​We arrived at Lemon Cove, CA on 04/12/2018 and will be staying here until 4/22/2018. We are located approximately seventeen miles outside the west entrance to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park. We got an all day bus tour through the Sequoia forest and got to see the largest tree in the world (General Sherman), When you take the Sequoia tour ask for John Kasberg.  His information on history, geology, flora and fauna, short hike mixed with humor is amazing. Make sure you take the tour at the beginning of your vacation, so that you can find other areas that you would like to explore. 

We went to the Three Rivers Jazz Affair and heard some great bands from the local High School Jazz ensemble, to the seasoned veterans who even do cruise ship performances. It was a three-day event, but we only attended Saturday. 

I got a chance to take Cindy to one of my fondness memories from growing up in California, and that was a trip to Hume Lake in Kings Canyon National Park. We took the walk around the lake to where a nice stream feeds into the lake. 

The next adventure will take us to Redwood National Park instead of Yosemite, since they are still snowed in.

Make sure that you check out the photos that I have uploaded to my website... 
https://www.nationalparkplanningguides.com/photos.html 

​The original list of National Parks and route was finalized in February. In March, California received some major storms resulting in significant snow fall. Kings Canyon, Yosemite and Crater Lake National Parks have roads closed due to snow. These roads provide access to key features, points of interest, and hiking trails needed to complete the books. 
 
I am looking into leaving Sequoia National Park and heading northwest to visit Redwood National Park, as we continue working our way to Olympic National Park just outside of Seattle, WA. 
 
For now, we have seen the beautiful Sequoia Trees and are really enjoying our time with two of our best friends, John and Lynda Kasberg.

During my preplanning I picked 29 Palms, CA to set up our base camp.  This turned out to be a great location centrally located between two entrances to the park.   Park Boulevard runs between Joshua Tree, CA and 29 Palms, CA and is the most visited area of the park.

One of the main factors in planning your visit in the park is the afternoon heat.  We decided that we wanted to finish all of our hikes by no later than noon.   The mornings are cool, pleasant and the best time to see flowers in blume throughout the park.

Some of the hikes that we really liked were more history based like the petroglyphs, gold mines and gold processing mills.   The last gold mine in Joshua Tree National Park closed in 1961.

Enjoy the slideshow found in the Photos Tab.

​Well, we got off on a great start leaving Bunnell around 11:00 AM on 3/31/2018 and made it to Waveland, MS for the evening. My original plan was to on the southern Interstate 10 all the way to Joshua Tree NP. Plans changed slightly to head north to travel, Interstate 40 across, then turn south just before Flagstaff on Interstate 17 to Cottonwood, AZ. I AM REALLY GLAD that we changed to a diesel pusher, because I think that it would have been a bit tougher in the gas rig. On 4/1/2018, we started at 6 am stopping at night in Abilene, TX. After a short ride on 4/2/2018 to Albuquerque, NM, we had our first relaxing evening at an RV campground on the old Route 66 (They even had retro campers to stay in stay in). When we left Albuquerque on 4/3/2018 to our amazement was that Petrified Forest National Park was on both sides of, Interstate 40, and we had to stop... Guess as a teenager when we traveled across the original Route 66 it went through the park, of course that was a long time ago, and I don't remember much except for see some trees. It was a great visit through the park. From there it was non-stop to Cottonwood, AZ to spend some time with our friend Glen Cooper and camp with him on his enormous campsite. He took us to some amazing restaurants and showed us around the area and Sedona. On 4/5/2018, we departed for Joshua Tree National Park, CA .