Day seventy six, Fresno, Ca to Tulare, ca, Kings Canyon and sequoia national parks.

Being a Sunday, we suspected the parks would not be quite as crowded as Yosemite was yesterday, what with all those people that go to church and what not, nevertheless, we got an early start, circa 7.15 am and headed up Route 180 to ward Kings Canyon, some 90 kms distant.

The first 40 kms was on the flat but the last 50 kms was in the Sierra foothills and the 180 was a very cool ride in itself. Traffic was light, temps in the low 20’s, things were looking promising.

Well, let me tell you, Kings Canyon is jaw dropping in terms of scenery and riding enjoyment all rolled into one. It is 50 kms from the visitor center to Cedar grove at the end of the Canyon. We took photos on the way in, so we had an extra awesome 50 km ride back out to enjoy. Traffic columns were super light so it was a stunning ride, we were in this park for about 3.5 hrs. I have to say this would be my favourite National Park of the 15 we have visited on this trip. This canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon, in my view an overlooked park in that it eats Yellowstone and Yosemite for breakfast in terms of scenery, it is just a smaller park than those more popular ones.

Out of Kings Canyon, after having a look at the General Grant, giant sequoia and other giant trees nearby, we rode through Sequoia to see more giant sequoia,s before dropping down the side of the mountain the grove of the giants is on on the windiest, twistiest road we have ridden in this entire trip as well. Drops over 4000’ in altitude in a very short distance, just about got travel sickness and I was the only one on the bike, oh my god she was a twisting piece of road. From the bottom it was about 70 km into the Comfort Hotel at a town called Tulare where we booked in for the night.

What a stunning days riding and only one day from the end of the trip, awesome.

Tell ya what, if you are a motorcycle tourist , or in fact occupants of any form of vehicle while in California and you decide you better see the usual suspects such as Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Coastal Route one, don,t you dare leave California until you have had a look at Kings Canyon, you will not be disappointed, particularly if you are on a motorbike, it’s a nice day, it’s a mid week day and outside the tourist season, happy days my friend, happy days.