Rock slide left trees, huge boulders on highway to Kings Canyon Park. What’s closed?
A popular camping and hiking area won’t be opened this week as planned after a rock slide left about 600 feet of debris in front of an entrance to Kings Canyon National Park, officials said Thursday.
The rock slide left 15 trees and boulders weighing 200 tons on Highway 180 near the entrance to the park, Caltrans said.
The Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park, which is about 50 miles east of Fresno in central California, was set to open on Friday after being closed for the winter months, parks officials said, but the opening will be delayed indefinitely.
The cleanup is complicated by the weather forecast this week, officials said. The National Weather Service in Hanford this week issued warnings for the mountains, where areas above 5,000 feet are looking at about 6 inches or more of snow through Friday, meteorologists say.
Travelers with campground reservations at Sentinel Campground in Cedar Grove will be notified through Recreation.gov, according to a news release, if their reservations need to be canceled.
Tire chains or cables could be required in the area this week.
For the most current road conditions call the parks’ information line at 559-565-3341, press 1, and then press 1 again. Details of what is open in Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks can be found online at go.nps.gov/SEKIconditions.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 11:18 AM.
