Reserve a space at the campground of your choice. The National Park Service accepts year-round reservations for Kings Canyon National Park. Four of the campgrounds are open all year in the parks. Expect cold temperatures in the winter and snowy conditions. If you want to go backpacking, you will need to get a permit from visitors stations or ranger stations in Kings Canyon or Sequoia.
Pitch your tent and organize your gear inside the tent. If you need firewood, you can buy it locally or pick up dead wood from the forest floor. Firewood gathering is prohibited in Granite Basin and Redwood Canyon within Kings Canyon and at elevations above 10,000 feet. During severe droughts, campfires may be prohibited.
Put your food in the metal bear boxes the park provides at each campsite to keep it from the bears and other animals such as squirrels and birds. The bear boxes have heavy lids and provide good protection for food that does not need to be refrigerated. Keep your perishables in a cooler in the back of your vehicle or trunk.
Choose a campground and reserve a space. Several campgrounds stay open year-round, and visitors who have camping vehicles can dry camp in these locations after the water has been shut off in the fall, relying on their own fresh water supply and holding tanks for wastewater. Kings Canyon and Sequoia parks are popular in the summer months and are usually full on weekends.
Use the public restrooms and showers as much as you can to keep your gray and black water tanks from filling quickly. Avoid the urge to throw cooking or kitchen wastewater outside your vehicle, since this water can attract wild animals to the campground.
Use the bear boxes if you are in a soft-sided pop up camper. Hungry animals can tear through the fabric. If your camper has a refrigerator, you can safely store your perishable food inside.
Ask the ranger when you check in what the quiet hours are if you need to use your generator. Generators can keep people in tents awake because of the noise they create.
