Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks are managed together, so it’s easy to think that the two parks would be similar. Yes, you’ll find giant sequoia trees at both parks, but at Kings Canyon National Park, you’ll also find the deepest canyon in the United States. Kings Canyon plunges 8,200 feet from its top height to the river below and that leads to some incredible scenery.
In this post, I’m going to lay out what I think is the perfect first timer’s one day itinerary for Kings Canyon National Park.
One Day in Kings Canyon National Park
You can’t see everything at Kings Canyon in one day, but you can comfortably explore the highlights. This guide will focus on the highlights, make it perfect for anyone planning their first trip to the park.
Before we start, I also have to note that this will focus on Kings Canyon National Park. It will not cover the adjacent Sequoia National Park and its sequoia trees and hiking trails. It’s possible to see both parks in one day, but you’ll have to make sacrifices and have one busy day. Instead, I think it’s better to have two, less chaotic days so you can appreciate both parks.
8:00 – Enter Kings Canyon National Park
This day starts at 8:00 am. Depending on where you are staying, you may have to leave early to reach the park entrance. I stayed in Dinuba, which was an hour drive from the entrance. Plan your day accordingly.
As a note, there are two entrances. One in the north (located on Google Maps as “Big Stump Entrance”) and one in the south (which does not have a designated point on Google Maps, but can still be found here). For this itinerary, we’ll be using the Big Stump Entrance.
8:15 – General Grant Tree
If you’ve already visited Sequoia National Park, you’ve seen General Sherman Tree, which is the largest tree in the world. Today, you’ll be seeing the second largest tree. Admittedly, that doesn’t have quite the same ring, but it’s still cool to see.
General Grant Tree is located in the Grant Grove. In this area, you’ll not only find the General Grant Tree, but also plenty of other sequoia trees. It’s your choice how much time you want to spend here, but I recommend taking the time to walk out to the General Grant Tree and walk the path around it, particularly if you’re here earlier in the day and there aren’t that many people.
Beyond the General Grant Tree, there are several other hiking trails that depart from here. I’m not including any of them in this morning’s stop, but you’re more than welcome to add them. Just note that you’ll have to push the rest of this itinerary back later. Since it ends in the early afternoon, this isn’t a huge deal. The choice is yours.
8:45 – Kings Canyon Scenic Byway
Now we head to my favorite part of Kings Canyon National Park and ironically, we’ll technically be leaving the park. Kings Canyon’s boundaries are split in two with the Sequoia National Forest (not national park) existing between the two parks. This is just a technicality and from our perspective, it doesn’t make much of a difference.
Head north and get onto Highway 180 and follow it all the way to the end of the road (yes, the road does have a designated end point where you have to turn around). This highway takes you through the spectacular Kings Canyon and the views are just incredible.
If you, or someone you’re traveling with, hasn’t spent a lot of time in mountains, prepare for some jaw dropping views. We rounded a bend and my mom, who has visited many national parks with me but hasn’t really seen a lot of mountains, exclaimed “Oh my god. Oh my god! Oh! My! God!” It was a fun experience for me, but also a reminder that the views are just that good.
It takes just over an hour to drive from the General Grant Tree to the end of the road, but that’s if you don’t make any stops. There are numerous pullouts, both named and unnamed, that offer fantastic places for a break or just to take in the scenery. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these viewpoints. Junction View and Yucca Point make excellent places to stop, but I’m not sure if there is a bad view.
10:00 – Roaring Rapids
My next stop is Roaring Rapids and you have a choice as to when you want to stop. You can either stop on your way to the end of the highway or you can stop as you start working your way back. The choice is yours, but make sure you stop. For the purposes of this itinerary, I’m assuming you’re stopping on the way to the end of the road.
Roaring Rapids is a waterfall and makes a quick break and a pretty view. Just watch out for gnats. They can be vicious if they are here.
From here, you have a choice. You can either get back in your car and continue your drive or you can hike. If you choose to hike, you’ll hiking to your next stop of Zumwalt Meadows. This itinerary is assuming that you’re going to hike. If you’re not up to hike, drive to Zumwalt Meadows, see what you can, and then start your drive back toward Grant Grove and Grant Village.
10:15 – Zumwalt Meadows Hike
While it’s true that my favorite part of Kings Canyon National Park are the views of the mountains, there’s more to see than just the canyon. Nestled between the mountains, near the end of the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway is Zumwalt Meadows. This offers a nice hiking opportunity that has little elevation but still offers nice views, both of the meadows and peeks of the surrounding canyon.
From Roaring Rapids, you can hike down a trail to reach Zumwalt Meadows. Though it is important to do your research before your trip to make sure the meadows are open. During my visit, only part of the meadow was open as there was some restoration going work going on. That said, we were still able to hike part of the meadows.
From Roaring Rapids, to our turnaround point (since the meadows were partially closed), we logged 4.5 miles and 375 feet of elevation gain. It was a nice hike that offered some variety in our day.
Now with all that said, I have to give a warning. We were here in mid September and while the weather was beautiful, the gnats were horrendous. We had covered ourselves with bug spray and nothing landed on us, but they swarmed around us for most of the hike and would not leave us alone. The only saving grace was the wind picked up on our return hike and then we didn’t have problems.
I have to mention this because this hike was nice, but it was hard to enjoy because we were constantly swatting at the gnats. And to be clear, we knew that the gnats were bad based on reviews from AllTrails, but until we got there, we didn’t truly understand how awful they could be.
12:00 – Kings Canyon Scenic Byway
After your hike (or stops), it’s time to work your way back toward Grant Grove. Get on the highway and start heading in the other direction. While you could drive straight to your next stop (Panoramic Point), I’m making a case to add a slight detour on your way.
About 45 minutes into your drive, you’ll reach Hume Lake Road. Take this road and drive for just ten minutes to reach a lovely overlook of Hume Lake.
The view is great, but I have to give one word of warning. This overlook is large, but it is unmarked (although you can find it on Google Maps as “Vista Point of Hume Lake”). The overlook sits on a blind curve so you need to be careful when you pull in. When I visited, I turned on my signal, started to turn, and then a ranger came around the corner and I had to slam on my brakes. So be careful, but note that the view is great.
After your stop, it’s ten minutes back to the highway and then another ten minutes until you reach the road to Panoramic Point.
1:30 – Drive to Panoramic Point
It’s time to head to Panoramic Point for one of my favorite views of the day. While it seems super straightforward (just follow your gps to Panoramic Point), I have to give a warning about this drive.
The road is narrow. Very narrow. So narrow that it feels like a one way, one lane road. It’s a two way road, but it’s not quite big enough for two vehicles. This means that occasionally one person will need to reverse and wait for another car to come through. Oh, and did I mention there were some hairpin turns?
And not only was it a windy, narrow road, but I also passed four deer. For me, deer are not a big thing as they are all over my home state of Wisconsin, but other drivers were fascinated and seemed more concerned with getting a photo of the deer than paying attention to the rest of the road. Don’t be like these people and pay attention to all of your surroundings.
1:45 – Panoramic Point
Panoramic Point is a short walk to a spectacular viewpoint of Kings Canyon. You’ll also be able to see the mountains, Hume Lake, plenty of trees, and so much more. From the parking lot, you’ll walk about 0.6 miles round trip to get to the viewpoint. Just as a note, the viewpoint is higher than the parking lot, so you’ll be walking uphill. This isn’t a huge deal as my tracker logged about 90 feet of elevation gain, but I just want to mention it.
2:15 – Drive to Big Stump
It’s time to drive to the last stop of the day. From Panoramic Point, retrace your route down the narrow road and back to the highway and follow the signs toward the entrance and the Big Stump picnic area. It’s about a 15 minute drive from Panoramic Point.
2:30 – Big Stump
While most of the trees at Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks stand tall, there was a time that this area was used for mining and trees were cut down for their wood. Now, of course, this area is protected and no one is chopping down the trees.
But, a few of those stumps from those logging days remain and the most notable is at Big Stump. From the picnic area, you can hike the trail out to Big Stump to get a unique idea of how massive these trees are.
4:00 – Exit Kings Canyon National Park
This Kings Canyon itinerary is over. Exit the park and head back to your hotel (or straight for dinner since this itinerary doesn’t include a stop for lunch).
Can You Reverse This Itinerary?
Absolutely! While other itineraries may see a noticeable difference in the order, I don’t think this itinerary does. My only note is that if you reverse this itinerary, you may end up with more crowds in Grant Grove and at the General Grant Tree.
Additional Modifications to This Itinerary
In general this is the itinerary I would recommend that you follow. However, I’m going to make one note.
For Zumwalt Meadows, do your research. Look ahead on apps like AllTrails and see what the gnat situation is like. If the gnats are horrible, skip hiking here and do some additional hiking at Grant Grove.
That’s not to say that Zumwalt Meadows isn’t nice (it is and it offers some different scenery on a decently easy hike), but the gnats can be vicious and it really can take away from your hiking experience. Take it from me who nearly the entire trail swatting at gnats and trying to keep them out of my face.
When to Visit Kings Canyon National Park
While you can technically visit Kings Canyon National Park all year round, some months are significantly better than others.
Summer is peak travel season where you can expect the highest prices and the highest visitor numbers.
Winter is low season and for good reason. The big scenic drive through Kings Canyon (in my opinion, the best part of Kings Canyon), closes.
Spring and fall are shoulder season which can offer a nice balance of crowds and weather. Keep in mind in early fall, you may need to watch out for wildfires. On our visit, wildfires closed one area of the adjacent Sequoia National Park, but it was not an area we had planned to visit. The wildfires didn’t affect us (apart from minimal haze), but that’s no guarantee.
My mom and I visited Kings Canyon National Park in mid September. We had excellent weather despite reports of haze from nearby wildfires (there was a bit of haze, but honestly, the wildfire haze I had up in Glacier National Park earlier that summer was worse). I can honestly say that my visit to Kings Canyon National Park never felt busy or crowded. We did experience a bit of crowds at Sequoia National Park the day before, but at Kings Canyon, we had no problems.
Where to Stay on Your Visit to Kings Canyon National Park
You have several options for accommodations for your visit to Kings Canyon National Park. My advice is to first consider your itinerary. Are you just spending one day doing both Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park? If so, then I recommend staying close to park, ideally near where you’ll exit the park. If you start at Kings Canyon and finish at Sequoia, the towns of Three Rivers and Visalia would be good options.
We chose to stay in Dinuba which was about an hour drive from both the Sequoia National Park entrance and the Kings Canyon National Park entrance. Since we had plans to enter through both entrances, it made sense to find somewhere that was more “in the middle”. Plus, Dinuba was a bit more of a budget option than Three Rivers or Visalia.
Entrance Fees for Kings Canyon National Park
Entrance into Kings Canyon National Park is $35 per vehicle. Your pass will be good for seven consecutive days and will also include entrance into Sequoia National Park.
Annual passes, such as the America the Beautiful pass, are also accepted. If you plan on visiting two or more national parks within twelve months of your visit to Kings Canyon National Park, it’s worth it to pick up the $80 pass.
Sequoia National Park
Kings Canyon National Park is managed with Sequoia National Park. The lines can feel a little blurry between the two parks, especially since you could reasonably visit both parks in one day. If you’re short on time, go ahead and visit both parks, but note that you won’t be able to do everything on this list, or on my top 5 of Sequoia National Park.
Final Thoughts
Kings Canyon National Park is beautiful and the scenic drive is one of my favorites of any national park in the United States. Give yourself plenty of time to stop and enjoy it, but also, make sure to stop at some of the other fun stops along the way. Even if you only have one day, you can see so many awesome things at Kings Canyon.
Continue Your Adventure
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Learn all about my top 5 experiences for first time visitors to Kings Canyon National Park. Plus spend one day at Sequoia National Park and learn all about the top 5 experiences. If you’re short on time, combine Sequoia and Kings Canyon into one day.
Itineraries: Combine Sequoia and Kings Canyon with Yosemite National Park into one epic week long road trip through California’s National Parks.
US National Parks: Start planning your national park vacation with my US National Park Travel Guide. You’ll find information about each park, photos, itineraries, and everything you need to start planning your trip. And don’t forget to book your timed entry reservations in advance!