Camping in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

After a five-hour haul up to Sequoia National Park with a tent and cooler stuffed for a weekend camping sojourn in big-tree country, you wouldn't dream of pulling into Lodgepole campground at dusk without a reservation. More than 200 chock-a-block campsites occupy this unofficial Mission Control for car campers in one of the country's most popular parks. And on a warm evening in late summer, with the world's largest tree hulking just minutes down the road and a 20% chance of isolated thunderstorms hovering somewhere above the western Sierra, you can bet that every one of them will be occupied by a friendly family grilling slabs of meat under a dome of cloudless sky.