Trail Review: Mist Falls, Kings Canyon National Park
Parking: Free parking spaces at Road's End. Kings Canyon National Park does have a $35 entrance fee. More about the park fees HERE.
Distance: 8.4 miles out & back.
King's Canyon is the sister park to Sequoia National Park and is well worth the extra drive to get to it. To get to the Mist Falls trailhead, you'll need to enter on the western side of the park and drive the scenic byway, Rt 180, to the other end. It's about an hours drive from the entrance of the park to the parking lot at Road's End but you'll get some great scenic views along the way. You may even want to stop at some of the turnouts for some awesome photos as the canyon is stunning.
Because Mist Falls is at the other end of the park, you'll actually end up at a relatively low elevation. If the air temperature at the Park's entrance is 60 degrees, it might be up closer to 75/80 degrees at Mist Falls. I mention this because we didn't realize the drive through the park would be all downhill and planned for the higher elevations like in Sequoia National Park. I had long sleeves on which may have made things a little bit more uncomfortable in the hotter weather.
The other thing I want to note right off the bat is that there were mosquitos on this trail. Like, a lot of them. And they bit through my clothes, even after spraying myself with bug spray multiple times. So that's something to be aware of as well, especially in the warmer months.
When you arrive at Road's End, there will be a loop with plenty of parking options so unless it's a super busy weekend, you shouldn't have a problem finding parking. The trail starts just to the right of the Road's End Permit Station which is at the south east corner of the loop.
For about the first 1.5 miles, the trail is wide, flat, and sandy. It's also one of the more exposed sections of the path with not as much tree coverage as the rest of the hike.
After that, the trail narrows and the trees become more dense. The trail stays pretty flat until after the fork which is at about the 2 mile mark. Here, you'll want to take the left-hand trail that goes toward Mist Falls and Lower Paradise Valley:
This is where the trail starts to gain some elevation. The nice thing, though, is that the path has a lot of steps built into it, especially in the spots where the incline is the greatest. As you head north along the edge of the river, there will be a couple of smaller waterfalls and a few spots where you can see the surrounding mountains. It's quite a beautiful place to be in.
We didn't see any bears on this hike, thankfully. We may have seen a snake but it wasn't moving and we weren't going to get any closer to check it out. Other people online have mentioned seeing both bears and snakes, especially in the warmer months, so keep an eye out.
After about 4.2 miles, you should reach Mist Falls. There will be a small placard on the trail to let you know you've arrived, but you'll also see the massive falls through the trees. You just have to figure out the best way to get down there. We ended up going down a pretty steep hill to get to the water but on the way back out, we took a more gradual hill that required hopping over a giant log. Maybe there was a better way down to the falls, but we didn't see it.
The falls really do live up to their name. There is quite a lot of mist coming off it so be prepared to get wet. You can also keep going farther north up the path if you want to get to the top of the falls or even further to the lower paradise valley. But we stopped here and just enjoyed the amazing waterfall.
When you're ready, just head back the way you came to get back to Road's End. Thankfully, Road's End has some bathrooms which is helpful because you've got about an hour long drive to get back out of the park!
Bottom Line: A great hike in Kings Canyon that follows a river and ends at a giant waterfall. The trail is at the end of Kings Canyon's scenic byway so you'll get awe-inspiring views both in the car and on the trail. Be prepared for bugs and be prepared to get wet at the waterfall.
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