The Down Side of Kings Canyon : Mountain biking: into ravines, up scenic highways in the Sierras

GRANT GROVE, Calif. —  We had just topped out at 6,800 feet and begun our long descent into what the National Park Service identifies as the deepest canyon in North America outside of Mexico. We knew our knobbies (mountain bikes) would be groaning down some steep stretches of asphalt, but we hadn’t really anticipated the intensity. My twin brother, Bob, wanted to take it slow heading down, so he sat up to get the most wind resistance. I, on the other hand, went into a downhill skier’s tuck that shot me ahead of him like a bullet . . . or was it a stone, free falling down a ravine?

At first, even though it was steep, the road curved gently through rolling hills of shady coniferous forest. Then we hit the ridgeline, emerging out of the forest and onto open semiarid terrain. A wall of rock to one side and just the tops of trees and shrubs to the other hinted at the drop-off beyond the road’s shoulder. The road steepened and tightened its curves.

Tires humming. Grip the brakes hard and lean right. Hope no cars are coming. Quick glance behind. Brake again and lean left. Curve after curve. Our legs weren’t pumping, but our adrenaline sure was.

We began this 15-mile screamer only three miles after the start of the ride. It dropped us nearly 4,000 feet down to Boyden Cavern, the lowest point of our trip.

On our two-day ride down the canyon and back up again, we’d pass through Sequoia National Forest, traveling mostly east, reenter Kings Canyon National Park at Cedar Grove and end up at the aptly named Roads End. We would then turn around and bike up the hill again. Seventy-one miles of challenging California Highway 180 lay ahead. (We were lucky that road conditions were excellent last year. This winter, however, flooding damaged Highway 180, and some sections of it will be closed to cars and bicycles for construction at least through June, and possibly into July.)

My brother was on my daughter’s bike rather than his own familiar and slightly larger bicycle because this ride had been kind of a last-minute lark.

After backpacking and cross-country skiing for about two decades, my brother, a Sacramento-based freelance writer and photographer, and I, a teacher from Fresno, wanted to expand our outdoor adventuring to include mountain biking. We had just returned to my house from a failed attempt at cross-country skiing the Sierra High Route across Sequoia National Park. We were sore and a little bit blistered so, naturally, the idea of a grueling, adrenaline-inducing bicycle ride popped into our heads. Perhaps we felt driven to master a challenge after the disappointment of our skiing adventure. We had thought about biking Kings Canyon for years. No matter that Bob didn’t have his bike along. We borrowed my teenage daughter’s and set off on the one hour’s drive by car to the starting point of our bike ride at Grant Grove.

On another lark, a few years earlier, we had backpacked most of this stretch of road, so we were, at least, familiar with the terrain. That was during the winter when the road is closed to traffic--due not to snow, but to rock slides that are prompted by freezing water that expands and cracks rock, dropping boulders down onto the roadway. This time, however, we’d be competing for space with automotive monsters, including RVs with wide, protruding rearview mirrors that can be lethal to bike riders.

We took off from the Grant Grove visitor center. Our first challenge was a steady 300-foot climb, taking us to Cherry Gap pass--at an elevation of 6,800 feet, the highest point of our ride. Near Cherry Gap, we saw a biker with loaded front and back panniers. “You’re almost there!” he yelled at us in encouragement, not knowing we had just set off on our trip.

Most of our ride would actually take place in Sequoia National Forest, outside Kings Canyon park. Kings Canyon National Park was put together by joining several different segments of land at different times. On a map, then, the Grant Grove area, with its towering sequoia trees, stands out like a thumb from the rest of the park. Therefore part of the ride from the “thumb” to the “hand” of the national park has to occur outside park boundaries.

From Cherry Gap to Boyden Cavern and the south fork of Kings River there are only occasional inclines to let the brakes cool. Most of the way there is little or no shoulder, so we had to be particularly cautious of traffic. Our pace at this point was 10 miles in about 20 minutes, weaving through hairpin curves. Our first stop was at Junction Viewpoint, where we saw, looking from bottom to top, the juncture of the south and middle forks of the Kings River; and Spanish Mountain, at 10,051 feet the highest point in the area and the high point from which geologists measure the depth of the canyon.

We also were looking down on Kings Canyon Lodge, the only motel or hotel along our way, situated next to Ten Mile Creek on Barton Flat.

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At Kings Canyon Lodge a few heartbeats later, we rested briefly before saddling up again. Past Yucca Point Trailhead, we turned away from the creek and began a stretch with a little more “up” to it. Finally, we rounded a broad left curve and entered a narrow, V-shaped gorge carved by the south fork of Kings River.

We crossed the south fork of the river at the lowest point of Highway 180 and noted the fury with which the water churned. Our June trip came on the heels of the wettest winter in a decade, and Kings River and other streams we passed were bubbling with an unusual fury. Forecasters were predicting that the peak runoff would actually come later, perhaps in July. This made for exciting waterfalls, including some that don’t usually exist. (This summer, following a long, dry spring, probably will not be as dramatic.)

Just south of the bridge over Kings River is a parking area for a privately operated attraction, Boyden Cavern, a beautiful cave not usually associated with the Sierra Nevada mountains. Visitors have to hike a steep, switchback path to reach the mouth of the cavern. We just stopped to refill our water bottles and continued on.

From this point to Kings Canyon, we climbed steadily uphill for six miles alongside Kings River. Several turnouts along the way were worth the stop, especially the Grizzly Creek Falls picnic area. There, the falls were particularly beautiful and so swollen that we could feel the mist as soon as we left the parking area, 100 yards away.

But it was late in the day and the sun was setting. We started scouting for camping spots. Since it is illegal to set up impromptu camps, we needed an established site.

We began looking in Cedar Grove. After all that uphill work, we were pretty taxed and hoped to find a site right away. But the first three campgrounds along our route were full. We ended up at the fourth and last, Moraine Campground, for the night.

We were traveling with sleeping bags, jackets, water bottles and some food: trail mix for nutrition, candy bars for energy. But no tent. Yet our campsite was welcoming and we could hear the Kings River passing by. We ate trail mix until we were full then climbed into our sleeping bags for warmth as we discussed the day’s torments and accomplishments. We quickly drifted off to sleep.

The Cedar Grove area has many incense cedars, pines, firs and manzanita bushes, but the giant sequoia is absent. After a night tucked among Cedar Grove’s conifers, we woke ready to see the sights of Kings Canyon.

Our first stop of the morning was Roaring River Falls, which was invisible from the road. So we walked our bikes along a paved path out to see them. The stream slices its way through a small gorge and plunges into a smoothly rounded granite bowl.

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The canyon’s other must-see stop is Zumwalt Meadow, the biggest in the canyon, which was visible from the road. From the parking area, a nature trail crosses a suspension bridge over Kings River and completely encircles the meadow. Flowers fill the meadow early in the season and deer wander through it.

A little farther along, the pavement comes to its conclusion at Roads End. The ranger station here is the jumping-off point for the vast back country that makes up most of Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks.

Bob and I did a 180 and headed back up. We took a three-mile stretch of road that parallels the highway but follows the north side of the river. It’s a rough dirt road that offers a mountain biker his or her only chance to play in the dirt along the way. All other trails in the park are closed to bikers.

Back on pavement, we stayed on the north side of the canyon heading back out to Grant Grove. We stopped again at Grizzly Creek Falls, then coasted along what had been our long uphill grind the day before and stopped at Boyden Cavern.

Then we began what the Boyden tour guide had identified for us as the nearly 4,000-foot grind, climbing high above the Kings River gorge to reach Cherry Gap. We ended our trip grinding away at the mountain one pedal at a time in first gear. In the warm air, we could smell our sweat and the smoking brakes of passing cars. And we could smell victory.

* HIKING: On the trail of Kings Canyon cascades. Page L18

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

GUIDEBOOK: Biking in Kings Canyon

Getting there: From Los Angeles, take Interstate 5 north to California 99 to Fresno. Turn east at California 180 to Kings Canyon National Park. The trip probably will take five to six hours.

Construction: California Highway 180 was seriously damaged by flooding last winter. Construction to repair the damage will continue through June and possibly longer and is causing significant delays and temporary road and site closures. Bicycles will not be allowed in certain sections. For road construction updates, call Caltrans (the state Department of Transportation) (800) 427-7623.

Safety: Biking Kings Canyon can be dangerous, since bikes are required to stay on the pavement, navigate hairpin turns at fast speeds and share the road with RVs and other vehicles that are unfamiliar with the route.

Where to stay: Cedar Grove Lodge in Cedar Grove; double rooms with baths, $85 per room, per night; managed by Sequoia/Kings Canyon Park Services Co.; telephone (209) 335-5500.

Kings Canyon Lodge, 17 miles west of Cedar Grove on California Highway 180; lodge rooms and cabins with baths, $65 per room, per night; tel. (209) 335-2405.

Lodging not along the route: Montecito-Sequoia Lodge, 11 miles south of Grant Grove on Generals Highway (California Highway 198), rooms with baths and cabins without, $70 to $105 per person, per night, including breakfast and dinner; tel. (800) 227-9900.

Campgrounds: Kings Canyon National Park in the Grant Grove area, Azalea, Crystal Springs and Sunset; in the Cedar Grove area, Moraine, Sentinel, Canyon View (for groups only) and Sheep Creek; rates are $12 per night, per site. First come, first served except for Canyon View. For Canyon View reservation information, call (209) 565-3792.

For more information: Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, Ash Mountain, Three Rivers, CA 93271; tel. (209) 565-3341.

Sequoia National Forest, 35860 E. Kings Canyon Road, Dunlap, CA 93621; tel. (209) 338-2251.

--R.R.