Day 22 - Happy 4th of July! (Day 2 at Kings Canyon)

The next morning we woke up early to drive to Cedar Grove.  After the debauchery of the previous night, we decided to go check out the campgrounds over there and consider moving if they were good.  We had only paid for one night so we had until noon before we had to commit to another night.
We packed up our breakfast and coffee (maybe slightly louder than normal - whoops!) and the started the hour long drive to Cedar Grove.  About 30 minutes into the drive, we decided it would probably be best to just stay at our current site because, although beautiful, the road was again winding, narrow and only left a few inches of pavement between us and a sheer drop-off cliff.

We stopped at a turn-out to enjoy the view

The thought of driving back to Azalea to get our stuff and then driving back to Cedar Grove was not very appealing.  But just in case, we stopped at a few of the campgrounds and of course found the perfect spot.  Site #87 at Moraine Campground was a large spot that was right on the river.  It was great enough to make us second guess our decision, but in the end we decided to stick to the plan and just spend the morning in Cedar Grove and make sure to get back to Azalea by noon to pay for the next 2 nights.

Our first stop was Zumwalt Meadows, a short hike that was recommended to us.  We set up our small stove and boiled some water for coffee and oatmeal.

Picnic breakfasts are awesome!

Zumwalt Meadow was an easy 1.5 mile loop by the river and then through a meadow.  At Yosemite, we were told the bears like to hang out in the meadows so we were really hoping to see one on this hike.  As we were walking we passed a woman with her kids who had just completed the loop.  She first warned us that there were mosquitoes in the meadow and then informed us that they had also seen a mother bear and her cubs.  I'm not sure that would necessarily be the order I would have given the information but nonetheless we were amped that we too might see the bears.  We walked the loop and...no bear.  It was still a beautiful walk, even without a bear sighting.

Where are you bear?

By the end of the walk, it was coming up on our deadline to get back and pay for our campsite so we started the winding drive back.  A few miles before the campground, we got distracted by a sign reading "Chicago Stump".  Dan used to live in Chicago so we wanted to snap a quick picture at the stump but didn't realize the road to get down to it was not in the greatest condition.  It took some effort but we finally made it, took the short walk to the stump and got some photos.  The story was actually pretty interesting:

Dan sitting on Chicago Stump

Our detour caused us to get back to camp slightly after noon but we were still able to pay for the next 2 nights, fix a quick lunch and then head to Grant Grove for a much needed shower.  But first, Dan wanted to show his patriotism.

Happy 4th of July!

After our glorious showers, we took a short walk from our campground to General Grant Grove Tree.

This is the 2nd oldest Sequoia tree in the world (3,000 years old). There were lots of people and it was another paved path, but it was still amazing to see the size of the tree.

Pictures just don't do these trees justice

When we arrived back at our campsite, our neighbors had their music blaring all the pop hits with no end in site.  We tried to not let it bother our dinner of Spicy Italian Sausages.

But after dinner, they were still jamming so we decided to go for a walk.  If you're ever in Kings Canyon at Azalea Campground, I highly recommend that you walk past campsite #57 down the dirt path and then climb the granite boulders.  If you time it right about sunset, I promise you won't be disappointed.  We didn't know what we had in store for us but Dan was a little ahead of me and stopped and uttered, "Honey, come here now".  My first thought was that he saw a bear but once I caught up with him I was met with the glowing orange sunset that he had seen.  

Sunset in Kings Canyon

It was spectacular and we sat and admired it until it went down but was still light enough for us to find our way back to our campsite.  Fortunately, our neighbors were actually early to bed and we had a relatively peaceful night sleep.

-Lauren