Lonely Planet Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Summer may be high season, but after youve seen snow in the Sierra you might well question why. The peaks are some of the highest in the US, occasionally bursting to 14,000ft, and are blanketed by snow for much of the year. There are full-moon snowshoeing and cross-country adventures, plus the chance to camp under giant sequoias. Go swooshing across the hushed backcountry, barrel down powdery slopes, or just stay inside and warm your toes by a roaring wood fire.

High Peaks

Punctuated with fairy-tale spires, knobby domes and talus-encrusted mountaintops, the scenery in the national parks of Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon might just put a crick in your neck as you gaze at it all. A jaunt through Yosemite Valley is a ticker-tape parade of granite skyscrapers, with Half Dome taking a deep bow. Tempestuous Mt Whitney lords over the far-eastern reaches of Sequoia National Park. With wild rock formations, groves of the planets largest trees, astonishing waterfalls, deep canyons, unimaginably vast swaths of granite, humbling peaks and a four-season dance card, Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon are no less than perfect.

Paddling in | SRONGKROD/GETTY IMAGES

By Michael Grosberg, Writer

When city life gets claustrophobic, the Sierra Nevada national parks beckon me. Whether driving down Kings Canyon Scenic Byway or hiking a mountain trail, the scale appears otherworldly, like being in an Albert Bierstadt painting or a CGI version of the American West. On the eastern side, where the desert meets snowcapped peaks, the road and the landscape seem endless and the contrast feels liberating. Being in the backcountry, whether in a national park or other wilderness area, my thoughts become effortlessly meditative as the rhythm of my pace and the challenge of the terrain are the only concerns.

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Nothing can strike you speechless like water plunging off a cliff. Standing at the base of a massive waterfall, hearing its roar and reveling in its drenching mist is simultaneously invigorating and humbling. Yosemite holds one of the worlds greatest collections of waterfalls and, in springtime, Yosemite Valley is spray central. In addition to the seasonal creeks tumbling over the valleys walls, the iconic cataracts of will satisfy any falls fanatic.