The next morning we got up, had some coffee, packed up the car, and headed east for Kings Canyon. It was Saturday, but there wasn’t very much traffic at all to get into the park. I’m always surprised how quiet Sequoia and Kings Canyon are compared to Yosemite, but definitely can’t complain about it.

We arrived at Roads End at about 8:45 where it was already obvious it was going to be a hot day. We headed over to the ranger kiosk and picked up our backpacking permit, then donned our packs and headed off on the flat, sandy trail next to the Kings River.

The Sphinx high above the Kings River.

We took a brief water/rest break at the impressive bridge crossing the Kings River before continuing up Bubbs Creek.

Looking up the Kings River towards Paradise Valley from the first climb up Bubbs Creek. We passed a family of four coming down who warned us of a bear causing trouble at Charlotte Creek. Apparently the bear had kept them up all night as it tried to break into their bear canister. We weren’t sure exactly how far we’d get today but noted that maybe that wasn’t the best stopping point for the day.

A rattlesnake we found along the trail.

The Sphinx from above.

A Mariposa Lily. We hiked up the trail for several hours. There wasn’t too much to see, it was mostly just hiking through the forest. We took a lunch break at Charlotte Creek and another short break for water at Junction Meadow. There were some good campsites here, but we still had time and energy so we continued up.

Mount Brewer and North Guard above Junction Meadow.

After about eight hours of hiking we reached Lower Vidette Meadow. We didn’t have energy for another 1,000 or so feet of climbing after climbing almost 5,000 feet today so we found a nice campsite between the trail and Bubbs Creek where we made camp for the night.

There was a beautiful cotton candy sunset with some clearing clouds that had built up during the day.