Nearby to where I live is a national park. King’s Canyon National Park. It is a beautiful place to visit, to drive through and to find some inner peace. Most of the time in the park, your cell phone does not have signal. But there is no need to use your phone except for the camera. The beauty in the park surrounds you. If there is any way, do the driving in a convertible. It gives you a perspective you cannot even comprehend in a vehicle with a roof.

From Fresno, it is about a two-hour drive to the park. And plan on another hour or so to drive the road all the way to the end. It depends on how many times you stop for pictures and to take in all the beauty.  Then you reach your destination. The Road’s End. And, yes, it is named for that because the road ends there. So park the car and get moving.

A vast wilderness area takes off from this point and travel is regulated during the early spring and summer. The rest of the year, you can fill out your backcountry permit and head out. But for this day, a hike to the meadow on a maintained trail was the plan. The trail was just over a mile in length with scenery and even a couple places to wade.

While I did not see any wildlife except a few birds on the warm afternoon I was there, people have even met bears on the trail.  So keep your eyes open because you never know what may pop up.

As trails go, it’s fairly short but full of beauty and fun. On this hot day, a stop to wade in the cool waters was in store. Just beware. If you have tender bare feet like mine, choose your place to wade carefully. The rocky bottoms are not sharp but still doesn’t feel good on the bottoms of soft feet. That is until the cool water almost numbs them. After your shoes are back on, soon you get to Zumwalt meadow. There is a nice, smooth, short path beside the meadow. There are several places to get some great shots. After exploring the meadow, it is back down the same trail to the Road’s End. I have found you get a totally different perspective when going the other way on a trail. You see things in a whole new way.

Stop to wade again to rest your hot feet and then a short hop to the parking lot and finish the hike with a cold drink you got out of the cooler from the trunk of your car. What an amazing, stress-free day in nature!