15 Fun Things to Do in Kings Canyon National Park

Located in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, right next to Sequoia National Park, lies Kings Canyon National Park. 

The park gets its name after the striking Kings Canyon, a glacially carved canyon with the Kings River rushing through. While many state that Hells Canyon on the Oregon and Idaho Border is the deepest canyon in North America, Kings Canyon reaches a maximum depth of 8,200 feet, which technically makes it deeper.

And unlike many US National Parks out west, which are designed to offer tons of day hikes and accessible activities, Kings Canyon is primarily a backcountry park, with over 90% of the park being wilderness. However, there are still SO many fun things to do in Kings Canyon National Park if you want to stick to the frontcountry!

One of our favorite things we did at Kings Canyon National Park was watch the sunrise at Panoramic Point. This short hike leads you to a viewpoint of both Hume Lake and a wall of mountains. It would be beautiful anytime of day, but we especially loved it at sunrise, as we got to watch the sun pop up over the mountains and flood the area with light.

Want an extra challenge? Continue on to the Park Ridge Fire Lookout for a 5.2 mile hike!

Important Note: The road to Panoramic Point is steep and windy and RVs, plus trailers, are NOT allowed. We drove our 23 foot Sprinter van on this road with no issues, but anything larger would be tough, especially for parking.

Although it’s not technically located in the park, one of our favorite things to do in Kings Canyon National Park is visit Hume Lake! Just a 12 minute detour off the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, this beautiful lake is home to a campground, plus various picnic and waterfront areas.

And if you’re traveling with a dog, it’s one of the best things to do with your pup near Kings Canyon National Park! We came here twice while visiting the park to walk Kona along the beautiful Hume Lake Loop Trail and for Adam to fish.

And whatever you do, do not leave Hume Lake without swinging by the Hume Lake Snack Shop for burgers, fries, and delicious handspun milkshakes!

Important note: Highway 180 (Kings Canyon Scenic Byway) is typically closed just past the Hume Lake turnoff from late October until late April. This means that the remaining items on this list of things to do in Kings Canyon National Park are NOT accessible when this road is closed.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are home to over 275 caves! And along the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway you can find Boyden Cavern, a marble cavern that formed over 100,000 years ago. It is named after J. Putnam Boyden, a Hume Lake logger who discovered the cavern and lived inside it for several years, even using it to entertain others.

From late April until early November you can tour the cave, which costs $17 per adult and is about 45-60 minutes long. There is a very steep walk up to the entrance of the cave and once inside, you’ll walk about 750 feet going through narrow and low sections. 

Along the way you get to see different formations, like the wedding cake, the upside down city, pancakes with butter and syrup on top, the brain, and wavy formations that resemble curtain drapes. Plus the Christmas tree, which forms an inch per century. We really enjoyed this tour and would highly recommend it when visiting Kings Canyon!

A+K Tip: The cave is 55ºF inside, so make sure to wear warmer clothes! You also may have the chance to get your feet wet on the cave tour, so wear shoes that you don’t mind getting wet. Flip flops are not allowed.

Both Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are home to some picturesque meadows. And Zumwalt Meadow may be the most beautiful of them all! Along this short hike you’ll get to see the South Fork Kings River, mountain views, and the lush Zumwalt Meadow. And if you’re very lucky, you may get to see some wildlife, including bears!

A+K Tip: Combine Zumwalt Meadows and Roaring River Falls into an easy 4.2 mile hike!

As we mentioned, 90% of Kings Canyon National Park is wilderness. So for the experienced hikers out there, one of the best things to do in Kings Canyon National Park is to go on a backpacking trip!

And hands down the best backpacking trip in the park is the Rae Lakes Loop! This 39 mile backpacking loop takes you through some of Kings Canyon’s best scenery, from alpine lakes, to sweeping mountain views. You will need 4-5 days to complete it, depending on how much you want to hike per day. 

During our visit, this trail was unfortunately closed due to damage from a fire, so we were unable to hike it. But it’s one of the top backpacking trails we want to hike!

Wilderness Permit Required: To camp in the backcountry, you are required to get a wilderness permit. These can be tough to get, so make sure to plan in advance for your best chance at getting the trail you want!

Another bucket list hike in Kings Canyon National Park is Kearsarge Pass Trail to Kearsarge Lakes! This 12.4 mile hike can be done as a long day hike or as a one night backpacking trip. However, unlike all of the other things to do in Kings Canyon National Park, which start in the park itself, you start this hike on the other side of the mountains near the Alabama Hills.

The first 4.7 miles, up to Kearsarge Pass, is technically in the Inyo National Forest. Once you get to the top of the pass, you enter Kings Canyon National Park for the rest of the hike. Along this hike you’ll encounter unreal views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains jagged peaks, spanning miles and miles, plus multiple alpine lakes. This is another hike that is high up on our list for our next visit!

A+K Tip: Dogs are allowed on the first part in the Inyo National Forest, but are NOT allowed past Kearsarge Pass, so if you want to hike with your dog, you can just do the first part!

One of the best things to do in Kings Canyon National Park is to hop on over to Sequoia National Park! Located right next to each other, these parks are super easy to combine into one trip. In fact, they are even managed together!

Similar to Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia is home to Giant Sequoias, including the world’s largest tree. Plus gorgeous waterfalls, unique hikes, rugged peaks, and so much more! Some of our top suggestions of things to do include climbing up to Moro Rock for sunset, hiking General Sherman and the Congress Trail, see Tokopah Falls, and visit the Giant Forest Museum.

To see all of our recommendations for the park, check out our guide with the best things to do in Sequoia National Park, as well as our perfect one day Sequoia National Park itinerary!

Driving to Kings Canyon National Park

If driving to Kings Canyon National Park, here’s how long you can expect it to take to drive to Kings Canyon National Park’s Visitor Center from nearby popular destinations:

• Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest Museum: 1 hour (30 miles)
• Fresno, CA: 1-1.5 hours (56 miles)
• Sequoia National Park Visitor Center (Foothills): 1 hour, 40 minutes (46 miles)
• Yosemite Valley: 3-4 hours (147 miles)
• San Francisco, CA: 4-5 hours (242 miles)
• Los Angeles, CA: 4-5 hours (243 miles)

Driving is the only way to get around Kings Canyon National Park. Unlike Sequoia National Park, there is NO free park shuttle here.

The park does have some vehicle length limits for those in camper vans and RVs, including on roads coming from Sequoia National Park, plus on the road to Panoramic Point in Kings Canyon itself. So make sure to plan ahead!

A+K Tip: Make sure to fill up on fuel before entering the park! There is a gas station at Stony Creek, whose pricing seemed on par with outside the park. As well as one at Hume Lake. But don’t depend on them!

While you can visit a couple areas of the park year-round, like General Grant and Big Stump Grove, Kings Canyon is overall much more limited in the winter and early spring months. So we’d personally think the best time to visit Kings Canyon National Park is between May–September. This is when some (or all) trails will be snow-free and more roads will be open!

For those only interested in the park’s frontcountry experience, May is a great time to see the Giant Sequoias, drive the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, and hike the front country trails without the massive crowds of summer. However, keep in mind that holidays, like Memorial Day, will be extra busy.

Depending on the snowpack, you may be able to do backcountry hiking in late May, but for the best chance of snow-free trails, we’d save your visit for July-September.

We personally visited the park in late May, right before Memorial Day, and minus a couple closures due to past wildfire damage, we were able to do almost everything in the frontcountry section of the park.

A+K Tip: Kings Canyon National Park has a wide range in elevation, with Grant Grove being at around 6,600 feet and some parts of the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway reaching 3,300 feet. And even higher elevations in the backcountry! This means that the weather can vary greatly, with the lower elevations being much warmer and even very hot in the summer. Make sure to check the weather forecast for all areas of the park and pack layers!

For most visitors, 1-2 days is enough time to experience the frontcountry area of the park. We personally spent one jam packed day exploring Kings Canyon National Park, exploring from sunrise to sunset. But if you want to do backcountry hiking, including the Rae Lakes Loop, you will need at least 5 days, for both the backpacking trip, plus smaller activities in the park.

Here’s a quick sample itinerary of how to spend 2 days in the frontcountry of Kings Canyon:

Day 1

• Watch sunrise at Panoramic Point
• See the General Grant Tree
• Visit the Big Stump Grove
• Hike Big Baldy Ridge

Day 2

• Drive the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, stopping at Boyden Cavern, Grizzly Falls, and different overlooks along the way.
• Hike Zumwalt Meadows and Roaring River Falls or to Mist Falls
• End the day at Hume Lake and grab a burger, fries, and a milkshake!

Leave No Trace

Before embarking on your Kings Canyon National Park adventure, please review the Leave No Trace principles to ensure you leave every place better than you found it so that others can enjoy these beautiful places for many years to come!

These seven principles include planning ahead and preparing, hiking and camping on durable surfaces, disposing of waste properly (pack out what you pack in!), understanding campfire rules and always fully extinguishing your fires, respecting wildlife, and being considerate of other visitors.

Entrance Fee

It costs $35 per vehicle to enter Kings Canyon National Park, which is good for both Kings Canyon and Sequoia, up to one week. We highly recommend getting the America the Beautiful pass, which is $80 per year and gets you into all National Park Service managed sites and federal lands for free.

Dogs are NOT allowed on trails

If you’re bringing your pet with you to the park, keep in mind that they are ONLY allowed on fully paved roads, in parking lots, at picnic areas, and at campgrounds. All of which require them to be on a 6 foot leash. They are NOT allowed on any trails in Kings Canyon or Sequoia National Parks. 

Curious what we do with Kona when she cannot join us on a hike? Read this guide about how we travel full time with a dog.

Download offline maps

In many areas of the park there is little to no cell service. We recommend downloading Google Maps for offline use. You’ll want to have the area of the park downloaded so that you can get between places, even if you don’t have cell service. While the park has good signage, some spots are easy to miss, so it’s nice to have Google Maps to direct you.

We also suggest downloading offline AllTrails maps so you can navigate on hikes even without cell service.

Want to get 30% off an AllTrails Plus membership? Use our code aplusk30 (you must redeem this code on the website, not the app)!

We use AllTrails Plus on every single hike and it is the most helpful hiking tool out there! Some of the features we love are offline maps (so we can navigate even without cell service), wrong-turn alerts, and its 3D maps feature, so we can get a feel for trails before we hike.

The best things to do in Kings Canyon National Park require being outdoors, so you will want to bring proper outdoor and hiking gear. To see everything we take hiking, check out our hiking gear as well as our guide about how to make a 10 essentials kit.

But here are a few items we want to especially recommend bringing to the park!

Proper hiking shoes

The trails in Kings Canyon National Park range in terrain. Some are smooth and easy to walk on, while others may be rocky or wet. Having good hiking shoes is key for safety! We both love our Altra Lone Peaks, as they are less bulky than boots, but have good traction. They are also great for hiking in water, as they dry fast!

Layers

Different areas of the park lie at different elevations, so the temperatures can range throughout the day. Every 1,000 feet you go up, the temp will normally drop about 5 degrees. Pack layers so you’re ready for different temperatures and unpredictable weather. 

Sun Protection

Some areas of Kings Canyon National Park are very exposed to the sun. So you’ll definitely want to bring a sun hoodie, hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses. Adam wears KALIYADI sunglasses and Kathryn wears Ray-Bans.

Water

Make sure to pack lots of water! There are water fountains at the Visitor Center and at campgrounds if you need to fill up, but our 3L Camelbak bladders helped ensure we had enough water throughout the day. 

And since you’re at a higher altitude and will be very active, we recommend bringing LMNT to help you stay hydrated. If you use this link, you get a free sample pack (8 packets!) with any order! 

Packed lunch & snacks

While there are some places to grab a quick bite to eat or snack in Kings Canyon National Park, like Grant Grove Market, we personally would suggest bringing (and cooking) your own food to save money. If you need snack ideas, you can see a list of our favorite hiking snacks here!