Whether you’re staying at Sequoia National Park for one or three days, this itinerary should give you plenty of ideas of what spots to hit up.

• Day 1
  • Travelling from Fresno?
  • Marble Falls
• Day 2
  • Tunnel Rock
  • Tunnel Log
  • General Sherman Tree, via Congress Trail
  • Big Baldy
  • Dinner in Three Rivers
• Day 3
  • Sunset Trail
  • Big Trees Trail
  • Lunch at Kings Canyon
  • General Grant Loop Trail (Kings Canyon)

Day 1

Travelling from Fresno?

If you’re looking for a close place to fly into, I highly suggest taking a flight into Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT). Fresno is only 1.5 hours away from Three Rivers, one of the entrances into Sequoia National Park. We landed in Fresno the night before and spent the night in Picadilly Inn Airport, which was less than 5 minutes away from the airport. We were about to hop on a taxi when the driver himself asked us “why are you taking a taxi, just call the hotel to pick you up, they have a shuttle.” Bless that man, faith in humanity has been restored. So we did, and they picked us up immediately.

The next morning, we picked up our car rental from the airport. I really wanted to eat some authentic Mexican breakfast before hitting the road, so we made a pit stop to Las Mañanitas for some chilaquiles (highly recommend).  After this, we went to Walmart to buy some essentials for the week (granola bars, bananas, other snacks) and finally made our way to Sequoia National Park.

As we were arriving into Three Rivers, there was about a 40 minute traffic jam into the entrance of the park.  Full disclosure that it was Memorial Day weekend, but also very possible that it traditionally gets busy on weekends. 

Marble Falls

Since it was already the afternoon and knew we would get the busy spots a lot easier the next morning, we went straight to our first and final destination — Marble Falls. This hike in itself took the rest of the afternoon, and we were beat by the end of it.

Day 2

Early bird…gets the Instagram-worthy pictures

Given that we went on Memorial Day weekend, we knew that it was going to be super packed.  So we decided to get an early start and take pictures at the quick spots like Tunnel Rock and Tunnel Log — then, actually start our hiking adventures.  We were so happy we did, because these places were packed when we passed by in the afternoon.  I recommend getting a head start around 5:30 AM — but hey, that’s just the 75 year-old me talking.

Moro Rock

Once we got these places out of the way, we went straight to Moro Rock.  Make sure you arrive early since the parking lot is super small and it was packed by the time we arrived.  The good thing is that Moro Rock takes ~30 minutes to complete, so you’ll likely find someone leaving if you wait a few minutes.  The walk up the stairs were a bit steep, but totally doable — and the view was worth it!

General Sherman via Congress Trail

Next, we made our way to see General Sherman via the Congress Trail.  It was still pretty lonely when we arrived, which allowed us to take some great pictures.  We noticed that a lot of people would get to General Sherman Tree, take a picture, and then return to their cars.  Don’t be those people — WALK THE CONGRESS TRAIL, you will not regret it!  There were so many other beautiful trees during the walk, it’s well paved, and it wasn’t very long.  By the time we were leaving, it was PACKED — so if I haven’t emphasized enough, early bird gets the worm!

Big Baldy

We ended our day by doing one final hike, Big Baldy. With an elevation gain of 1,473 ft the last bit felt pretty tough but the view was worth it.

By this time, we were pretty beat. We decided to end our day by going to dinner to River View Grill & Bar, where we were seated by the river and enjoyed some great food. Big plus, they had free wi-fi!

Day 3

We spent our final day doing easy trails (Sunset trail, Big Trees trail, and General Grant) and eating lunch at the Grant Grove Courtyard Dining in Kings Canyon National Park. This took about half a day, and the second half we headed back to the hotel and packed for our next trip to Yosemite National Park.