Photo Tips USA – Sequoia- and Kings Canyon National Parks

• Elevations ranging from 1412 m (4632 ft) at the Cedar Grove Visitor Center at Kings River and 4417 m (14 490 ft) at Mount Whitney
• Sequoia NP has an average of 1.2 million visitors per year while Kings Canyon NP is visited by 650,000 people
• The summer months mark the peak tourist season

How, Where, What

There is a scent of oak trees and dry grass in the air, which is still very warm even at the end of September. The light is of a peculiarly fine quality, evenly diffused by the low scrubland, and for many miles the road has paralleled the blue ribbon of a river whose gurgling can be heard from time to time through the open car window. – No doubt, after the desert landscape of Death Valley, the wide Owens Valley, and the first climb through the range of the Sierra, the open landscape of the Foothills on its west side is reached. However, the road from the south entrance of Sequoia National Park quickly winds up again in narrow bends into the wonderland of ancient, primeval trees, leaving little time for you to enjoy the exhilarating peace. Once you master the climb and look up at the mighty trunks for the first time, it quickly becomes clear: these giants cannot stand with their common relatives in the valley!

Sequoias thrive naturally only in about 75 groves of small woods on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Measured by their pure wood volume, the trees belonging to the species Sequoiadendron giganteum are the largest living creatures in the world. They owe their long life expectancy of up to 3.200 years primarily to their bark, which protects them from fungi and insects by means of chemical substances and, due to its strength, also from fires. When the giants, which can reach a maximum height of 95 m (310 ft), fall, it is usually due to wind breakage caused by their shallow root system. Like their relatives, the Redwoods, the Sequoias need the heat of a forest fire to make their cones release the seed capsules.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks border each other and both have the same mission: to forever protect the fragile ecosystem of the different elevations and the impressive mountain landscape of the Sierra Nevada from human encroachment and to teach us the value of this pristine nature. Sequoia NP shelters the largest collections of the mightiest specimens of these redwoods, and Kings Canyon NP beckons with one of the most spectacular and deepest canyons in the U.S. and thrillingly fast-flowing water. Common to both are the vast expanses of wildflowers that grace the landscape from spring through summer, the best time to visit, and the relatively undeveloped nature of the terrain. Few roads penetrate it; those who want to see more must walk.

Directions

The double-park community extends 100 km (62 mi) north to south and 25-55 km (15-34 mi) west to east. The northwestern tip of Sequoia National Park can be traversed on an arc via Rt-198 (Generals Highway), which merges into Rt-180. This leads west to Fresno and ends in the east as Kings Canyon Scenic Byway after a few miles in the dead end of the canyon of the same name. These are also the only paved routes in both parks. The majority of them consist of a high mountain landscape, accessible solely by foot, and are interspersed with numerous rivers and lakes.

You can stay overnight in Sequoia at seven campgrounds (four of which also offer sites for RVs) or in the soft beds of Wuksachi Lodge. Kings Canyon also offers seven campgrounds (all with RV sites, but first come-first served) and two lodges, Grant Grove Cabins & John Muir and Cedar Grove.

The season typically runs from mid-May to late September at both parks. During the winter, only Grand Grove and Lodgepole Village can be reached via Rt-180 from the west; the rest of the route down into Kings Canyon is closed at that time. Fuel is available at the private Silver City Resort in the far south of Sequoia National Park, as well as at Hume Lake Camp and Kings Canyon Lodge in the adjacent National Forest to the north. In addition, for RVers, it should be noted that while vehicle lengths of more than 22 ft are not recommended on the southern section of Generals Highway, no real problems are to be expected up to 30 ft.

In Sequoia National Park, four free shuttle bus lines connect the major attractions from June to early September, so you can park your vehicle and get around with ease. Line 1 operates from Giant Forest Museum to Lodgepole Campground, Line 2 from Giant Forest Museum to Crescent Meadow, Line 3 from Lodgepole Campground to Wuksachi Lodge and Line 4 from General Sherman Tree Trailhead to Wolverton. All lines operate approximately between 9:30 and 18:00. Conditions can change from year to year, so see the free park newspaper or the website for the current schedule.

Coming from Death Valley, if you can plan an extra day for beautiful Lake Isabella, you should not miss out on a visit to the two nearby towns of Keyesville and Silver City. Although quite different in nature, both preserve an interesting part of Kern County’s history in their own way.

Located at 3829 Lake Isabella Boulevard, Silver City serves as a private park within the town of Lake Isabella, operating from mid-May to mid-September, Monday to Sunday, between 10:00 and 16:00. More than 20 historic buildings have been brought here from around the area since the 1960s and carefully restored to document settlement and mining history. As a result, the ensemble is not completely authentic, but in its entirety, it gives a good impression of life in a remote region in the second half of the 19th century.

Keyesville is located 3,2 km (2 mi) north of the intersection of Rt-178 and Rt-155 on Keyesville Road, and mining camps scattered across the hillside were the first settlements in the area in 1854. In 1856, the threat of Indian raids prompted the fortification of the lonely mine into a fort and the reinforcement of soldiers. Its remains are still standing, while the remains of the few other buildings are more recent.

Photographic peculiarities

„In general, I don’t like photographs of forests because they so often seem to be contrived. The photographer’s eye can give wonderfully random arrangements of trees an appearance of openness and order that just isn’t there. The alternative – a cluttered, busy photograph – is even worse.“ Galen Rowell, Mountainlight

Sequoias and redwoods are difficult to capture undistorted because of their height. To achieve this, as a 35mm photographer, you must either move appropriately far away from the subject or use a shift lens, which is commonly used in architectural photography. The latter largely compensates for the destorted vertical lines when the camera is shifted from the horizontal. Many image editing programs also offer the option of subsequent geometric rectification. For size comparison, it is best to place an object of known size, a person or a car, in the foreground. Many published images also show only a section of the tree in portrait format or several side by side in landscape format. Add depth to the images by including one of the many boulders or some of the ferns near the ground. The latter provide additional accents with their striking fall color. Side lighting in the morning or late afternoon makes the typical red color of the bark stand out, but it also enhances the contrast between the surface and the deep furrows. This balances well with the indirect light of an overcast day, allowing more detail to be seen. When photographing along the tree in portrait mode, choose the side that is in the light and don’t put its shadow side in front of the sky. The numerous fallen cones make grateful macro subjects.

Minimum program and daily schedule

Spend at least one night along Generals Highway in Sequoia National Park to truly experience the silence amidst these redwoods. Another night in the depths of Kings Canyon should also enhance your understanding of this landscape.

Next Photo Tips USA – Sequoia National Park – Motifs along the Generals Highway and in Giant Forest

Next Photo Tips USA – Kings Canyon National Park – Motifs in Grant Grove

Next Photo Tips USA – Kings Canyon National Park – Motifs along the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway (Rt-180)

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