Rockslide on highway 180 closes the grove in King Canyon Park CA

A popular camping and hiking area will not be open this week as planned after a landslide left about 600 feet of debris in front of an entrance to Kings Canyon National Park, officials said Thursday.

The rockslide left 15 trees and boulders weighing 200 tons on Highway 180 near the park entrance, Caltrans said.

The Cedar Grove area of ​​Kings Canyon National Park, which is about 80 miles east of Fresno in central California, was scheduled to open on Friday after being closed for the winter months, officials said. parks, but the opening will be delayed indefinitely.

The cleanup is complicated by this week’s weather forecast, officials said. The Hanford National Weather Service issued warnings for the mountains this week, where areas above 5,000 feet are seeing about 6 inches or more of snow through Friday, meteorologists said.

Travelers with campground reservations at Sentinel Campground in Cedar Grove will be notified via Recreation.gov, according to a news release, if their reservations should be canceled.

Tire chains or cables may be needed in the area this week.

For the most up-to-date road conditions, call the parks information line at 559-565-3341, press 1, then press 1 again. Details of what’s open at Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks are available online at go.nps.gov/SEKIconditions.

This story was originally published April 21, 2022 11:18 a.m.