We set out to do the King’s Canyon Rim walk a 6 km trek around the top of the canyon. Hendrik and his parents decided to buy hats at the gas station/ souvenir shop (the only store in the area). I already had a hat, but for some reason they only bought 2 hats to share among 3 people. We didn’t read the recommended amount of water we were supposed to bring and Hendrik and I each brought a 1.5 liter bottle. We didn’t know until later that his parents had only brought one to share amongst themselves. The recommended amount of water was 1 liter every hour and we were going to be hiking for 3-4 hours in midday. We could have finished all our water after the first steep climb, straight up the canyon. It is definitely the hardest part of the trail.

The steep climb

Hendrik and I did both detours and went to the Garden of Eden which is a cool pool. We wanted to take a dip but since there were so many bugs on the water and the bottom was really slippery we decided not to and just made our shirts and hats wet. Later we met another hiker who said swimming in it was great so we regretted not going swimming.

The Garden of Eden

The scenery was gorgeous and the hike is definitely worthwhile. Even with low water we enjoyed ourselves though the last bit was a killer since we were all dehydrated. We had to really ration our water and Hendrik and I even shared our water with his parents, but we all survived even tough Hendrik’s mom got quite sunburned since she was without a hat most of the time.

Kings Canyon

Back at the resort we relaxed and went to the pool which is freezing. I don’t know how they keep a pool that cold in the middle of the desert and even in the desert heat the pool was just too cold to spend more than a few minutes in.

At the buffet dinner the wait staff was surprised to see us again since they said most people only stayed one night. I was glad we stayed two days because I really liked the resort and because it was nice to relax after a day of hiking than go driving.