A sinkhole in the Generals Highway has closed a stretch of the road between Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks/NPS
Editor's note: This updates that the sinkhole has been fixed.
A sinkhole that materialized in a section of the Generals Highway between Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks forced the National Park Service to close a stretch of the highway Tuesday, but quick work got the repair done late that night.
"The hole is temporarily repaired with gravel and work is planned to continue this week to permanently repair the roadway with asphalt," a release from the two parks Wednesday morning explained. "During the continued roadwork travelers can expect a single lane closure in the work area. Travelers are encouraged to drive cautiously and observe road work signs in the area. For current road conditions please call 559-565-3341."
The hole was spotted Tuesday in one lane of the road near Stony Creek in the Sequoia National Forest. While the sinkhole appeared in just one lane, the parks said the road was undermined in both lanes.
A sinkhole in a stretch of the Generals Highway between Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks forced closure of the road Tuesday evening/NPS
Comments
"Until the road is fixed, visitors hoping to move between the two parks on the Generals Highway would have to use California 245 and the Dry Creek Road."
It would be nice if the map showed the detour. As far as I can tell, Google Maps knows nothing of a Dry Creek Road in that part of the world. (There is Dry Creek Drive, but it's not clear how one gets from Sequoia, say Wuksachi Lodge or the General Sherman Tree, to Dry Creek Drive without a lengthy drive that I would have expected to be named in the detour.) This is not a dig at NPT; https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/conditions.htm was even less useful than this article (although it did say that California 245 is closed, which raises more questions about the detour mentioned in the article).
Good catch Will. We've reached out to the park to see if they have a suggested alternative route. It appears one would have to head towards Fresno to pick up California 180 to move between the two parks. As soon as the parks update the situation we'll pass it on.
They just reopened the Generals Highway between the parks
Not related to the asphalt sinkhole, but Mineral King has 15 natural sinkholes (my favorite early in the season is the one @ White Chief Canyon, which can approximate the size of a swimming pool with concave sides about 10 feet) with the easiest one to get to being on the way to Eagle Lake.