The drive from Three Rivers into the park is not bad, if you plan to spend most of your time in Mineral King, near the Kaweah River, Potwisha, and other southern parts of the park. If you are going all the way up to Lodgepole, Wolverton, and beyond to Kings Canyon most of the time.... The Generals Highway between Lodgepole/Wolverton and Hospital Rock is a hellacious twisted road between Hospital Rock and Lodgepole. Get stuck behind the RVers and it's slower. They put a length limit on you for that stretch.
Most of the things I love to see are in the higher elevations in the park. The Ash Mountain end is a lot of low elevation stuff - going to be hot in summer. We do our hiking and exploring there in early spring.
High in the park, the groves of trees are always good to walk in and enjoy - my favorite is Redwood Mountain, the largest grove, you can hike 10 miles and never leave the grove. You can do a short hike down the canyon floor or do one of two six mile loops up either ridge. The groves of tiny sequoias are neat to see - anywhere from a foot to 20 feet tall. The wildflowers in the small meadows along the trail are really beautiful right now. We were just there yesterday and only saw six other people on the trail, other than the fire crews cutting deadfall out of the way.
There are a lot of shorter hikes too - Big and LIttle Baldy, Buena Vista trail, Moro Rock - that give you great views. The Lakes Trail is really popular for a reason, it's another great scenic hike. If that's a little much for you try Tokopah Falls out of Lodgepole.
Kings Canyon will be hot in the bottom but there are some short nature walks in the shade at Roads End, and hiking up to Mist Falls is a short but spectacular hike, with some mist on your face as a reward.
Can't comment on Three Rivers but I know there are places to stay. (living in fresno area has spoiled me
)The bakery is quite good btw.
Also, to throw a kink in things further, there's a lot of roadwork being done in the park.
http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/road-conditions.htmI would be tempted to do as you plan and spend a lot of time in Mineral King - another long winding slow drive, but awesome scenery. But I'm a hiker.
Most of the non-hiker activities are going to be along the generals highway.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2010 09:48AM by AlmostThere.