Many Santa Barbarans love the high country of the Sierra Nevada mountains, with its world-famous glacial valleys and otherworldly tall peaks, but far fewer have enjoyed the trail riches nestled in the slightly closer foothills. There, great backpacking opportunities open up just as the high country is closing down.
Two of the best trails in the Sierra foothills can be found less than four hours’ drive from Santa Barbara, along two major river corridors: the Wishon Trail along the Tule River in Sequoia National Forest, and the Ladybug Trail along the South Fork Kaweah River in Sequoia National Park. Both offer relatively easy, relatively under-the-radar hiking to rushing rivers, paradisiacal waterfalls, and towering sequoia redwood trees. What’s more, with thousands of dead trees now browning the landscape, the two watersheds also offer an unnerving but eye-opening education into the environmental stresses pressing upon our wildernesses, and the ambiguity of our role within them.
The Wishon Trail begins a quarter mile after a closed gate on Wishon Road east of Springville, just past Camp Wishon. Many flock to the natural water slides coursing down the river’s lower reaches, and access points can be found along this road. Thanks to these destinations, the Wishon Trail itself sits overlooked, with day-trippers venturing no further and other backpackers heading to the higher Summit and Maggie lakes trails on opposite sides of the Tule watershed. First traveled by the Tule river natives, the trail is a historical mining trail, used by prospectors in the mid-1800s to mine copper, galena, and limestone.
