Trip to Sequoia from Orange County - Questions

[Ngkgb]

Good day all. Planning a trip to Sequoia with my family in July from OC. We will be staying three nights. I have a few questions for anyone who has made a similar trip:

1. How much charge should we have when we reach the park? How much driving is there to be done while in the park? We have two boys that are 6 and 4 so we won’t be doing any remote type hiking.

2. Where would be the best place to charge? My bladder and kids attention span is 1.5-2 hours. Our first stop with likely be in Ventura county since my in-laws will be joining as well, albeit with their ICE vehicles.

3. Time to buy an adapter? My wife had a Mach-e and apparently her adapter is coming in June, but who knows. If I’m only going to be doing one stop to charge, I’m thinking I don’t really need to use Superchargers.

Thanks

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[Rivtony]

I'm planning on doing that drive soon too. I'll be leaving from Ventura county.
My first thought was to use the RAN in Buttonwillow even though it stretches the distance a bit.
The Rivian app planner suggests EA in Tulare.

I have an adapter coming in today so will keep the Tesla SC option in the back pocket if needed.

 

[HighVoltOverland]

Hey there, I've done this from OC several times now!

First question, as much as your family can tolerate,
I'd recommend going as high as possible in Fresno/ Tulare, maybe plan a meal/ grocery getting around that to give yourself the max possible to move around once up the hill.


May not need any adapters for this trip (see below)

The SC adapter won't really benefit you at all.

The closest SC to the mountains are going to be Fresno (North) and Tulare/Goshen(South).

Both those SC locations also have CCS alternatives in town.(Tulare CCS is actually closer to the hills than the Goshen SC)

AFAIK the closest charger would be in the Sequoia RV Park which has 14-50 pedestals for trailers. (North side)
The absolute closest charger I can think of on the hill is the Tesla destination charger at the restaurant that's right there on the river just south of Foothills visitor center (south side of park)

The latter would need the AC Tesla adapter, which while not necessary for this trip would probably be good insurance for all all travels.

My personal experience doing this trip in my R1T (20s, so less range)
had no issue topping up in Fresno, going all the way back in to Cedar Grove, then coming out hitting up Hume Lake, Grant Tree, Moro Rock, Sherman Tree, Thorp Log, Tunnel Log.

I'd recommend skipping Moro Rock unless you have superhuman children/ willing to carry them up step stairs

Thorp Log is cool and accessible from Crescent Meadow, get there if you can, it's super cool

 

[Ngkgb]

I'm planning on doing that drive soon too. I'll be leaving from Ventura county.
My first thought was to use the RAN in Buttonwillow even though it stretches the distance a bit.
The Rivian app planner suggests EA in Tulare.

I have an adapter coming in today so will keep the Tesla SC option in the back pocket if needed.

Everytime I plan it out it suggests Tulare as well. I hope you have a great trip. Are you going to be camping or staying at a lodge?

 

[Ngkgb]

Hey there, I've done this from OC several times now!

First question, as much as your family can tolerate,
I'd recommend going as high as possible in Fresno/ Tulare, maybe plan a meal/ grocery getting around that to give yourself the max possible to move around once up the hill.


May not need any adapters for this trip (see below)

The SC adapter won't really benefit you at all.

The closest SC to the mountains are going to be Fresno (North) and Tulare/Goshen(South).

Both those SC locations also have CCS alternatives in town.(Tulare CCS is actually closer to the hills than the Goshen SC)

AFAIK the closest charger would be in the Sequoia RV Park which has 14-50 pedestals for trailers. (North side)
The absolute closest charger I can think of on the hill is the Tesla destination charger at the restaurant that's right there on the river just south of Foothills visitor center (south side of park)

The latter would need the AC Tesla adapter, which while not necessary for this trip would probably be good insurance for all all travels.

My personal experience doing this trip in my R1T (20s, so less range)
had no issue topping up in Fresno, going all the way back in to Cedar Grove, then coming out hitting up Hume Lake, Grant Tree, Moro Rock, Sherman Tree, Thorp Log, Tunnel Log.

I'd recommend skipping Moro Rock unless you have superhuman children/ willing to carry them up step stairs

Thorp Log is cool and accessible from Crescent Meadow, get there if you can, it's super cool

Thanks. Much useful info here. When you go do you usually camp? If so did you see any excessive drain? I’m going to be using the outlets and will leave the truck in camp mode. So youre suggesting top off as much as I can in Fresno or Tulare and I should be have much issue? I do have an adapter for Tesla destination chargers.

 

[Rivtony]

Everytime I plan it out it suggests Tulare as well. I hope you have a great trip. Are you going to be camping or staying at a lodge?

Going with extended family. We'll be lodging

 

[HighVoltOverland]

Thanks. Much useful info here. When you go do you usually camp? If so did you see any excessive drain? I’m going to be using the outlets and will leave the truck in camp mode. So youre suggesting top off as much as I can in Fresno or Tulare and I should be have much issue? I do have an adapter for Tesla destination chargers.

I camp, never done any rv park or cabin stays although I imagine they make it even easier, even for just a night
The camp mode settings help a ton
Even snow camping I only lose about 1-2 miles of range overnight (2-3 miles if I also used my induction stove to cook dinner and breakfast)
I usually pop around each day
last year I went a night at Cedar Grove which has a great waterfall hike and a cool little swimming hole below Muir Rock
then spent at night at Hume Lake fishing
then did a night near grant grove and saw the fallen monarch, grant tree and some of the others right there
next night was at LodgePole, which was really close to Crescent Meadow and all the stuff right there (Moro Rock, Sherman Tree, Giant Forest Museum, tunnel log)

As described the miles break down roughly:
Fresno to Cedar Grove - 80 Miles
Cedar Grove to Hume Lake - 30 Miles
Hume to Grant - 10 Miles
Grant to LodgePole - 30 Miles
LodgePole to Crescent Meadow - 10 Miles
Crescent Meadow to Tulare CCS chargers - 55 Miles

Total: 225ish

Past Hume Lake is usually closed til June for snow
So realistically unless you love fishing/kayaking you would probably only be going into Grant Grove Village, which is only about 50 miles from charging in Fresno.

Generals Hwy may be intermittently closed,
which means you would have to go back down the hill to go between Grant Village and LodgePole area, which would mean charging anyway

 

[stephenti]

Last time we went to Sequoia, our airbnb at Visalia had two chargers in the garage... easy option if not camping.

 

[Cycliste]

Rae Lakes Loop clockwise, 2019

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