Highlights:
– Spectacularly huge trees
– Alpine hiking
– Highest mountain in the continental USA
While Redwood National and State Parks boost some of the tallest trees in the world, Sequoia is home to the true giants—the largest trees, by mass, in the entire world. It is worthwhile to visit this park any time of year, but the fall air and crisp, cool days meant that the campgrounds were nearly empty and we could wander amongst the giants without many other visitors.
We only stayed one night in this park on our way towards Mt. Whitney, and it felt like just the right amount of time for us. We camped in _______________ campground, which is at lower elevation than some of the other campgrounds, so it was quite a bit warmer. When we woke up in the morning and began driving towards the most famous trees, stopping along the way to take a look at some of the other giants, we were glad that we’d camped in the valley. It quickly grew icy cold as we gained elevation. We wandered around the General Sherman and General Grant trees on some of the accessible paths available in the park (great for someone in a wheelchair or with a stroller!!) before continuing onwards to our main goal: Mt. Whitney.
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks abut Inyo National Forest, where the tallest mountain in the United States lies. Many people begin the High Sierra Trail (part of the longer John Muir Trail and the even longer Pacific Crest Trail) in Sequoia and hike for about a week to Mt. Whitney. We were definitely not prepared to do this, so we hopped back in our cozy car and headed towards Whitney Portal. One thing we were surprised to find was that the ranger at Sequoia National Park could not help us print or obtain permits for our hike of Mt. Whitney, which is absolutely required. We were under the impression that this would be possible in the park, but quickly learned that since the mountain is in Inyo National Forest, the USFS would have to grant us our permit. By the time we left Sequoia, we only had a few hours to make it to the Eastern Sierra Interagency Visitor Center where we could pick up the permits ($15 per person) we had gotten online (at recreation.gov). Luckily, we made it just in time and even got to chat about the trail conditions with the rangers.
Our hike was on the 34 km, 2,030 m elevation gain Mt. Whitney Trail (not the mountaineer’s route). I would wholeheartedly recommend hiking Mt. Whitney in November (as long as there is no/little early season snow) if the weather permits, especially because there is no permit lottery, meaning you can most likely obtain a permit the day before you’re hike (there is a limit to the number of hikers, but it is unlikely to be reached).
We slept in the parking lot of Whitney Portal before leaving around 4 am for our hike (make sure to grab some complimentary “wag bags” for solid human waste disposal, as you are required to pack out all waste, on the way up). There were a handful of other early morning starters, and we enjoyed the quick pace with the clear, starry sky above us. We felt quite good until we made it to base camp, where the altitude really began to slow us down. By the time we were on the 99 switchbacks, the sun had risen and we slowed down significantly from the combination of the early start and the high altitude. We made it to the top around noon and spent some time resting before heading back down the same route. This is a long hike with significant elevation gain, but it is actually never that steep and can certainly be done by anyone who is fit and determined! We were so proud to have accomplished this (and it was both of our first times hiking above 4,000 m!!).
I would definitely recommend booking a hotel in town for the night after your hike (we were very happy with our stay in the Dow Villa Historic Hotel) because we were completely exhausted and chilled out after such a long day. We were also thrilled to find Tacos Los Hermanos, a Mexican food truck, close to our hotel, and tanked up on delicious food before going to bed early. The town of Lone Pine has many great amenities for hikers, and we were able to wash our clothes and restock our groceries before heading onwards.