Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks is cancelling all wilderness permits that initiate in the Cedar Grove and Grant Grove areas due to trailheads being located in areas closed due to the Rough Fire. The parks are providing a refund of the permit fees. If requested, we will rearrange permits into other areas in the parks, or move them to a later date.
It is important to note that hiking in wilderness areas in the parks does not provide the best experience right now—uncomfortable hiking with much smoke and little to no vistas. However, whether or not you go, where a trailhead is open and available is up to you.
Some wilderness rangers are currently being reassigned to other areas of the parks due to poor air quality. Rangers in the Cedar Grove area are also being moved out.
The park has limited staffing levels—and therefore very limited emergency response is available for the public. For example, with smoke, helicopters have not been able to fly into certain areas of the parks. In a worse-case scenario, an emergency could mean a litter-carry lasting several days per patient.
There are two teams managing different sections of the Rough Fire. For more information about the Rough Fire, call 559-565-3704 or visit
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4456.In addition, there is a park-specific team managing how the Rough Fire affects employees and partners and communicating to the public how visitors could be impacted by the Rough Fire on a visit to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
