Lodging alternatives at the national parks can be a hit or a miss. You either get the really rustic looking ones or the fancy ones. We wouldn’t have seen as much as we had in our quick two-day visit to King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks during a November visit if we had stayed anywhere else.
Lodging
John Muir Lodge was named for the famed naturalist who played a big part with the conservation of King’s Canyon. The lodge was a wonderful retreat after a long day of exploring the park. It was located a short walk or drive away from the King’s Canyon Visitor Center and village. The village consisted of a restaurant, gift shop, post office and market for necessities and snacks including sandwiches and microwaveable meals. As expected, prices were high. FYI, a gallon of water was $2.95(seriously!)
Check-in was at a desk inside the gift shop by the restaurant. We had reserved our room by calling since we were having issues booking online. We got a great rate of less than $100 per night – one of the benefits of staying here in the off-season. It is highly recommended that bookings are made early if staying in the summer since they only have 38 rooms.
It was a two-level log cabin style building in the midst of the Sequoia and pine tree groves. This was built in 1998 so it was fairly new compared to other national park lodging. There were plenty of outdoor parking spaces next to the lodge.
I really liked the outside seating areas around the lodge. The balconies with rocking and wooden chairs were great additions to the building. It offered a comfortable place to sit and admire the surroundings and breathe in the fresh mountain air despite the cold temperature.
The spacious lobby with a big stone fireplace was such a delight to hang out in. There were plenty of seats to read and relax. Books and games were available for everyone to use. Free wi-fi was also available here. It was such a relief since we didn’t have cell phone reception since we entered the park.
Even though it felt nice to be disconnected from the world, we were having some withdrawal symptoms. Not surprisingly, the lobby got pretty crowded at night. During our visit, there was a bus load of college exchange students from Orange County who took over the lobby with their lap tops.
Room
Our room was decent in size, simple, and clean with calming green walls. All the furniture and headboard were wood carved and had a mountain retreat feel to them. It was very in tune with the surroundings with park pictures and John Muir quotes hanging on the walls.
The bathroom sinks were outside and the bathroom with the bathtub was pretty small. My kids biggest complaint was the lack of TV. So, bring plenty of books, games, the DVD player and the Ipads for entertainment. But there was a telephone, hair dryer, alarm clock radio with Ipod/Iphone docking station. This was a whole lot more than we got compared to our rustic stay at Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone last year.
This is not a luxurious lodge but rather somewhere comfortable and convenient to stay. Despite the reviews we read and being provided with ear plugs we thankfully didn’t need to use it. There was quiet time enforced between 9PM-8AM. We could hear some of our neighbor’s conversation as wells as those walking in the halls and I’m sure they heard ours so the thin walls were a bit disturbing. There were no elevators available and vending and ice machines were located by the stairs.
The location was unbeatable and so convenient to exploring the parks. General Grant Tree, the country’s Christmas tree, was a mile away. Get rooms in the even numbers which face the Sequoia grove and a small field instead of the parking lot. It was a delight to wake up and see the Sequoias outside our windows.
Dining
We ate dinner at the Grant Grove restaurant twice only because it was the only available restaurant in the village and it was too far to go out at night in a neighboring city. They didn’t have a big menu selection but had nightly specials. The Friday and Sunday special was Prime Rib with Au Jus, mashed potatoes and vegetables for $22. It was surprisingly juicy and good. The 10 oz NY steak was $20. Saturday night special was Chicken parmigian over pasta. There were only two servers covering the restauraunt and on both nights we didn’t have any issues. They were quite busy but everything went well. The restaurant also served breakfast and lunch at designated times.
They had a separate kids’ menu with activities in the back of it. There were six different choices ranging from mac and cheese, hamburger, cheeseburger and corndog for the kids. Sadly for my pizza crazed kids, pizza was not available. French fries can substituted for fruit. All meals came with drink (milk, orange juice or soda).
It was a pleasant surprise that they served big portions and the prices were comparable to chain restaurants outside the park. These prices were also pretty reasonable compared to other national parks we have visited. We brought plenty of breakfast, sandwiches and snack items to offset dining cost. The park had a lot of picnic spots to stop during the day to have lunch so pack the food.
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