaving Quaking Aspen, it was off for Sequoia National Park.





At the entrance station, the ranger tried to turn us back as being too long for the interpark highway. I asked about unhooking and got the "RV warning lecture" about the narrow, winding, steep road, and if the LEO's saw us impeding traffic or crossing over the center line, we would be ticketed. As it turned out, they should give that spiel to everybody as the passenger cars were the WORST offenders!

We unhooked with Margie in the Jeep and away we went...




Mighty BIG trees!









Here is a link to a good map of the area. Click on the map for magnified view... Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks Map

Exiting Sequoia National finds you in Sequoia National Monument and we decided to see if there was a campsite available at Hume Lake. This a large USFS operated campground that honored our Senior Pass so our campsite was $12.50. There were many open campsites available for one night only, and the campground attendant mentioned that this campground fills up much of the summer.

There are several loops, but we didn't see many good level sites for RVs.





We picked a site, then decided to go to the end of the road in Kings Canyon as it was still early afternoon...











If you want to go any further into the Kings Canyon National Park, get your horse or your backpack...



More to come...

Great trip report -- looking forward to more!

By the way, I don't think you can blame yourself for driving away from the shop without checking to see if they overfilled the transmission -- I certainly would have relied on their common sense not to do that. Just as when I get an oil change, I don't check the oil to make sure they put in enough oil. I wonder how many people actually do that?

On the other hand, I do double check the torque on the lug nuts after the tires have been rotated -- I don't trust the torque settings on those impact wrenches. Several times, I have found improper torque.

You drove over Sherman Pass to get to Quaking Aspen? Wow. Maybe in my Miata. I can't help but think Walker Pass to Kernville then up 99 would have been easier and faster. Although your route was prettier.

I wouldn't recommend Mineral King for any trailers even small. Some years ago my Grandparents were hosting there (for about 10 years) and they literally closed the road down for them to drive up their fairly small Class A motorhome.. and even with not traffic it was a challenge.

Last time I drove through (last year) with a full size reg bed pickup... my wife was not pleased... we had some close calls with idiots cutting corners as well.. We'll never be back there.

Probably a bit late now, but in case anyone stumbles onto this thread looking for similar info, if coming in from the West forest route 14S32 off generals highway 36.692180, -118.870143 has a several dispersed camping sites..some very nice. No water or services of course.