I just returned from a 5-day trip backcountry adventure in the high Sierra of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, known as SEKI (Sequoia and Kings Canyon were technically once two contiguous national parks, but they are now operated as one).

SEKI is this magical place due to its extremely rugged terrain that is almost entirely inaccessible by car -- or even day hiking. Yosemite is the poster child of the Sierra Nevada, but SEKI is its more majestic sister to the south. A small sliver of the park is home to the biggest giant sequoias on earth. General Sherman, the planet's most massive tree by volume, can be found amongst its groves. However, little else is widely known about this beautiful park.

Only a few areas of the 850,000-acre park are accessible by car. The majority contains unique terrain and forests found nowhere else in the world including the Great Western Divide, a double Sierra summit, and the farthest point from a road in the contiguous United States -- the Enchanted Gorge. And it all must be accessed on foot. In this trip report, I'll feature some of that hidden beauty.