Leaving Fresno we had 4 days prior to meeting our friend Max in San Francisco. We mulled it over a bit and decided to spend all 4 days in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We picked out a campground, Eshom, on the outskirts of Sequoia National Park and hoped to get there and find a walk up campsite still available. After a couple more stops in Fresno we headed in that direction. Unfortunately we followed directions on Google Maps to our campground. We ended our drive on about 6 miles of dirt road with pretty big ruts and potholes. Luckily it was all downhill but it took us over an hour to reach our destination.
The campground was secluded and about half full. We squatted on one of the open campsites and waited for the campground host to check us in. Steve, the campground host and a very nice guy checked us in. We learned more about camping in National Parks besides getting our campsite for half price, $12.50/day, that if you are able to get a walk up campsite you can stay there for up to 14 days without having to make prior reservations.
We set up our tent for the first time. We bought a half dome tent that had a lot of mesh in the roofing. We wanted to see stars every night. Nobody saw us make mistakes setting up the tent for the first time. Ha ha ha. After setting up the tent, Diane cooked another great dinner and we bought firewood and finished the evening watching the embers burn out.
Slinky seemed to like the campground and campsite. But as soon as the sun went down and the temperature dropped, we were at about 5,000 ft. in elevation, she hurried into the tent and cuddled under the sleeping bags.
Looking at the stars before going to sleep and anytime we woke up was a treasure.
