Kings Canyon or Mount Rainier?

Neither destination is for a beach vacation, and swimming in either is a brief, cold affair. Kings Canyon has more chance of a proper dip, though. By late summer the pool at Muir Rock and the sandy edge of Hume Lake are popular for cooling off after a hike, while the river stays dangerous earlier in the season.

At Mount Rainier the park's snowmelt lakes rarely allow more than wading. Real swimming means driving down to a lowland reservoir such as Alder Lake.

Neither is a place to travel for food, but Mount Rainier gives you a little more choice. Its gateway towns of Ashford, Packwood and Enumclaw have diners, cafés and the odd brewpub, and the historic lodges serve hearty dinners, with salmon and late-summer berries adding some Northwest character.

Kings Canyon has only lodge grills, a snack bar at Hume Lake and small markets. Most visitors cook at camp, and the nearest real restaurants are in Fresno, over an hour down the mountain.

Mount Rainier has the richer human story. Longmire keeps the original park headquarters and its museum, and Paradise Inn is a fine example of the rustic timber style that shaped American park buildings. Fire lookouts and glacier exhibits add a little more.

Kings Canyon's heritage comes down to the General Grant Tree, with its role as a national shrine, a few homesteaders' cabins and the logging stumps of Big Stump. Neither place is a culture trip, but Rainier gives a wet afternoon more to fill it.

Both go quiet after dark, and evenings in either are about campfires and stars. The small difference is a tavern or brewpub in Ashford or Packwood near Mount Rainier where you can have a beer after the trail. Kings Canyon offers no more than a drink with dinner at a lodge, though its skies are darker and far from any town.

The scenery is equally grand, but the two landscapes are very different. Kings Canyon is about scale on the ground: giant sequoias at Grant Grove, a granite canyon thousands of metres deep at Cedar Grove, and the High Sierra beyond the road's end, with the Rae Lakes Loop and the John Muir Trail.

Mount Rainier is a single glaciated volcano that you see from every trail. Around it lie the wildflower meadows of the Skyline Trail, close views of the Emmons Glacier from Sunrise, and mossy rainforest along the Carbon River. It also adds guided summit climbs, the two-week Wonderland Trail and lift skiing at Crystal Mountain in winter.

Mount Rainier is far better placed for a day away from the trails. Tacoma's waterfront museums, including a glass museum with a working hot shop, are about an hour and a half away, and Olympia's domed capitol is a similar drive.

Kings Canyon has little beyond Fresno's hand-dug Forestiere Underground Gardens and an afternoon in Three Rivers. Most visitors there simply stay in the mountains.

Mount Rainier gives children more to do. Easy loops at Longmire and Paradise, the roaring slot at Box Canyon and snow at Paradise into early summer are joined by the Northwest Trek wildlife park and the steam railway from Elbe.

Kings Canyon works for families who love camping, with the paved path round the General Grant Tree, the Zumwalt Meadow boardwalk and Junior Ranger badges. Beyond nature there is nothing built for children, and the twisting canyon road and the fast Kings River call for care.

Both need a car, but Mount Rainier is the easier one to drive. Gateway towns on different sides of the mountain let you base yourself near Paradise or near Sunrise, and the Longmire to Paradise road is kept open in winter for drivers with chains.

Kings Canyon is more remote. It is about an hour and a half from Fresno to Grant Grove, then another hour of switchbacks down to Cedar Grove, and the canyon road closes for the winter.

There is next to no shopping at either. Kings Canyon offers lodge gift shops with sequoia souvenirs and small markets for firewood. Around Mount Rainier there are a few craft and gallery shops in the gateway towns, and Seattle or Tacoma are within reach for outdoor gear before you arrive.

Costs are similar, and in both places camping is what keeps a trip cheap. At Kings Canyon the problem is the lack of competition: the few lodges and markets inside the park charge mountain prices, and cheaper motels in Fresno or Visalia mean a long drive every day.

At Mount Rainier the pressure comes from the season. Cabins and motels in the gateway towns fill and charge full rates in July and August, but June and late September ease the cost.

Neither has any performing arts. In summer both offer ranger talks at campground amphitheatres. Mount Rainier's only extra is the occasional local musician in a tavern, and both leave you a long drive from a concert hall, Seattle and Tacoma for Rainier and the Central Valley for Kings Canyon.

Mount Rainier is a little better for unwinding in comfort. Rented cabins under the firs near Ashford or Packwood often have a hot tub on the deck, and a massage can be found in the gateway towns.

Kings Canyon offers stillness and nothing more: cool mornings among the sequoias, river sounds at Cedar Grove and no phone signal. There are no spas or hot springs anywhere near.