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Kings Canyon Highway Road Log

Kings Canyon Highway provides the lone vehicular access into its namesake canyon, dead-ending at aptly named Roads End. State Highway 198 proceeds eastbound from Fresno across the broad plain of the San Joaquin Valley before climbing through the foothills zone and into the mid-elevation forests to the Big Stump Entrance into Kings Canyon National Park. The 40-mile journey from the Big Stump Entrance to Roads End requires a minimum of an hour to complete without stops along the way, as the curvy road winds down into the canyon. Kings Canyon Highway is usually open beyond the Hume junction from late April to mid-November.

Since most motorists approach Kings Canyon from the Fresno area via Highway 180, this road log begins at the west boundary of Kings Canyon National Park.

0.0 mile

Kings Canyon National Park boundary: Highway 180 climbs out of the San Joaquin Valley up the west slope of the Sierra and enters national parkland.

0.8 mile

Big Stump Entrance Station: The old entrance station was removed in 2005 due to the high probability of an old sequoia tree toppling onto the site and was temporarily relocated to the Big Stump Picnic Area parking lot.

1.4 miles

Big Stump Picnic Area: Hopefully, this picnic area, which served as the temporary entrance station, will be refurbished when the new entrance station opens, with restrooms and picnic tables available to the public. In winter, Big Stump has been also used as a snow play area. A short nature trail loop through Big Stump Grove attracts tourists, while a longer 2-mile loop and a trail to Hitchcock Meadow offer a bit more solitude (see Trips 61–62).

2.4 miles

Y-junction with Generals Highway: Here the Generals Highway heads south through the western finger of Kings Canyon National Park and across Giant Sequoia National Monument to the north part of Sequoia National Park. Kings Canyon Highway continues ahead toward Grant Grove.

3.5 miles

Wilsonia: On the right-hand side of the highway, a road heads into a private inholding within Kings Canyon National Park, filled mainly with rustic cabins. The first official step toward the establishment of a national park occurred in 1880, when Theodore Wagner, US Surveyor General for California, suspended four square miles of Grant Grove, prohibiting any interested parties from filing a land claim. Unfortunately, a 160-acre claim had already been filed adjacent to the area. Subsequent efforts to buy the land were unsuccessful, leading to the privately owned Wilsonia area you see today.

3.6 miles

Sunset Campground: Sunset Campground on the left is the first of the campgrounds in the Grant Grove area. It is open from late May to September.

3.8 miles

Grant Grove Village: Grant Grove is the main hub of services within Kings Canyon National Park. Facilities include a visitor center, restrooms, lodging, restaurant, general store, gift shop, post office, and public showers. A number of hiking trails emanate from the area as well (see Trips 63–67).

4 miles

Grant Tree Road and Crystal Springs Road: A mere 0.2 mile from the entrance to Grant Grove Village is an intersection with the Grant Tree Road on the left and the Crystal Springs Road on the right. The Grant Tree Road travels 0.75 mile to a large parking lot (restrooms) near the start of the nature trail loop around the General Grant Tree (see Trip 66). This road also accesses the Azalea and Swale Campgrounds and the trailhead for the North Grove (see Trip 65).

The Crystal Springs Road leads to Crystal Springs Campground and John Muir Lodge in the Grant Grove area before continuing roughly northeast to the parking lot for the short walk to Panorama Point (see Trip 67).

4.2 miles

Stables: Horseback rides are available from the Grant Grove Stables during the summer months.

5.2 miles

Kings Canyon National Park boundary: Just before the boundary between the park and Giant Sequoia National Monument, the highway crosses the North Boundary Trail. Beyond the boundary, the highway enters lands administered by Sequoia National Forest.

6.6 miles

McGee Vista Point: From a pullout on the left-hand side, you have a sweeping view of the western Sierra. An interpretive sign offers information about the McGee Burn forest fire of 1955.

6.9 miles

Cherry Gap: Here the Kings Canyon Highway reaches its high point (approximately 6,800 feet). On the left, FS 13S03 heads into Converse Basin, where thousands of giant sequoias were sacrificed to the lumberman’s axe in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Only a small percentage remains, including the Boole Tree, eighth largest (see Trip 69), of what was once the largest grove of giant sequoias in the world.

8.2 miles

FS Road 13S55: On the left, another dirt Forest Service road heads into Converse Basin.

9.8 miles

Princess Meadow: Near lovely Princess Meadow is the right-hand turn into Princess Campground. Look for deer and other wildlife in the meadow right after dawn or before sunset.

10 miles

Hume junction: The Hume Road on the right leaves Kings Canyon Highway and makes a steep, winding descent on narrow road to Hume Lake. Along the way are some airy views. The lake, which is a reservoir created by a dam, offers swimming at Sandy Cove, picnicking at Powder Can, and camping at Hume Lake Campground. Hume Lake Christian Camps above the southwest shore has a general store with gas pumps, a snack shop, gift shop, and boat rentals available to the general public. In winter, the Kings Canyon Highway is closed past this junction.

14.6 miles

Junction View: For about the previous 3 miles, you’ve had limited views of the deep hole created by the Kings River. At this pullout is a staggering view straight down to where Middle and South Forks converge thousands of feet below. Near this confluence, the two canyons reach their greatest depths. When measured from the top of Spanish Mountain, the South Fork Canyon at 7,800 feet is one of the deepest gorges in North America, more than 2,500 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon. While the Middle Fork is wild and virtually inaccessible except by hardy hikers, the highway continues upstream along the South Fork into the heart of Kings Canyon.

16.8 miles

Ten Mile Creek: The highway crosses a bridge over Ten Mile Creek, which carries water released from Hume Lake dam down to the Kings River. Between here and Yucca Point, the road closely follows the creek downstream, providing a definite contrast between the riparian foliage alongside the creek and the chaparral-covered hillsides away from the water.

Junction View (stop 16)

17 miles

Kings Canyon Lodge: This rustic resort has been in operation since the late 1930s, offering cabin-style lodging, a restaurant, ice cream bar, and gasoline from the oldest double-gravity gas pumps in the country.

18.1 miles

Yucca Point Trailhead: The highway drops into the inner gorge of Kings Canyon near Yucca Point, a point on a knife-edge ridge 200 feet above the road, which also serves as the westernmost boundary of Monarch Wilderness. Watch for the namesake plant through this section, especially in late spring and early summer, when the upper part of the plant is covered with white, bell-shaped flowers. A moderately steep, 2.5-mile trail descends more than 1,000 feet from the trailhead to the confluence of the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River. Anglers accessing the South and Middle Forks of the Kings River are this trail’s primary users.

18.6 miles

Lockwood Creek Vista: A half mile from Yucca Point is a broad, paved turnout on the left with an interpretive sign about birds commonly seen soaring above the canyon. The visual highlight of a stop here is in the opposite direction, especially when a year with abundant water enhances a beautiful display of cascades and falls on Lockwood Creek, which tumbles down a narrow, steep, and rocky side canyon. Shortly beyond the turnout, the highway crosses over the creek and continues down toward the river amid the towering metamorphic rock walls of the canyon.

19.5 miles

Convict Flat Picnic Area: Construction of the Kings Canyon Highway began in 1929 and took ten years to complete. Much of the work was done by convicts. The picnic area resides on the former site of the prisoner camps.

22.3 miles

Horseshoe Bend Vista: The pullout at Horseshoe Bend offers a dramatic view of the canyon, where high, unbroken cliffs composed of hard metamorphosed rock forced the South Fork to take a winding detour.

Waterfall in Lockwood Creek Canyon (stop 20)

23.5 miles

Boyden Cavern: On the right-hand side of the highway, just prior to a bridge over the South Fork, is the turnoff for Boyden Cavern. The west side of the Sierra has considerable deposits of marble. Caves are formed when underground channels of water erode away some of the minerals in such marble over time. A private concessionaire, under supervision of the Forest Service, offers 45-minute tours of Boyden Cavern from April through November. The tour visits many extraordinary features, including various stalagmites, stalactites, draperies, and columns.

Beyond the first bridge over South Fork Kings River, the highway closely follows the river upstream, which can become quite a torrent during spring snowmelt.

28.7 miles

Grizzly Falls Picnic Area: A small picnic area (restrooms) on the left side of the highway under the shade of mixed forest provides a pleasant rest stop. Just 50 yards above the picnic area is Grizzly Falls, which drops 80 feet over a ledge of granite. The falls can be quite robust in spring and early summer, when melting snow on the south side of the Monarch Divide high above fills Grizzly Creek and its tributaries.

30.4 miles

Deer Cove Trailhead: A small parking area on the left-hand side of the highway marks the beginning of the Deer Cove Trail, an infrequently used, dead-end trail that climbs into the Monarch Wilderness (see Trip 70).

30.8 miles

Turnout: This unmarked turnout offers another chance to stop and view the South Fork.

31.5 miles

Kings Canyon National Park boundary: After the long, winding descent across Forest Service lands, you once again enter the national park, at the geological gate of the more famous section of Kings Canyon. Below here, the canyon has a V-shaped aspect, formed by the erosional forces of the South Fork Kings River. Above, the canyon adopts more of a U-shape, with a broader valley floor and steeper canyon walls composed of the characteristic Sierra granite, which has led geologists to the conclusion that glaciers were primarily responsible for the formation of the upper part of Kings Canyon.

31.4 miles

Lewis Creek Trailhead: Shortly past the park boundary, the highway spans Lewis Creek and continues 0.2 mile to the trailhead on the left shoulder (see Trips 73 and 74). The creek is one of the many watercourses born high up in the mountains that tumble down the steep wall of the canyon toward a union with the South Fork. Similarly, since the only way out of the canyon is up, most of the trails starting in the bottom of the canyon climb steeply.

32.1 miles

South Fork Bridge: Thinking back to the first bridged crossing of the South Fork, the river was a boulder-strewn torrent racing toward the San Joaquin Valley below. Here, the broad and shallow river has adopted a more placid course because it’s flowing through the flatter and wider valley created by the glaciers.

Just prior to the bridge, a paved road branches off to the left, which is the back way into the Cedar Grove complex and the most direct route from here to the pack station and Hotel Creek Trailhead (see Trips 73 and 74).

32.6 miles

Sheep Creek Campground: Kings Canyon is blessed with many fine campgrounds, Sheep Creek being the first you’ll encounter on your way upstream. Open from May to mid-November, the 111-site campground is run on a first-come, first-served basis. Ranger programs run during July and August.

33.1 miles

Cedar Grove: The broad, forested flat of Cedar Grove has long been the center of human activity in Kings Canyon. Bedrock mortars on the opposite side of the river testify to the presence of Native Americans before the arrival of European settlers. In 1897 the area’s first hotel was constructed on this site, and the park service eventually established their headquarters here in the 1930s. Today, Cedar Grove Village offers motel-style lodging at Cedar Grove Lodge, which also has a snack bar and small store, with public showers and a laundromat nearby. A small visitor center provides exhibits, books, and maps and rents bear canisters. Cedar Grove also has a picnic area with restrooms. The stables offer horseback rides and pack trips.

Although hard to imagine today, a dam at the lower end of the valley was once slated to inundate this area with a reservoir. Thanks to rigorous conservation efforts, a dam was eventually built farther downstream at Pine Flat instead, sparing Kings Canyon from a fate similar to the one that befell Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite.

33.3 miles

Don Cecil Trailhead: Barely noticeable on the right-hand shoulder is the trailhead for the 5-mile trail to a viewpoint atop Lookout Peak (see Trip 72). A fair number of hikers use this trail, but most of them go no farther than a mile to a refreshing grotto at a crossing of Sheep Creek.

33.5 miles

Canyon View Campground: Canyon View is the next campground you pass in Kings Canyon, with 23 sites and 5 group sites open on a first-come, first-served basis, from May to October as needed.

33.8 miles

Moraine Campground: Moraine is the next campground you pass in Kings Canyon, with 120 sites open on a first-come, first-served basis, from May to October as needed.

34 miles

Canyon View Vista Point: On the left-hand shoulder, just past the entrance to Moraine Campground, the vegetation parts enough to allow one of the few unimpeded views of U-shaped Kings Canyon along the highway.

35.2 miles

Knapps Cabin: During the Roaring Twenties, a wealthy Santa Barbara businessman named George Knapp organized lavish fishing trips to Kings Canyon. A small cabin at this site was used to store his extravagant fishing gear.

36.1 miles

Roaring River Falls: The highway once again crosses the South Fork on a bridge and soon comes to the parking area for Roaring River Falls. A short, paved path climbs to the base of the falls, where water that flows from below the divide separating Kings Canyon and Sequoia parks spills dramatically into a deep green pool. A gently graded footpath follows the South Fork upstream from the parking area to Zumwalt Meadow and Roads End.

36.3 miles

Pullout: On the left-hand side of the highway is an informal picnic area.

36.5 miles

Upper Kings River Bridge: Keen eyes will notice the diminished flow of the river above the confluence with Roaring River, which carries nearly as much water as the main South Fork.

37.6 miles

Zumwalt Meadow: After crossing Granite Creek, the highway comes to a parking area near Zumwalt Meadow, where a 1.5-mile long nature trail (see Trip 75) crosses a bridge over the South Fork and then circles the fringe of Zumwalt Meadow. For a small fee, you can pick up a brochure at the start of the trail containing information pertaining to the natural history of the area and corresponding to the numbered posts positioned along the way. From the meadow are fine views of two of the upper canyon’s most imposing features, the granite hulks of North Dome and Grand Sentinel.

38.4 miles

Roads End Loop: Less than a mile from Zumwalt Meadow, where Copper Creek meets the South Fork, the highway reaches a conclusion at aptly named Roads End, where a 0.3-mile loop provides access to day-use and overnight parking lots. Other than the wilderness permit cabin near the Roads End Trailhead, restrooms and a couple of picnic tables are the last signs of civilization at the western edge of the Kings Canyon wilderness. From here, hiking trails provide the only means of access to the lands beyond (see Trips 76–85).

Foxtail pine at Little Claire Lake (Trip 13)