9 DAYS IN CALIFORNIA: Yosemite + Kings Canyon + Sequoia + Pinnacles + Channel Islands

This was one of our favorite trips yet! You’ll get the chance to visit 5 different national parks in 9 days. We visited in early May 2021. Total drive time ~18 hours

Day 1 – LAX –> Yosemite NP (4 hr drive)

• Fly into LAX. Our flight was early morning (probably a little too early, we were up at 3AM). We landed in California at 8AM and had a whole day to spend in California! This was day was a little too adventurous, and our early morning flight meant we were drained by the end of the day.
• Once you land, first stop as always is the grocery store to pick up lunch and snacks for the week.
• After this, we drove straight to Yosemite NP from LAX. The drive took longer than expected due to traffic and if we had the chance to do it again. We probably wouldn’t try to actually visit the park this day and instead take it easy once we get to our hotel in Fresno that night.
• Instead we explored Yosemite Valley and took a quick photo at Tunnel View. The traffic was unexpected inside the park. There was a lot of construction going on and parking was difficult, which further drained our energy.
• We were further disappointed by the closure of the main road going into Mariposa Grove for construction with no shuttle running. The fact that this road was closed meant that there was an extra 2 mile walk and unfortunately we could not fit the Mariposa Grove in to the day. Luckily, we got plenty of tall trees at Kings Canyon and Sequoia.
• Despite the setbacks, the views here were so beautiful that this park was our favorite out of all 5 NP we visited!
• Tonight, stay in Fresno

Day 2 – Yosemite NP

• Today we spent the whole day hiking the Mist/Vernal Falls Trail. It took us about 6 hours to complete fully!
• If you’re visiting Yosemite NP in May, the north side of the park may still be closed. it actually opened up the same week we were visiting. However, we decided to skip the north side of the park and instead got the chance to explore more of San Francisco.
• Tonight, stay in Fresno

Day 3 – Kings Canyon NP

• We decided to take two separate days to explore Sequoia and Kings Canyon and we are glad we did. Although they probably can be completed in one day it may mean having to skip some nice viewpoints.
• Kings Canyon is an interested park that is divided in the middle by a national forest. We highly recommend exploring the national forest a little. Hume Lake is a beautiful spot to stop and take some photos.
• Tonight, stay in Fresno

Day 4 – Sequoia NP

• Today you get to see the tallest tree by volume in the world! Affectionally named General Sherman, be sure to use the panorama function on your phone to take a photo with the tree, otherwise you wont get the chance to fit it all into one screen!
• Tonight, stay near Tulare

Day 5 – San Francisco Day 1

• In the morning, you will drive to San Francisco and explore some city sites! We took the shuttle/public buses around for this day, but I would recommend driving if you are ok with driving a little to find a parking spot.
• Today we explored the Golden Gate Bridge, chinatown, the Zigzag street (Lombard Street), the Fisherman Wharf.
• Tonight, we stayed in Sunnyvale

Day 6 – San Francisco Day 2

• We decided to take our rental car into the city this day. This allowed us to see some nature in the area including the Muir Woods National Monument and even a Black Sands Beach. We drove across the Golden Gate bridge to the Marin Harbor area.
• After this, explore the Painted Ladies (full house homes) and Twin Peaks Overlook.
• Tonight, we stayed in San Jose

Day 7 – Pinnacles NP

• Today morning it’s a bit of a drive to Pinnacles NP. If we weren’t determined to visit all of the national parks we might have cut this park out of our trip. Pinnacles NP was very hot and crowded today. Pinnacles is divided into a more popular West side and east side of the park. We weren’t able to find a parking spot near the Bear Gulch Reservoir (parking fills up early in the morning). Instead, we had to walk about 2 miles to the trailhead, which ruined our day here.
• After finishing the Bear Gulch Hike, we were done with this park and started the drive back to our hotel near LA for Channel Islands
• Stay in Oxnard

Day 8 – Channel Islands NP

• To visit Channel Islands, you must book a ferry via the Island Packers Cruise services. Channel Islands is made up of a few islands, the closest and most popular is Santa Cruz. We booked the earliest ferry in and the latest ferry out thinking we would have a lot to explore this day. However, I would recommend a shorter day here. In fact there was a crowd of people trying to catch the earlier 4PM ferry back into Oxnard on the day we visited.
• We finished the Potato Harbor hike, explored the museum, enjoyed the beach, and eventually ran out of things to do.

Day 9 – Explore LA, flight home

• Today we had just enough time to grab lunch and explore Malibu beach before getting ready for our flight home