Fodors [Fodor’s Travel] - Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon

Location: Central California

Sequoia and Kings Canyon are perched on the western face of the southern Sierra Nevada, where ancient evergreens tower above the jagged mountain slopes. South of Yosemite and east of Death Valley, these two parks are administered as one. Together, they cover about 865,000 acres; theyre about a five-hour drive from either Los Angeles (210 mi) or San Francisco (267 mi).

Known for: Groves of giant sequoias and Kings River Canyon.

Biggest crowds: Summer (especially weekends)

Accessibility: By road you can reach one-fifth of the park, including the General Sherman Tree and Grant Grove.

Why kids like it: Look, Mom, a treehouse! They can run around really big trees still standing, and barrel through hollowed out ones, such as Fallen Monarch in Grant Grove.

What hikers say: The park has more than 800 mi of trails, including stunning and secluded backcountry trails that meander into the hills from the floor of Kings River Canyon.

By Reed Parsell

By merely standing in Yosemite Valley and turning in a circle, youcan see more natural wonders in a minute than you could in a full day pretty muchanywhere else. Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall, the meadows,Sentinel Dome, the Merced River, white-flowering dogwood trees, maybe even bears rippinginto the bark of fallen trees or sticking their snouts into beehivesits all in theValley.

In the mid-1800s, when tourists were arriving to the area, the Valleysspecial geologic qualities, and the giant sequoias of Mariposa Grove 30 mi to the south,so impressed a group of influential Californians that they persuaded President AbrahamLincoln to grant those two areas to the state for protection. On Oct. 1, 1890thankslargely to lobbying efforts by naturalist John Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson, theeditor of Century Magazine Congress set aside 1,500square mi for Yosemite National Park.