4 California National Parks in One Week

Just got back from a trip around four of California’s National Parks, so I thought I’d do a very quick trip recap. More thorough guides coming later!!

If we’ve chatted about US travel in the last few years, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of our national parks system, and I’ve set myself a little bucket list goal of visiting all the official “National Parks.” Until I really started thinking about it, I’d only ever been to Acadia National Park as a kid. I’d never even seen the Grand Canyon!!

Anyway, while I don’t plan trips around national parks (or I haven’t yet), it’s something I consider once I lock down a destination and figure out my itinerary. I’d already blocked off a weekend in May in case we got into the Mt. Whitney overnight lottery so I could do a practice hike with my friend, Elissa, and her hiking group. I then decided to extend a week and try to work with a nearby tourism board I’d met at a conference. We didn’t get the lottery and my tourism board chats fell through, so I was left with a pretty open week in LA!

It was when Elissa suggested we spend a day hiking around one of the islands in Channel Islands National Park that I said, “Oh yeah! California is home to a ton of national parks, and I suddenly have a few days to explore them!!” I was initially thinking of starting with Death Valley but it’s pretty, unbearably hot this time of year, so I nixed that and opted to head north. After all, how could I have come to California so often and not seen Yosemite yet?!

Anyway, without further ado, a quick rundown of how I visited four national parks in California over the course of a week:

Channel Islands National Park

So the big plans I had with Elissa was to hike around Santa Cruz Island, one of the islands that’s part of the Channel Islands National Park. If you remember from my Santa Barbara guide, it’s something I wanted to do if I had the chance to return!

Some quick things so I don’t forget:

• The park itself is free but you have to book a ferry with Island Packers to get there, and that costs around $75 round trip. Ferries aren’t every day so make sure you know which island you want to visit when planning.
• Most leave from the pier in Ventura but there’s another one, so just check your info when booking. When plugging in a map, plug in Harbor Cove Cafe for where you’ll actually take off. The Island Packers Cruise pin is about half a mile away.
• There’s free parking elsewhere but honestly it’s so worth it just pay the $10-15 fee and be able to go right into your car!
• Whatever you bring in, you must bring out and there are NO trash cans on the island.
• There are vault bathrooms by the pier visitor center and at one of the campgrounds.
• Expect very little shade on the trails so bring a hat and plenty of sunscreen even if it’s overcast!!
• Limited cell service. I pre-downloaded the NPS’s section on Channel Islands in case we needed it but there was plenty of signage that we always knew we were on the right path.
• Here the bear boxes are called fox boxes. Same thing but I just thought that was so cute.

Our day start off at the crack ass of dawn because we were driving from Los Angeles, which is two hours away. And then it was followed by an hour long ferry ride that was honestly really rough on me. I immediately felt that nauseous pressure in my skull and was hoping I could just sleep until we got there. Then I had to sit outside on the back where it was most stable and just stared into the abyss trying not to move. I did manage to see some dolphins which was a highlight! Right near the end, Elissa came and checked on me and I turned my head too sharply. Next thing I knew an absurd amount of vomit right into the paper bag they gave out to seasick passengers. Like through the nose kind of vomiting!!

Funnily enough, once I cleaned up I felt 100% just empty lol so getting off to go hiking was totally fine.

We spent the full day doing combining three different trails into one big loop

• Scorpion Canyon Loop – If you’re facing away from the pier, we started off going left (most people go right). It’s a very pretty trail that kind of goes a little along the coast but then veers in to the island. We saw one of the island foxes trottin’ along here!
• Potato Harbor – Instead of finishing the Scorpion Canyon Loop back at the pier, we switched to follow the trail along the coast to get to Potato Harbor. If you only want to do one hike, this is where to go! We stopped here to enjoy the views and eat our lunches.
• Canyon Point Loop – On the way back from Potato Harbor to the pier, we diverged to check out Canyon Point, another really pretty scenic stop.

And then we were back with an hour to spare! I gave in and used the vault bathrooms. Smelly but not the worst I’ve ever experienced. Then we popped into the little visitor center and sad down by the rocky beach. I couldn’t resist and jumped into the water. The tide was strong so I didn’t last long and did pay for it the whole way home because I was very damp and didn’t bring a change of clothes. Oops.

I will say oddly enough, the entire ferry ride home was totally fine. We sat out on the back deck from the start. I don’t know if that helped or if the waves were significantly less strong or what. We also managed to see one of those huge whales!!

And, of course, on our way back we treated ourselves to In N Out. It was kind of chilly out and I was shivering from being damp, so we actually ate in the car to use the heat lol.

Yosemite National Park

During the week while Elissa was at work, I decided I wanted to see some national parks! Originally I was going to start out at Death Valley but it’s a bit too hot to be comfortable this time of year. And, you know, when you have the chance to see Yosemite… You gotta see Yosemite!

Elissa recommend staying in Oakhurst which is on the south-western side. When her hotel was booked up, I found a room at Sierra Sky Ranch, which I cannot recommend enough!! Derek at the front desk was so nice and helpful in planning my day at Yosemite and the rooms and common areas are so rustic and cozy. I’m sad I only had the one night!

I then spent the full day driving around Yosemite! I think if I’d taken a moment to plan or had more time, I would’ve tried hiking. But I was still tired from our Channel Islands day, and I did want to see as much as I could in case I never get to go back, so it was mostly driving and stopping off! It’s an absolutely massive park so if you try to do a lot in a day, you’re going to spend a lot of time in the car!

Here’s where I stopped off at:

• Glacier Point
• Tunnel View
• El Capitan Viewpoint
• Bridalveil Fall
• Cathedral Beach Picnic Area
• Yosemite Valley View

Then I got dinner at Smokehouse 41 BBQ back in Oakhurst before driving over to Three Rivers. Except I forgot my camera and didn’t realize until I was 90 minutes out, so I wound up with an extra 3 hours added to my drive! No, I was not okay!!

Kings Canyon National Park

Okay, so while Kings Canyon and Sequoia often get lumped together, they are two separate national parks and you should absolutely give yourself at least a day in each! Luckily, though, you only pay once to enter both.

I fully planned to start my day early and do an easy hike in Kings Canyon but after the extra three hours of driving, I truly could not pry myself out of bed early. I booked a room at Charlotte Sequoia Motel, which had awful reviews on Booking but good reviews on Airbnb. I can confirm the newer reviews are more accurate and the motel was really cute! (The reviews on Booking mention no potable water which has definitely been updated; I drank the tap the whole time).

I opted for Kings Canyon first because it was farther away, and after a coffee and breakfast burrito at Kaweah Coffee Roasters, I began the hour’s long drive to the main visitor center. It’s not physically far but the drive is very windy (and pretty) so it’s a lot of slow driving. Coming back I actually drove west towards Yokuts Valley and down SR 63 because it was more highway than windy road.

The nice thing about Kings Canyon is that it’s kind of one scenic byway out and back where Sequioa National Forest (different from the National Park) cuts through, so it’s impossible to get lost! After stopping at the visitor center, I followed the byway and stopped off at:

• General Grant Tree – small trail that goes through some sequoia trees including the General Grant Tree
• Grizzly Falls – pretty waterfall that’s like five seconds from the parking lot. I also saw a baby black bear here on my way out!!
• Roaring River Falls – another waterfall with a slightly longer trail to get to (still very short). If you want to hike, you can hike between here to Zummault Meadows!
• Zumwalt Meadows – the end point to the byway. This is where I’d want to camp if I was camping.

The sun was setting by the time I got to Zumwalt Meadows, so I turned around and drove back to Three Rivers! Like I said, cut towards Yokult Valley to avoid going through all the twist and turns in the dark.

Sequoia National Park

My last park!! The bottom entrance at Foothills Visitor Center is all of six miles from Three Rivers, so it’s a very close entrance. If you want to stop off at a visitor center, I’d wait and stop off at Lodgepole Visitor Center. It’s bigger and has way more going on.

After grabbing coffee again at Kaweah, I was on my way, determined to get one hike in!!

Here are the main stops:

• Sequoia National Park Sign – it’s right after the main entrance where you pay your fee. It has an interesting history.
• Topokah Waterfall Hike – I opted to do this hike since it was spring and the waterfalls are at their most roaring! It’s a easy but rocky hike, so you definitely want proper but I don’t know that you necessarily need poles unless you have some mobility issues. I want to say the whole thing took me 3-ish hours with lots of stopping to take pics and just hanging out at the falls for a while.
• Sherman Tree Trail – From Topokah you could follow the highway up and hit Kings Canyon’s byway so I turned around because the other big thing I wanted to see was the Sherman Tree. It’s the largest tree by volume in the world! Now if you go, unless you have a handicap tag on your car, you have to go to this parking lot and walk down. Then it’s a small choircular trail to get to the tree before trekking back up to the parking lot. It’s short but steep! The tree is absolutely massive and so cool to see in person from about ten different angles.
• Congress Tree Trail – If I had started earlier in the day and my feet weren’t pinching a bit from my boots, I would’ve loved to also trek the Congress Tree Trail and see even more notable sequoias. As it was, my feet hurt, it was getting dark out, and I had a long drive back to Los Angeles ahead of me, so I only made it a few feet in before turning around and heading back!
• Tunnel Rock – I forgot there was a tree you could drive through and thought it was tunnel rock so I stopped by on my way out. It’s a cool little rock. You can’t drive through and I don’t know that it’s like crazy worth stopping at if you’re short on time. But it’s there!

On my way back through Three Rivers, I stopped a few times to take in the view of Lake Kaweah which just beautiful all on its own! And then I stopped at this spot called Big Orange in Lemon Grove because I’d passed by it multiple times at this point and I am, indeed, a sucker for citrus especially when it’s woke af!! Picked up a giant bag of ridiculously juicy oranges and them drove the longggg way back to LA.

And that’s how I did four California national parks in the course of a week!!! Working on my extensive posts and guides for each one but I didn’t want to forget everything, and thought I’d put it in this post for now.

P.S. If you’re like, “Wow, why not visit Joshua Tree National Park? It’s the closest to LA.” I went last year when I was in LA for work!! Posted about it on IG but don’t think I’ve written much about it otherwise. That’s also on the to-write list!

For more USposts:

• Thunder Knob Trail Hike in the North Cascades
• Mount Fremont Lookout Trail in Mt. Rainier
• Off the Grid in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

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