I don't see why this wouldn't make you want to go camping...(by Julie)

My sister and I have a tradition of going to Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park over Memorial Day weekend, meaning we've gone more that once (as in twice). Our favorite spot to camp is a free campground in the National Forest section, where you can actually camp on the side of the road wherever you want. This is always a good option if the campground is full, but we enjoy small comforts like a table, fire pit and a bathroom. Last year this part was closed due to snow, so we ended up in an official campground where we had to pay $17 a night to have the people right next to us blasting their loud music from 10 am to 10 pm, and singing along quite loudly. So this year we were excited to find the road open to the campground; however, it was jam-packed full. Fortunately, this not being a real campground, one could camp wherever one wanted, so we found a big empty spot where someone had so nicely made a ring of stones for a campfire. No cushy spot with a table and a metal firepit for us, but hey, we're hardy. Here is a pic of our nice camping spot. Notice we had to cook all our meals on the ground. (Except for the hotdogs, which we cooked over the fire.)

Unfortunately, we experienced loud music until the wee hours of the night. It is an amazing phenomenon, that people in campgrounds think that they have really great music and that everyone else in the whole campground wants to hear it too. Sometimes more than one person has the same idea, so everyone gets to hear lots of different songs going on at once. One scary thing that happened was that I thought I saw a bear! I was walking to the bathroom in the morning while it was still mostly dark outside and I thought I saw a bear walking down the road towards me. I didn't have my glasses on, so it turns out it was just two people, walking down the road. Whew!The first hike we went on was Jennie's idea, so we could scope out a possible place to go backpacking. When we got there we realized it was the same one we did last year, but figured it would be just as fun if not better, considering we probably wouldn't be walking thru snow the whole time, so we probably wouldn't get lost, and we could go farther to the lakes I wouldn't let her go to last time. About an hour in I remembered that last year at the end of that hike I had told myself to remember that moment, that I wasn't having fun, so I should remember that feeling for next time. Oops, too late.

The highlight of this hike was the promise that there would be toilets at our destination, so I could drink lots of water without worrying about the consequences of drinking lots of water while spending the whole day in the woods. Here is the first one we came across, and it was so nasty but we amused ourselves by taking lots of photos.

The next two lakes we came to had some that were a little bit better, so I was excited.

So in the end, it was quite a nice hike, though ended up being about 12 or so miles, but I survived and I didn't even have to sneak food when Jennie wasn't looking because she wouldn't let me stop to eat (this happened last year).The next day we went one some short hikes, one to Big Baldy and then to Little Baldy. This is a picture of me sleeping on the edge of Big Baldy.

I wasn't really sleeping though, because I probably would have rolled off the edge, it was kinda scary. We had so much extra time that day (on account of no 12-mile hikes) that we actually stopped at one of those sequoia groves that you don't have to do any hiking to see, which normally Jennie doesn't let me do because she is a hard-core hiker, whereas I am just there for the beauty of nature. =) This is Jennie and some big trees. Look how tiny she is.

Doesn't this make you want to go see the beautiful giant trees? Good news for you people that don't like camping, you can stay in a lodge! And, the groves of big trees are all really close to the main road, so you don't have to walk far! But if you're hardy like me, camping is the way to go. Just think of all the great stories you'll have to tell.