Sequoia Kings Canyon Press Release

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks News Release For Immediate Release                                Contact: Sintia Kawasaki-Yee, Public Information Officer Media Contact: (559) 679-2866 E-mail: seki_public_affairs@nps.gov   Reference Number: 8553-2006 Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are Further Modifying Operations to Implement Local Health Guidance SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, California March 25, 2020– Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks is announcing additional modifications to operations in response to guidance from the Tulare County Department of Public Health. The health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners is our number one priority. The National Park Service is working servicewide with federal, state, and local authorities to closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic.    Effective immediately, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks will be closed to all park visitors until further notice. California Highway 180 will remain open for pass-through traffic to access Giant Sequoia National Monument and private property. All other roads and parking facilities are temporarily closed.     We will notify the public when we resume full operations and provide updates on our website www.nps.gov/seki and social media channels @SequoiaKingsNPS.      We encourage visitors to use a variety of available tools and resources in preparation for future visits and to enjoy the parks from afar. The official Sequoia & Kings Canyon app is available for free and can be downloaded by searching for “NPS Sequoia & Kings” in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Our park website www.nps.gov/seki allows you to download the park newspaper, plan a trip, enjoy snowy vistas from our webcam, explore natural soundscapes across the elevations of these parks, and browse our photo gallery. If you’d like to speak with a park ranger to help you with future trip-planning or request park information by mail, call our main park line 559-565-3341 (dial 0) during business hours.     For information about Sequoia Parks Conservancy services including Pear Lake Ski Hut and Crystal Cave please visit www.sequoiaparksconservancy.org. For information about lodging, restaurants, and markets managed by Delaware North Companies please visit www.visitsequoia.com.   - NPS - About Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks These two parks, which lie side by side in the southern Sierra Nevada in Central California, preserve prime examples of nature’s size, beauty, and diversity. Nearly 2 million visitors from across the U.S. and the world visit these parks to see the world’s largest trees (by volume), grand mountains, rugged foothills, deep canyons, vast caverns, the highest point in the lower 48 states, and more. Learn more at http://www.nps.gov/seki. - ### - Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks  47050 Generals Highway Three Rivers, CA 93271 559-565-3341 | www.nps.gov/seki

COVID-19 - Cooperator Update – Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks - 3-22-20

From: <SEKI_Public_Affairs@nps.gov>

Date: March 22, 2020 at 8:12:07 AM PDT

Subject: COVID-19 - Cooperator Update – Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks - 3-22-20

Hello, 

You are getting this e-mail because Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks staff have identified you and / or your organization as having interests with or inside the parks.  

With the dynamic nature of this pandemic, we want to keep you informed to the best of our ability so that you too can inform your stakeholders. 

How This Is Set-up: 

• If you would like to be removed from this list, please reply to this address and we will remove you. 
• If there are others in your organization that you would be preferred to be added, please let us know.  
• We have intentionally bcc'ed addresses, so we ask that you check with your organization first to see if someone has gotten our messages that you may be thinking of. 
• We will send out updates as conditions change or the situation warrants. So you may not see a message daily, that doesn't mean we've forgotten about you.   

 

Here is the update for March 22, 2020. 

Key Messages: 

• No entrance station or camping fees are being collected. 
• All areas of the parks are currently closed, except for South Fork, North Fork and Mineral King Road in Sequoia NP and Redwood Canyon in Kings Canyon NP as weather allows. 
• All concessions lodges, restaurants, gift shops, and markets are closed. 
• All campgrounds are closed except South Fork. Private campgrounds may be available in gateway communities. 
• The road between the parks is closed as is typical this time of year. 
• No Ranger programs are being offered. 
• We expect winter conditions to continue, and chains may be required at any time. 

 Current Situation:   

Sequoia: 

The Generals Highway is closed from the entrance of Sequoia National Park (Ash Mountain) to Quail Flat with barricades and signs at the Ash Mountain Entrance Station. Closure is being enforced with law enforcement rangers.

 

Other front-country areas including South Fork, North Fork, and Mineral King Road are open and are being monitored by parks' staff.  

Kings Canyon: 

Highway 180 remains open with side roads off of 180 closed with barricades and signage. These include Grant Grove Village, Big Stump Picnic Area, Grant Tree Road, and the Admin access road.  

The Generals Highway is open from Highway 180 to Quail Flat.   

 

Questions? 

We are working to develop a form where you can submit questions. Please be patient with us a we work on this. We will send it out as soon as we are able. In the mean time, please send all questions to this e-mail address.  

 

Important Links: 

Main Parks' Website - https://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm 

Current Parks Condition  Website -  https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/conditions.htm 

Oak Grove Bridge

National Park Service and County of Tulare Are Partners in Mineral King Road Improvement, Oak Grove Bridge Renovation
by John Elliott

During a recent visit to Three Rivers, Kuyler Crocker, county supervisor for District 1, updated plans for the 2020s to see some huge investment being made in eastern Tulare County. Some of that untold millions of dollars will be spent right here in Three Rivers as first Sequoia National Park rehabs its portion of the Mineral King Road from the park boundary at Lookout Point to the eastern terminus of the roadway in Mineral King.

That’s more than 13 miles of one of the most breathtaking and historically significant roads in the Sierra Nevada region. The preliminary studies and survey work for that project have already been completed and reconstruction is expected to begin in 2020.

The National Park Service’s road work will pave the way for the rehabilitation of the historic Oak Grove Bridge, built in 1923. Bids on that work are expected to go out before the end of 2020.

Then it’s Tulare County’s turn to garner the funding to complete the 12-mile portion of Mineral King Road that is the County’s responsibility. As fortune would have it, the County’s portion includes the historic Oak Grove Bridge and is the only vehicle access to the Mineral King area of Sequoia National Park and its unique Mineral King Road Cultural Landscape District.

To read the full story, click here.

(Posted by permission of https://3riversnews.com.)

Anyone Going Up to Mineral King?

Is anyone going up on Dec 20, 21, 22nd? Dan needs to check the Silver City webcam and might need a snowmobile ride if there is too much snow on the road.

If you can help, please contact Dan directly at Daniel@illrepute.com.

Thank you!
Sandra Kindred

Snow Report

Batten down the hatches (and drain those water pipes), it's going to be a wintery Thanksgiving week!

Road Report from Mineral King Resident, 11/15/19

Got the cabin closed, but not before I had to remove a tree from the road. I met and spoke with Eric Davenport (our NPS water system maintenance guy), before I got to Lookout Point. So the tree had to have fallen between that time & the time I encountered the tree across the road.

The tree fell about 0.7 miles before you get to the cattle grate just below Faculty Flats. Seems to me there have been several this year.

The good news was that the large broken sections were very dry & not too hard to roll to the side.

Important MK Road Information!

Well, we have issues with our gate lock again. This, from a Silver City resident:

"Our lock appears to have succumbed to series of fatal gunshot wounds, taking 3 to the chest. Per Ranger: Use Park combo lock."

This is just a temporary fix. When our lock has been replaced, I will send out another notice. In the meantime, if you are going up before then, please call or text me at 661-776-5515, identify who you are, and I will text you back the temporary combination.