by AlmostThere » Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:27 pm
Be aware that you can easily burn a whole day traveling between Yosemite and Sequoia. Traveling between them will involve a lot of two lane, winding mountain roads, on which the speed limit varies from 50-35 mph. In the parks you are expected to drive around 35 mph. Plus you will have RV traffic, tour busses, and road construction (something that is ongoing the past couple of years in both parks).
Also, either park could easily keep you dayhiking for a full week and still not see everything. If I were to have out of town visitors who had never been to either I'd pick Yosemite every time. Waterfalls, granite peaks, sequoias, scenic lake basins, and just the granduer of Yosemite Valley and the awesome views from Tioga Pass, make it the better place for a week of Sierra experiences, IMO. Sequoia has some awesome remote high scenery and a lot of sequoia, bigger than the ones in Yosemite - but some of the Yosemite hikes draw us back, year after year. My favorites are Clouds Rest, Mt Dana, Ten Lakes Pass, Hetch Hetchy, Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne (really a backpack but you can dayhike to Glen Aulin, even all the way to Waterwheel falls though that's a 14 mile rt and uphill coming back), and going out toward Merced Lake. Upper Yosemite Falls and North Dome, El Capitan - I just did a cross country hike to Devil's Dance Floor too. I keep building my list of reasons to go back....
The don't miss it dayhikes in Sequoia/Kings are Mist Falls/Paradise, Redwood Canyon, Alta Peak, Pear Lake, Silliman Pass, Big and Little Baldy, Panoramic Point - well, I guess I have a long list there too! But hikes starting in Kings Canyon have to be really early - it's low elevation and the climbs are really steep if you're on a trail other than Woods Creek - and the hike downhill it will start to be hot in June/July in the afternoons. Hikes starting in Sequoia (other than the Sequoia groves) will be around 6-7,000 feet at trailheads and go higher.
How are you for elevation sickness? Acclimation should be considered if there's a history of it.
This year, June was almost too soon to go - it was snowing in early June, with some periods of chain requirements. June would be a safer bet but no guarantees or confirmations until next May when you will see the roads opening.