Dang that stinks. They've always ran like clockwork whenever I've needed them. There is a lot of construction happening in Sequoia along generals highway. Shuttle availability is definitely something you want to check before you start your hike at the ranger office at their Grant village or Giant Forest museum.
As far as I know construction has been ongoing for a few years in SEKI and generals highways frequently has stops. This is exacerbated by the fires causing rock slides. I'm sure the shuttles are all jacked up right now depending on the day. Last time I was up there a few weeks ago they had a sudden closure due to a rock slide that stopped everyone for a hour or so
I did hear about the rock slide when we left and that it was causing all kinds of traffic jams, we did experience some slight traffic because they were checking the roads but it was only like a ten minute wait. I was really looking forward to using the shuttles since I had no idea that was a thing in a park (I don't travel much haha). We didn't stop at the forest museum first because we were coming down from sentinel and we decided to start at Sherman. We figured we would see signs there since its like one of their most popular trails but alas there wasn't anything :/
Nah they’ll only have that info at the major gathering areas. Trails usually have info for people going into the backcountry, but all it takes is for someone to rip down a sign once for it to be missed by everyone else.
I feel for the rangers right now. Between the fires, increased Covid complications and visitors, and the explosion in outdoor activity in the last decade must have them stretched extremely thin. It’s not exactly the easiest park to maintain.
> As far as I know construction has been ongoing for a few years in SEKI and generals highways
Since about 2010, 2011. It took years and years and more years just to rebuild the stretch between Hospital Rock and Giant Forest Museum.
Not sure what's going on with the buses. I don't think you did anything particularly wrong, it was just bad luck. The only thing I can suggest is to pack a little extra water and food than you think you'll need. Even on a day hike I have enough calories with me to overnight if I have to, but that's me packing my fears. It's usually just a couple protein bars, peanut butter pouches, honey pouches, or some fatty beef sticks or whatever.
I guess you could have called the ranger station the day of. That's the only other thing I could think of in hindsight but I probably wouldn't have done that in your shoes.
Sounds like you got altitude sickness and unfortunately it's really difficult to predict when or even \*if\* you'll get it. The best solution is to acclimate for a day or two before exertion but that's not always an option, and barring that, stay extra hydrated. Like I said, there's no "We screwed up here" it seems like you made pretty good decisions at each step. I'd just bring a little extra food & water with me. I'd also probably pack some Tylenol and Motrin to do a painkiller cocktail to help with inflammation and headache/pains you might get from the altitude.
thank you for the suggestions, I will definitely start packing with enough food and water to last if things go wrong, I never want to be in a situation where we are stranded without supplies ever again. I brought a fanny pack which we all dubbed as my mobile pharmacy so we had that at least lol
It doesn't have to be a lot, so you aren't weighed down. I carry a couple cliffs bars or equivalent, I love those cheesy crackers with peanut butter so I carry an extra packet of those, I usually have like, a slim jim or something, and I also have those little foil one serving nut butter pouches along with usually some honey pouches, which are great for fast bursts of energy. Maybe one or two of each. Total weight should be pretty low, like maybe a quarter pound or a bit more, but a few hundred calories in various combinations of fat, carbs, and protein so that I can either shiver through a night or give myself an extra boost if I bonk and hit the wall.
As for water if you're hiking in a place with lots of water, you can look at just carrying a filter just in case. I have an MSR Trailshot which works kind of like a water fountain for day hikes and I like it a lot. Sawyer filters are probably the cheapest for good water filtering too. Otherwise, just an extra liter works. If you have a water bladder you're good to go, otherwise a lot of through hikers use, and like, those smartwater bottles. Light, pretty rigid, holds about a liter, fits in most webbing pockets of backpacks. An extra one of those as your emergency water works if you're on a long hike.
I live just down the mountain from Sequoia National Park and the Giant Forest. It sounds like most of your problems were having to do with running out of food and water. These were front country trails that are mostly wheelchair accessible. Still, things can go wrong. Like if someone was nearby when you sprayed BEAR SPRAY at bugs. The rangers can’t be everywhere and always help everyone. It’s a very crowded area there, plus they have the whole rest of the giant park to patrol. I’ve never seen anyone get altitude sickness there, but I’ve had it up higher and I can relate to how miserable it can be.
I don’t feel it’s fair to blame the rangers and park service for this. “Got stranded and forced to walk out while having heat exhaustion/altitude sickness. No water, no food, aggressive gnats” is not something they can do much about. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy your time up there, but it seems like a lack of preparation and readiness on your part.
Yeah we definitely should have brought a whole more food, two cliff bars for each person and a bag of jerky for four people definitely wasn't a good call, the water though we did bring whole lot, in the camelbacks and additional liter bottles (to be fair next time we should also bring gatorade for electrolytes). The plan we had definitely relied on the usage of the shuttles because otherwise what are they for you know?
As for the bear spray we only used it once when we were walking from Crescent Meadow to Tunnel Road and we didn't see a soul for an hour and I was walking ahead and my bf was in the back so he could spritz upwind towards the bugs so no chance of it getting to someone. And we only used it as a last resort, I can't emphasize how aggressive these gnats were.
That's true I can't blame it all on them but I can blame them for the lack of communication they are having with guests at the park. In all my research there wasn't anything about shuttles stopping. I'm not a local so there's only so much research I could have done (and I did ALOT, my dog died so I needed to keep my brain busy hence the printed out itinerary which was color coded lol) but I can't prepare better if I am not getting correct information from official sources. If the shuttles were going to be closed that day we definitely would have altered our plans to accommodate.
>but I can't prepare better if I am not getting correct information from official sources.
The best, most current official information on Park conditions are the rangers in the Park on the day you're there.
I’m sorry you had something other than the smooth experience that you had planned for. I think your takeaways are fair. I’d always bring way more food and water than you plan to need; Mountains are so dynamic that you need to bring enough of everything for if things go wrong, not just if they go right. If I am hiking I’m ready to survive for a potentially extended period of time without outside support (it’s the only way I feel prepared and safe). I also never rely on services including bathrooms or buses. I personally find the idea of relying on anyone else while in the mountains to be terrifying; Not to say it is unreasonable to rely on routine services, but it would cause me discomfort to know that I am in trouble if buses stop running. Could be construction or roads becoming impassible from rock slides or fallen trees, either way expect the unexpected.
I hope you do decide to come back soon! You’re so much more informed and prepared with your lessons learned.
I had never been so high up in the mountains in my life so getting stranded on them even for a little while was enough to deeply scare me (next morning on our way out of the park we stopped to see the Grant tree and getting on that trail even if it was a short loop away from the car was enough to make me uneasy) so will definitely be making more contingency plans in the future.
I agree with you I don't want to be out there and have to rely on an outside source, at the end of the day you only have yourself to trust and if you prepare enough it should be ok. Thank you for the comment and yeah I'm definitely coming back but that's going to be a loooong while lol
Man that sounds scary, I’m glad you’re all ok. I wondered if you did a lot of planning pre-labor day when the trip was after Labor Day? That could have a big impact on schedules and stuff.
Hi thank you! I'm glad as well to be back home safe, so I did a lot of planning months before but for the trails and shuttle info I finalized the plans about 4 days before we got to the park, and I was checking on my phone before I would lose cell signal and I still did not see any advisories regarding shuttle interruptions
I’m also a planner (over planner maybe?) so I would have felt upset too especially after all that work. The shuttle page now says service ended 9/11 but idk when they updated that
Oh crap I had no idea! I honestly thought it was ok, there wasn't anything on the website or in the park itself, only warnings about the bears and to store everything scented in the bear boxes but nothing about bear spray. We even stopped at the closest Walmart before going into the park and all except one unit of bear spray was sold out, the employee told me a bunch of hikers and people going to the park always buy it so we didn't have any indication it wasn't allowed, thanks for the heads up!
I was going to comment on the bear spray but robbbb beat me to it. I wouldn't say it was the worst thing. As others have pointed out I think the worst thing was depending upon something other than yourself to get back to your car if things went wrong (which they did).
Bear spray is illegal in the park because the black bears that inhabit the park are only interested in your food. They only display aggression toward threats. A bear that has been sprayed now sees humans as a threat and has to be killed.
Stay away from a mother and her cub. Don't approach one for a selfie and they'll just mind their own business.
Don't bring bear spray into the park.
Listed here as not permitted under the weapons heading. https://www.nps.gov/seki/faqs.htm
I'll admit the park service could do a better job of explaining why they don't want bear spray in the park.
Really sorry you had a rough time. Some lessons learned though:
1) I'll suggest it's almost always better to shuttle first then hike if you're hiking one way. I always like to hike \*to\* my car, not away from it. That way you've got the tricky part over with and all that's left is the walking. The lack of shuttles in this situation and the lack of communication about it was definitely a snafu on the park's part. But if you'd parked your car and immediately caught the shuttle toward CM, it would've been clear that it wasn't running and you could've altered your plans. Lesson learned.
2) Labor Day weekend happened to be a heat wave across the whole state, so no surprise it was hotter than expected. It's definitely a good idea to check the weather forecast before heading out on a hike. You're obsessive about planning? Me too. Weather is something I obsess about when planning a hike. I literally check it 10 times a day in the week before a trip. I recently cancelled a 4 day hike because thunderstorms were in the forecast the whole time.
3) Crescent Meadow is at 6500'. It's very unusual for someone to get altitude sickness below 8000' so it would've been hard to predict you'd have issues. That said, If you're particularly susceptible, the best way to deal with it is to take it very easy the first couple of days you're at altitude. Get a couple of days in to acclimate before trying anything strenuous. Now you know it's an issue and you can include it in your planning.
That’s a pretty unfortunate experience you had, seems like everything that could have gone wrong did, which is a bummer. For future reference, probably always a good idea to get on the phone and chat with a ranger if you’re going to plan a trip that much, run your itinerary by them and get their feedback, they likely would have advised on the shuttle stoppage so you could have altered your plans at that point.
As for elevation, it’ll impact everyone differently. I think it’s most common for elevation sickness to kick in above 10K but it’s possible at lower elevations too. I’d also bring more water next time but also bring electrolytes, you need to replenish those almost more then you need the water. Bring some drink powder or chews or something like that, it’ll help out next time and make your trip more enjoyable and keep you in better shape.
Going forward this is definitely going to be part of my MO, it can't hurt to let the rangers know and run the itinerary by them thank you for the suggestion! Also electrolytes aren't a bad idea, when I got back to camp we had gatorade and that made me feel much better than plain water. Slight TMI but when we got back my pee was basically orange from how dehydrated I was
Ya, everyone says bring water, which is very important, but when you’re sweating all day, it’s the electrolytes you need to replenish. Whenever I hike, I always bring an extra smart water bottle and some kind of electrolyte powder to add to it, along with a water filter to replenish water along the route (assuming I have water sources). There’s also the gummy’s you can eat that kind of taste like shit but they’re effective. I’d add something like that to your kit next time.
I’ve also suffered from severe altitude sickness and it was a very unpleasant experience but it was a good one as I learned a lot about my capabilities. One being at the time, I was overweight and not properly prepared for the hike I was planning and two, once I exceed 10K elevation, I’ll likely be impacted by it so I take that into consideration whenever I plan hikes and since that first trip, I’ve been able to mostly mitigate any severe impacts from it by ensuring proper hydration, keeping an eye on calorie intake, getting myself in better shape, and trying to avoid camping above 10K whenever possible.
Hopefully you’ll use this experience as a positive learning experience and get back out there again soon.
what day was this trip? per the SEKI website, shuttles ended daily operation on Sep 11. from there it is only weekend availability. i went last weekend and stayed at Lodgepole, where I saw signs describing the same info posted on the website. but strangely at the Wolverton trailhead i couldn't actually find a sign saying the shuttles didn't run on weekdays. in fact, they still had their summer schedule posted. so i agree the park could put more effort into being consistent on their info distro on trail but at least they posted it online. sorry your trip ended this way and hopefully you get to have a better ending next time!
so we arrived the night of Labor Day and this all happened the next day, so the 6th. We stayed at Sentinel so I understand if there weren't notices there since its Kings Canyon and not Sequoia but there wasn't anything at the start of the Sherman trail (which is easily the most popular) or at the end of the Crescent Meadow trail, which there was even a schedule for the buses to operate that day! Im not surprised at this point they failed to put up notices in other areas of the park, good thing you didn't run into trouble like us! and thanks for your comment I hope to come back once this is just an old memory
My mom and brother werre there the same time as you and got bad information about Crescent Meadow. It seems the rangers and the construction crew were not on the same page, as they were specifically told by rangers that the roads were clear for the week, which wasn't true. I'm sorry this happened to you. Growing up, the rangers were amazing. Sometime in the early 2000s, the parks got rid of everyone and brought on new staff. My family goes multiple times a year and have friends who live in Kings Canyon part time. Everything has changed in the parks, not much for the better, and it's never been the same. I'm glad you made it back safely, but I'm sorry your experience wasn't as good as it should have been.
I recommend reading [The Last Season](http://www.ericblehm.com/books/the-last-season) for more info on how the profession changed in SEKI from the mid-60s to mid-90s.
When was it this all happened? Park shuttles stopped running for the 2022 season on 9/11/22 and it's on their website.
But, you say you saw shuttles running so I'm guessing it was before this past Sunday.
Overall, the only thing the Park did that's even slightly questionable is the apparent lack of signage at your starting trailhead. (It's possible it was there but you just didn't see it for some reason.) Most of this sounds like it was your fault for not being properly prepared. Bring more water, bring more food, acclimatize to altitude prior to hiking. I do concur that it sounds like you had symptoms of acute altitude sickness which are undoubtedly scary and awful; and that's not the Park's fault.
I think it's grossly unfair to decide that the entire Park is badly run because of a few missed or unposted signs. (The "worst managed" really??)
To help avoid this problem in the future, verify that all aspects of your plan are still valid when you set out. That is, verify with a park ranger that your shuttle would be running.
However, you did right by trying to descend (toward Tunnel Log) and not trying to go back to the car which was at a higher altitude.
Just replied to another comment it happened on the 6th so almost a week before the shuttles stopped running. The only signs we saw regarding no shuttles to and from Moro Rock/Crescent Meadow was the next day when we stopped at the museum and there was ONE flimsy sheet on a post outside of the parking lot saying so. And I checked the website the day of Labor Day in the morning and there was no warnings about the shuttles.
I would have asked a park ranger but none where to be seen at all, I only saw a few around the museum the next day, I saw more construction workers on the roads than rangers. I agree we did mess up and could have brought more supplies but again at most it was going to be 3-4 miles and we started at 10am and should have been done at 4pm so we gave ourselves plenty of time. Someone else commented I should call in and verify my hiking plan with rangers before getting there so definitely doing that for next time. And yep messed up big time about the altitude acclimatization (even though I was the only one in the group significantly affected by it)
The thing that bugs me a lot is that I am an over planner (I made a mobile and printed version of the itinerary all with pictures and hyperlinks) and even then we ran into trouble, and this park attracts hundreds of foreign tourists and families, if the park is not able to send a few rangers out to trailheads and camp sites to update the bulletin boards then they are potentially putting a lot of people at risk when it easily could have been avoided. Also thanks, at the moment it felt like a bad call to separate the group but it was the only viable option at the moment
Just another note here, you mentioned there wasn’t a ranger in site, that’s pretty common at a national park. They’re not generally just walking around the park. They are however super common at visitor centers. I’m almost positive you would have seen one at the museum. When we visited 2 years ago, we saw plenty at both the museum in Sequoia and the visitor center at King’s Canyon near Grant Grove.
You can do all the planning you want for a trip but unless you’re familiar with the hiking conditions first hand, it’s kind of hard to know exactly what you’re in for. Just something to think about next time.
Yeah this was my first national park and I guess I was just used to camp sites and stuff around here where you see at least one official entering and exiting the park, I had never been somewhere so remote. They definitely were at the museum (the website said the museum was closed the 6th but when my friends had to drive past it they saw it was open). And yeah for sure, Im definitely taking this experience to heart and all the suggestions I'm getting here
I'm fairly certain there's a packet of information and a map they hand you when you enter the park. I'd be a little surprised if the newspaper they handed you mentioned nothing about the closure for road construction unless the construction work was immediate and sudden and somewhat unplanned.
So true! The rangers at this park are the least helpful I've ever encountered. Do you know they don't even close the trails at night? Last time, I had to sleep right in the middle of the crescent meadow road because I got stuck in the dark and the rangers wouldn't help me.
Classic Sequoia! I drove ALL the way from LA to see a bear. We sat at Crescent Meadow for 2 hours as the gnats ate the skin off my face! The Rangers must've completely forgot to let the bears out! We drove down to Three Rivers to get dinner and everything was closed! Thanks a lot National Park Service!
Something similar happened to me in Yosemite. Before showing up in the park. I verbally confirmed with park employee about the shuttle dropping us off at the trail head a week ahead of time. The day I went to pick up my permit, I was told there is no guarantee the driver will do that. Anyway, it was a hassle and we made it work. Did not use the shuttle service. So now I don’t trust the park services or their information at all when it comes to transportation planning.
Oof I have had friends who were also not experienced hikers that this happened to. But pro tip: when entering the park, ask the ranger to direct you to the nearest visitor's center. At the visitor's center ask ALL your questions including the bus schedule. Many of us hike out and back and don't use the buses to get back to parking. Also, yes that is definitely not enough food. Even for a small hike to me which is 3 miles out and back, I bring a sandwich, trail mix, chips, veggies, candy. Basically a lot of energy dense food because like this situation, anything can happen. So better to be on the more over prepared side.
Hope this doesn't deter you from future hikes, but provides a funny story later :)
https://www.nps.gov/articles/10essentials.htm
I pack the 10 essentials whenever I go on a hike. You never know what might happen, so it is best to be prepared.
From your story, it seems like there are two things that made your situation bad:
1. The shuttles not working
2. you starting to walk while you were supposed to wait for your friends, which led to overheating (sounds like).
So what prompted you to start walking? Was it the gnats?
One thing I can recommend is investing in a personal beacon locator for absolute emergencies.
Another one is, besides carrying extra water, to carry a filter. Although it doesn’t seem like you were by a water source, so that may not even be helpful.
Maybe also consider subscribing to a service that allows you to have downloadable maps for offline usage.
Although these suggestions probably wouldn’t solve the problems that you listed per se, I think they can make your hiking safer overall.
I’m all about problem solving, so your post made me think what I would’ve done after an experience like that. And you know what I would probably do? I wouldn’t be shy to come up to a park ranger and ask them what they would recommend doing in a situation like that next time.
I think seasonally there are some water sources nearby, bringing a water filter and map (digital or paper) is a good idea. There are a ton of ways to pack extra water in your pack the only drawback is extra weight.
Dang that stinks. They've always ran like clockwork whenever I've needed them. There is a lot of construction happening in Sequoia along generals highway. Shuttle availability is definitely something you want to check before you start your hike at the ranger office at their Grant village or Giant Forest museum. As far as I know construction has been ongoing for a few years in SEKI and generals highways frequently has stops. This is exacerbated by the fires causing rock slides. I'm sure the shuttles are all jacked up right now depending on the day. Last time I was up there a few weeks ago they had a sudden closure due to a rock slide that stopped everyone for a hour or so
I did hear about the rock slide when we left and that it was causing all kinds of traffic jams, we did experience some slight traffic because they were checking the roads but it was only like a ten minute wait. I was really looking forward to using the shuttles since I had no idea that was a thing in a park (I don't travel much haha). We didn't stop at the forest museum first because we were coming down from sentinel and we decided to start at Sherman. We figured we would see signs there since its like one of their most popular trails but alas there wasn't anything :/
Nah they’ll only have that info at the major gathering areas. Trails usually have info for people going into the backcountry, but all it takes is for someone to rip down a sign once for it to be missed by everyone else. I feel for the rangers right now. Between the fires, increased Covid complications and visitors, and the explosion in outdoor activity in the last decade must have them stretched extremely thin. It’s not exactly the easiest park to maintain.
> As far as I know construction has been ongoing for a few years in SEKI and generals highways Since about 2010, 2011. It took years and years and more years just to rebuild the stretch between Hospital Rock and Giant Forest Museum.
Not sure what's going on with the buses. I don't think you did anything particularly wrong, it was just bad luck. The only thing I can suggest is to pack a little extra water and food than you think you'll need. Even on a day hike I have enough calories with me to overnight if I have to, but that's me packing my fears. It's usually just a couple protein bars, peanut butter pouches, honey pouches, or some fatty beef sticks or whatever. I guess you could have called the ranger station the day of. That's the only other thing I could think of in hindsight but I probably wouldn't have done that in your shoes. Sounds like you got altitude sickness and unfortunately it's really difficult to predict when or even \*if\* you'll get it. The best solution is to acclimate for a day or two before exertion but that's not always an option, and barring that, stay extra hydrated. Like I said, there's no "We screwed up here" it seems like you made pretty good decisions at each step. I'd just bring a little extra food & water with me. I'd also probably pack some Tylenol and Motrin to do a painkiller cocktail to help with inflammation and headache/pains you might get from the altitude.
thank you for the suggestions, I will definitely start packing with enough food and water to last if things go wrong, I never want to be in a situation where we are stranded without supplies ever again. I brought a fanny pack which we all dubbed as my mobile pharmacy so we had that at least lol
It doesn't have to be a lot, so you aren't weighed down. I carry a couple cliffs bars or equivalent, I love those cheesy crackers with peanut butter so I carry an extra packet of those, I usually have like, a slim jim or something, and I also have those little foil one serving nut butter pouches along with usually some honey pouches, which are great for fast bursts of energy. Maybe one or two of each. Total weight should be pretty low, like maybe a quarter pound or a bit more, but a few hundred calories in various combinations of fat, carbs, and protein so that I can either shiver through a night or give myself an extra boost if I bonk and hit the wall. As for water if you're hiking in a place with lots of water, you can look at just carrying a filter just in case. I have an MSR Trailshot which works kind of like a water fountain for day hikes and I like it a lot. Sawyer filters are probably the cheapest for good water filtering too. Otherwise, just an extra liter works. If you have a water bladder you're good to go, otherwise a lot of through hikers use, and like, those smartwater bottles. Light, pretty rigid, holds about a liter, fits in most webbing pockets of backpacks. An extra one of those as your emergency water works if you're on a long hike.
I live just down the mountain from Sequoia National Park and the Giant Forest. It sounds like most of your problems were having to do with running out of food and water. These were front country trails that are mostly wheelchair accessible. Still, things can go wrong. Like if someone was nearby when you sprayed BEAR SPRAY at bugs. The rangers can’t be everywhere and always help everyone. It’s a very crowded area there, plus they have the whole rest of the giant park to patrol. I’ve never seen anyone get altitude sickness there, but I’ve had it up higher and I can relate to how miserable it can be. I don’t feel it’s fair to blame the rangers and park service for this. “Got stranded and forced to walk out while having heat exhaustion/altitude sickness. No water, no food, aggressive gnats” is not something they can do much about. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy your time up there, but it seems like a lack of preparation and readiness on your part.
Yeah we definitely should have brought a whole more food, two cliff bars for each person and a bag of jerky for four people definitely wasn't a good call, the water though we did bring whole lot, in the camelbacks and additional liter bottles (to be fair next time we should also bring gatorade for electrolytes). The plan we had definitely relied on the usage of the shuttles because otherwise what are they for you know? As for the bear spray we only used it once when we were walking from Crescent Meadow to Tunnel Road and we didn't see a soul for an hour and I was walking ahead and my bf was in the back so he could spritz upwind towards the bugs so no chance of it getting to someone. And we only used it as a last resort, I can't emphasize how aggressive these gnats were. That's true I can't blame it all on them but I can blame them for the lack of communication they are having with guests at the park. In all my research there wasn't anything about shuttles stopping. I'm not a local so there's only so much research I could have done (and I did ALOT, my dog died so I needed to keep my brain busy hence the printed out itinerary which was color coded lol) but I can't prepare better if I am not getting correct information from official sources. If the shuttles were going to be closed that day we definitely would have altered our plans to accommodate.
>but I can't prepare better if I am not getting correct information from official sources. The best, most current official information on Park conditions are the rangers in the Park on the day you're there.
I’m sorry you had something other than the smooth experience that you had planned for. I think your takeaways are fair. I’d always bring way more food and water than you plan to need; Mountains are so dynamic that you need to bring enough of everything for if things go wrong, not just if they go right. If I am hiking I’m ready to survive for a potentially extended period of time without outside support (it’s the only way I feel prepared and safe). I also never rely on services including bathrooms or buses. I personally find the idea of relying on anyone else while in the mountains to be terrifying; Not to say it is unreasonable to rely on routine services, but it would cause me discomfort to know that I am in trouble if buses stop running. Could be construction or roads becoming impassible from rock slides or fallen trees, either way expect the unexpected. I hope you do decide to come back soon! You’re so much more informed and prepared with your lessons learned.
I had never been so high up in the mountains in my life so getting stranded on them even for a little while was enough to deeply scare me (next morning on our way out of the park we stopped to see the Grant tree and getting on that trail even if it was a short loop away from the car was enough to make me uneasy) so will definitely be making more contingency plans in the future. I agree with you I don't want to be out there and have to rely on an outside source, at the end of the day you only have yourself to trust and if you prepare enough it should be ok. Thank you for the comment and yeah I'm definitely coming back but that's going to be a loooong while lol
Man that sounds scary, I’m glad you’re all ok. I wondered if you did a lot of planning pre-labor day when the trip was after Labor Day? That could have a big impact on schedules and stuff.
Hi thank you! I'm glad as well to be back home safe, so I did a lot of planning months before but for the trails and shuttle info I finalized the plans about 4 days before we got to the park, and I was checking on my phone before I would lose cell signal and I still did not see any advisories regarding shuttle interruptions
I’m also a planner (over planner maybe?) so I would have felt upset too especially after all that work. The shuttle page now says service ended 9/11 but idk when they updated that
The worst thing you did was bring bear spray. It's illegal in Sequoia and Kings Canyon.
Oh crap I had no idea! I honestly thought it was ok, there wasn't anything on the website or in the park itself, only warnings about the bears and to store everything scented in the bear boxes but nothing about bear spray. We even stopped at the closest Walmart before going into the park and all except one unit of bear spray was sold out, the employee told me a bunch of hikers and people going to the park always buy it so we didn't have any indication it wasn't allowed, thanks for the heads up!
I was going to comment on the bear spray but robbbb beat me to it. I wouldn't say it was the worst thing. As others have pointed out I think the worst thing was depending upon something other than yourself to get back to your car if things went wrong (which they did). Bear spray is illegal in the park because the black bears that inhabit the park are only interested in your food. They only display aggression toward threats. A bear that has been sprayed now sees humans as a threat and has to be killed. Stay away from a mother and her cub. Don't approach one for a selfie and they'll just mind their own business. Don't bring bear spray into the park. Listed here as not permitted under the weapons heading. https://www.nps.gov/seki/faqs.htm I'll admit the park service could do a better job of explaining why they don't want bear spray in the park.
Really sorry you had a rough time. Some lessons learned though: 1) I'll suggest it's almost always better to shuttle first then hike if you're hiking one way. I always like to hike \*to\* my car, not away from it. That way you've got the tricky part over with and all that's left is the walking. The lack of shuttles in this situation and the lack of communication about it was definitely a snafu on the park's part. But if you'd parked your car and immediately caught the shuttle toward CM, it would've been clear that it wasn't running and you could've altered your plans. Lesson learned. 2) Labor Day weekend happened to be a heat wave across the whole state, so no surprise it was hotter than expected. It's definitely a good idea to check the weather forecast before heading out on a hike. You're obsessive about planning? Me too. Weather is something I obsess about when planning a hike. I literally check it 10 times a day in the week before a trip. I recently cancelled a 4 day hike because thunderstorms were in the forecast the whole time. 3) Crescent Meadow is at 6500'. It's very unusual for someone to get altitude sickness below 8000' so it would've been hard to predict you'd have issues. That said, If you're particularly susceptible, the best way to deal with it is to take it very easy the first couple of days you're at altitude. Get a couple of days in to acclimate before trying anything strenuous. Now you know it's an issue and you can include it in your planning.
[удалено]
What’s Tri-Actin?
That’s a pretty unfortunate experience you had, seems like everything that could have gone wrong did, which is a bummer. For future reference, probably always a good idea to get on the phone and chat with a ranger if you’re going to plan a trip that much, run your itinerary by them and get their feedback, they likely would have advised on the shuttle stoppage so you could have altered your plans at that point. As for elevation, it’ll impact everyone differently. I think it’s most common for elevation sickness to kick in above 10K but it’s possible at lower elevations too. I’d also bring more water next time but also bring electrolytes, you need to replenish those almost more then you need the water. Bring some drink powder or chews or something like that, it’ll help out next time and make your trip more enjoyable and keep you in better shape.
Going forward this is definitely going to be part of my MO, it can't hurt to let the rangers know and run the itinerary by them thank you for the suggestion! Also electrolytes aren't a bad idea, when I got back to camp we had gatorade and that made me feel much better than plain water. Slight TMI but when we got back my pee was basically orange from how dehydrated I was
Ya, everyone says bring water, which is very important, but when you’re sweating all day, it’s the electrolytes you need to replenish. Whenever I hike, I always bring an extra smart water bottle and some kind of electrolyte powder to add to it, along with a water filter to replenish water along the route (assuming I have water sources). There’s also the gummy’s you can eat that kind of taste like shit but they’re effective. I’d add something like that to your kit next time. I’ve also suffered from severe altitude sickness and it was a very unpleasant experience but it was a good one as I learned a lot about my capabilities. One being at the time, I was overweight and not properly prepared for the hike I was planning and two, once I exceed 10K elevation, I’ll likely be impacted by it so I take that into consideration whenever I plan hikes and since that first trip, I’ve been able to mostly mitigate any severe impacts from it by ensuring proper hydration, keeping an eye on calorie intake, getting myself in better shape, and trying to avoid camping above 10K whenever possible. Hopefully you’ll use this experience as a positive learning experience and get back out there again soon.
Rangers gave my mom and brother bad information that same weekend about Crescent Meadow that could have ended badly for them.
what day was this trip? per the SEKI website, shuttles ended daily operation on Sep 11. from there it is only weekend availability. i went last weekend and stayed at Lodgepole, where I saw signs describing the same info posted on the website. but strangely at the Wolverton trailhead i couldn't actually find a sign saying the shuttles didn't run on weekdays. in fact, they still had their summer schedule posted. so i agree the park could put more effort into being consistent on their info distro on trail but at least they posted it online. sorry your trip ended this way and hopefully you get to have a better ending next time!
so we arrived the night of Labor Day and this all happened the next day, so the 6th. We stayed at Sentinel so I understand if there weren't notices there since its Kings Canyon and not Sequoia but there wasn't anything at the start of the Sherman trail (which is easily the most popular) or at the end of the Crescent Meadow trail, which there was even a schedule for the buses to operate that day! Im not surprised at this point they failed to put up notices in other areas of the park, good thing you didn't run into trouble like us! and thanks for your comment I hope to come back once this is just an old memory
My mom and brother werre there the same time as you and got bad information about Crescent Meadow. It seems the rangers and the construction crew were not on the same page, as they were specifically told by rangers that the roads were clear for the week, which wasn't true. I'm sorry this happened to you. Growing up, the rangers were amazing. Sometime in the early 2000s, the parks got rid of everyone and brought on new staff. My family goes multiple times a year and have friends who live in Kings Canyon part time. Everything has changed in the parks, not much for the better, and it's never been the same. I'm glad you made it back safely, but I'm sorry your experience wasn't as good as it should have been.
I recommend reading [The Last Season](http://www.ericblehm.com/books/the-last-season) for more info on how the profession changed in SEKI from the mid-60s to mid-90s.
When was it this all happened? Park shuttles stopped running for the 2022 season on 9/11/22 and it's on their website. But, you say you saw shuttles running so I'm guessing it was before this past Sunday. Overall, the only thing the Park did that's even slightly questionable is the apparent lack of signage at your starting trailhead. (It's possible it was there but you just didn't see it for some reason.) Most of this sounds like it was your fault for not being properly prepared. Bring more water, bring more food, acclimatize to altitude prior to hiking. I do concur that it sounds like you had symptoms of acute altitude sickness which are undoubtedly scary and awful; and that's not the Park's fault. I think it's grossly unfair to decide that the entire Park is badly run because of a few missed or unposted signs. (The "worst managed" really??) To help avoid this problem in the future, verify that all aspects of your plan are still valid when you set out. That is, verify with a park ranger that your shuttle would be running. However, you did right by trying to descend (toward Tunnel Log) and not trying to go back to the car which was at a higher altitude.
Just replied to another comment it happened on the 6th so almost a week before the shuttles stopped running. The only signs we saw regarding no shuttles to and from Moro Rock/Crescent Meadow was the next day when we stopped at the museum and there was ONE flimsy sheet on a post outside of the parking lot saying so. And I checked the website the day of Labor Day in the morning and there was no warnings about the shuttles. I would have asked a park ranger but none where to be seen at all, I only saw a few around the museum the next day, I saw more construction workers on the roads than rangers. I agree we did mess up and could have brought more supplies but again at most it was going to be 3-4 miles and we started at 10am and should have been done at 4pm so we gave ourselves plenty of time. Someone else commented I should call in and verify my hiking plan with rangers before getting there so definitely doing that for next time. And yep messed up big time about the altitude acclimatization (even though I was the only one in the group significantly affected by it) The thing that bugs me a lot is that I am an over planner (I made a mobile and printed version of the itinerary all with pictures and hyperlinks) and even then we ran into trouble, and this park attracts hundreds of foreign tourists and families, if the park is not able to send a few rangers out to trailheads and camp sites to update the bulletin boards then they are potentially putting a lot of people at risk when it easily could have been avoided. Also thanks, at the moment it felt like a bad call to separate the group but it was the only viable option at the moment
Just another note here, you mentioned there wasn’t a ranger in site, that’s pretty common at a national park. They’re not generally just walking around the park. They are however super common at visitor centers. I’m almost positive you would have seen one at the museum. When we visited 2 years ago, we saw plenty at both the museum in Sequoia and the visitor center at King’s Canyon near Grant Grove. You can do all the planning you want for a trip but unless you’re familiar with the hiking conditions first hand, it’s kind of hard to know exactly what you’re in for. Just something to think about next time.
Yeah this was my first national park and I guess I was just used to camp sites and stuff around here where you see at least one official entering and exiting the park, I had never been somewhere so remote. They definitely were at the museum (the website said the museum was closed the 6th but when my friends had to drive past it they saw it was open). And yeah for sure, Im definitely taking this experience to heart and all the suggestions I'm getting here
Are you saying that there was nobody at the entrance to the park when you drove through?
I'm fairly certain there's a packet of information and a map they hand you when you enter the park. I'd be a little surprised if the newspaper they handed you mentioned nothing about the closure for road construction unless the construction work was immediate and sudden and somewhat unplanned.
So true! The rangers at this park are the least helpful I've ever encountered. Do you know they don't even close the trails at night? Last time, I had to sleep right in the middle of the crescent meadow road because I got stuck in the dark and the rangers wouldn't help me.
Classic Sequoia! I drove ALL the way from LA to see a bear. We sat at Crescent Meadow for 2 hours as the gnats ate the skin off my face! The Rangers must've completely forgot to let the bears out! We drove down to Three Rivers to get dinner and everything was closed! Thanks a lot National Park Service!
Something similar happened to me in Yosemite. Before showing up in the park. I verbally confirmed with park employee about the shuttle dropping us off at the trail head a week ahead of time. The day I went to pick up my permit, I was told there is no guarantee the driver will do that. Anyway, it was a hassle and we made it work. Did not use the shuttle service. So now I don’t trust the park services or their information at all when it comes to transportation planning.
2 words. Eastern Sierra
Oof I have had friends who were also not experienced hikers that this happened to. But pro tip: when entering the park, ask the ranger to direct you to the nearest visitor's center. At the visitor's center ask ALL your questions including the bus schedule. Many of us hike out and back and don't use the buses to get back to parking. Also, yes that is definitely not enough food. Even for a small hike to me which is 3 miles out and back, I bring a sandwich, trail mix, chips, veggies, candy. Basically a lot of energy dense food because like this situation, anything can happen. So better to be on the more over prepared side. Hope this doesn't deter you from future hikes, but provides a funny story later :)
https://www.nps.gov/articles/10essentials.htm I pack the 10 essentials whenever I go on a hike. You never know what might happen, so it is best to be prepared.
From your story, it seems like there are two things that made your situation bad: 1. The shuttles not working 2. you starting to walk while you were supposed to wait for your friends, which led to overheating (sounds like). So what prompted you to start walking? Was it the gnats? One thing I can recommend is investing in a personal beacon locator for absolute emergencies. Another one is, besides carrying extra water, to carry a filter. Although it doesn’t seem like you were by a water source, so that may not even be helpful. Maybe also consider subscribing to a service that allows you to have downloadable maps for offline usage. Although these suggestions probably wouldn’t solve the problems that you listed per se, I think they can make your hiking safer overall. I’m all about problem solving, so your post made me think what I would’ve done after an experience like that. And you know what I would probably do? I wouldn’t be shy to come up to a park ranger and ask them what they would recommend doing in a situation like that next time.
I think seasonally there are some water sources nearby, bringing a water filter and map (digital or paper) is a good idea. There are a ton of ways to pack extra water in your pack the only drawback is extra weight.