Day 5: Kings Canyon

I love our little cabin here. There is no a/c but it is cool outside at night and we all slept like rocks with fresh air streaming in through the windows. We woke early and drove deep into the canyon, dropping several thousand feet in elevation to to the river below. I credit Zach’s driving for the fact that on the whole 45-minute windy mountain drive D never once complained of carsickness.

View from our drive into the canyon

The girls were super disappointed that these retro signs point to a lace that no longer exists.

Our destination was the Zumwalt Meadow hike, a 1.5 mile loop around a gorgeous meadow and alongside a swiftly flowing river. We were befriended by what we later learned was a Stellar Jay, and also saw a hummingbird, a white headed woodpecker, lizards, and some monarch butterflies. The toughest part of the hike was just getting the girls to keep quiet so they didn’t scare away the wildlife, a losing battle because they are pretty much incapable of restraining themselves from singing, talking, arguing, or just making pointless noise for more than 10 seconds at a time. But overall it was a wonderful hike and we were early enough that we were that only people on it!

Meadow hike

Likin’ the lichen

Afterwards we stopped at the nearby Raging River Falls and Zach had fun playing with his neutral density filter. I have no idea what that is but apparently it does this:

Next we went to the nearby Cedar Grove Village and happened upon a fascinating ranger talk on venoms and poisons. We learned what to do if you get bit by a rattlesnake and why it’s ok to touch millipedes but never to lick your fingers afterwards (spoiler: they secrete cyanide!). The girls also got workbooks on becoming junior park rangers and immediately started working through the activities so they could get their badges.

When you ask a ranger here to recommend a good swimming hole they are required to tell you to NEVER SWIM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES but then they kind of give you a little wink and say, “just be cautious and use common sense and for God’s sake don’t walk on the rocks.” Apparently that’s how people die in these parks: they try to cross a stream and slip and hit their head and get washed away by the current.

So of course, we decided to go swimming. After hiking for a mile along the river we doubled back to Muir Rock (where John Muir used to give nature talks) and splashed in the icy mountain stream until the 90 degree heat felt downright chilly. I honestly could have floated in that water forever.

At this point we were all walking on air from such a perfect outdoorsy day, and we grabbed a quick lunch at Cedar Grove and headed back to Grant Grove. The girls finished their booklets, so when we arrived at the Grant Grove visitors center they took the pledge as junior rangers and received badges to pin on their chests. Both girls took this very seriously. Diane claims she will restate the pledge every morning. As for Melina, for the rest of the day, every time we passed other kids she would conspicuously straighten her badge and assume a haughty expression to show her status.

Junior Rangers!!

Dinner at the Grant Grove restaurant was surprisingly good, and we ended our evening with a highly entertaining ranger talk on the animal sounds that you hear in the park at night. They were very helpful in identifying some sounds we’ve been misidentifying for years while camping! Our favorites were the deer calls (I would have assumed they were tree frogs or birds) and the bobcat (as Melina put it, they sound like “someone’s digestive system!”). After this talk, Diane was more determined than ever to be a park ranger.

After putting the girls to bed, Zach and I spent an hour together drinking our beer (him) and canned wine (me). It was heavenly.

Other stuff: we had so much fun at dinner talking about molasses. I have no idea how it came up, but somehow Melina came up with “Hot and Cold Molasses”: molasses-flavored ice cream topped with warm molasses. I have to put it here so later we can make a million dollars off of this idea. And of course that degenerated into jokes like, “M’lady? No, call me M’lasses!” We we’re giggling like idiots.