west side winter/spring access to SEKI

[DavePloessel]

I feel silly even having to ask, but I've almost never accessed SEKI from the West side, and never during the winter as that is when I'm usually playing in the crest and time constraints mean I opt for the quick access the east side provides.

Is the generals highway up into the big trees open/plowed this time of year? I have some visitors that I want to take to see the big trees in a couple weeks. I'm not too worried about snow (SUBARU!!!), just road closures.

[maverick]

Here you go Dave: http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/r ... itions.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[lambertiana]

I drive up to Giant Forest year round...never had anything more than a brief closure for weather. Just know that even with a Subaru and AWD, the person at the gate may still insist that you have chains (I drive a Subaru and found out the hard way one day when the ranger at the entrance took a hard stance on the chains requirement).

The only time I have ever seen the road closed was a few years back when we were camping at Lodgepole in January when there was about 10' of snow on the ground and they had not finished plowing the road between Lodgepole and Grant Grove (HWY 180), and a large boulder fell on the road below us. It took half a day to get that cleared.

[iHartMK]

It rained quite a bit here in Visalia this week. I heard there was like 8" of powder at Lodgepole and that the roads between the Parks was closed. Another small system is supposed to be moving through the hills tonight. I'm sure they will have the roads cleared.. but I would recommend taking Hwy. 198 up. Instead of Hwy. 180.