1.5 mile fun out-and-back trail. Trail is narrow in places and a bit of rock scrambling is necessary. Recommend to put water in backpack since you need your hands for the ladder. Mostly full sun, little to no shade. It is windy at the overlook at the end of the trail, hold on to your hat as the ascend. There is a large parking lot for the four trailheads: window, door, notch, and castle. Pit toilets and trash cans available at trailhead. We saw an endangered bighorn sheep grazing just adjacent to the parking lot. Cliff swallows made their mud nests in the rafters of a shade structure.
No showers available at Madison campground. We traveled to the Old Faithful lodge and paid $4 or $5 for showers and watched the geyser while there. Towel rental was available at the lodge as well.
Lovely waterfall viewpoint. We were there in early July and the pullout area was very congested; cars parked anywhere and everywhere. It is a quick stop, no trail or path down to the water so the cars come and go fairly quickly.
We stayed in the tent only Loop G. You do not get to pick your own campsite. You make a reservation in advance and a campsite is assigned to you. Bear box, picnic table, and fire pit are provided for each site. There are two bathrooms in the loop. There is a “kitchen” sink station in the bathroom building to dump ice chest water and dirty dish washing water. Campsites are very close together. We got lucky and we’re at the end of the loop and campground was fairly quiet. Lots of families and kids running around in summer. There is no cell coverage. Firewood sold on site.
There is a chair lift ride up the mountain so if you are afraid of heights this isn’t the ride for you. Once you hop off the chair lift, you need to roll your (fairly heavy) sled to the slide area. Each sled has a brake lever and the rider/driver is in control of the speed. It’s a good long ride down the mountain with some fun curves; nothing too scary or dangerous. From the website: Participants 48" and taller must ride individually. Sorry, for safety reasons, no exceptions.
Guests who are between 35"-47" in height must ride as a Passenger and be accompanied by a Driver at least 16 years old and 48" or taller.
All guests must be able to approach the chairlift load point under their own power.
My little 4 cylinder engine could not make it up the road to the trailhead. There is one section of soft dirt that I just couldn’t get past. We pulled over about a half mile before the parking lot so it added some distance to our hike. There is a loop trail or you can walk to the Boole tree and back. The Trail is nice, about 500 foot elevation gain on the trail. Once you get to the tree, there is quite a steep decline down to it which, of course, you need to come back up. The tree is great and unlike some of the other giant sequoias in the area, there is no fencing around it.
This is an easy loop around Hume Lake, almost three miles. There is a shady picnic area near the trailhead. We went in summer and there are hundreds of kids at the Hume Lake Christian camp. You will hear them making a ruckus and having a good time at the trail head but once you get a little way down the trail it’s quiet. There is also a gas station on the Christian camp property.
This overlook lies in the Sequoia National Forest land just above Grant’s Grove area of King’s Canyon National Park. Just a dirt turnout on the highway; no informational posts like on the National Park grounds. There is enough room for about 6-8 cars depending on how people are parked. Great spot to watch the sunset when you are visiting King’s Canyon National Park.
The cave lies in the Sequoia National Forest land in between Grant’s Grove area and Cedar Grove area of King’s Canyon National Park. The cave is privately run and there are guided tours every 30 minutes. There is a bit of a hike up to the cave opening, but the actual cave is easy to navigate. We had a great tour guide and learned a lot about the history of the cave. The tour was about 45 minutes long. The tours overlap since you exit out a different opening than you enter. There is a nice little gift shop where you can purchase souvenirs and your tour tickets, outdoor tables/chairs, and pit toilets in the parking lot.
Beautiful spot for sunset. There is a cement viewing platform with guard rails that has a spectacular view. Many people also sit just west of the viewing platform. This section has no guard rails and you can sit on the rocks. Choose your own comfort level.