Once again, John Muir bequeathed this area an entirely appropriate yet simple name. Amid these giant trees, and the remnant glacial boulders on the hillsides, it does feel like you’ve stumbled into an environment on another planet. The sequoias are so tall and wide that…Read More

Once again, John Muir bequeathed this area an entirely appropriate yet simple name. Amid these giant trees, and the remnant glacial boulders on the hillsides, it does feel like you’ve stumbled into an environment on another planet. The sequoias are so tall and wide that they’re nearly unphotographable. Attempts to capture one, either up close or from a distance, are frustrated by their impressive tendency to grow close together: backing up to get one tree in frame brings you past a dozen more that now block your view. That’s made possible by their relatively small root system, which takes up a surprisingly small amount of space, making them vulnerable to wind. As you hike the trails in any of the groves here, you’ll come across a few that have toppled, which always generated a sad feeling in me, particularly when the dead tree had been hacked into a house, or bored through to create an auto tunnel, or a passage way along a trail. No respect for the dead.

I can’t escape the feeling that the sequoias are generous to allow us into their home. On their unfathomable time scale, our 100-year flurry of activity, with all its attendant changes in intentions, must look comical. We arrive, we cut trees, we build roads, we construct a small city, we save trees, we tear down the city, and we move off of their property.

The meadows that dot Giant Forest serve as a reminder of the narrow niche they occupy. Dependent on water, the meadows contain too much water, filling depressions in the granite with runoff from the surrounding area. The sequoias thrive on the edges, drinking up the moisture as it trickles into the small basin. The beautiful open spaces, lush greenery and blue skies provide a contrast that enhances one’s appreciation of the trees and their forest: they’re all the more amazing when you see the openings, the places where they’re not.

As the evidence mounts that our planet is warming, I wonder how rapidly they’ll be threatened. Their niche is a small one, and they thrive where temperature, moisture, and slope are just right. Elevation changes of a few hundred feet eliminate their ability to grow; a temperature increase of a few degrees certainly has a equivalent elevation change in that neighborhood.

Even with the removal of the Village, the Giant Forest area is still rumbling with human activity. The trail map looks like a random web of threads, and we encountered a lot of company on the trails on our mid-day hike near Crescent Meadow. The next morning, we had General Sherman and the Congress Trail to ourselves, an experience that still stays with me, and left me hungry for more time and more quiet.

There are 30 groves within Sequoia and Kings Canyon, only a handful of which are marked on the park map (the highly visited Giant Forest and General Grant Groves; Lost and Redwood Mountain Groves along Generals Highway; Muir and Atwell Groves reachable by a few miles from park roads, and the more remote Garfield and Cottonwood Groves near Seqouia’s southern boundary). We spent time in the first four, often alone; but hiking to some of the others will definitely be a focus of my next visit.Close

From Lone Pine – on to Big Sur. We approached the park along route 198, the General's Highway. It winds its way ever higher up the Kaweah River Valley to the gates of the park before continuing onwards in a series of ever more…Read More

From Lone Pine – on to Big Sur.

We approached the park along route 198, the General's Highway. It winds its way ever higher up the Kaweah River Valley to the gates of the park before continuing onwards in a series of ever more hair-raising switchbacks that climb hundreds of feet up, until you're directly under the Moro Rock. Along the way is a great place to stop for pictures called 'The Amphitheatre'...

At the top we found that we were in a snow zone, which meant having to be extra careful driving - especially without tyre chains!

After spending a couple of hours visiting General Sherman and the Museum, we then started back down the mountain as the light was already beginning to fade that the temperatures were also dropping.

The next part of our tight itinerary called for us to be on the Californian coast in easy distance of Hearst Castle and Big Sur, which meant a few hours of night driving across state...

We continued along route 198 until just before Highway 5 where we turned south onto route 41 and then south onto I-101 into San Luis Obispo where we had a few coupons for cheap accommodation. This was an excellent drive as there wasn't much traffic on the roads meaning that you could easily pass slow drivers and drive fast to make up time - I actually found that with roads like these you could make far better time than on the highways themselves in many cases.

Once in town it was easy to find our chosen motel on Monterey St and book in. We were going to head into town to eat, however, the '1865' seafood restaurant practically next door was excellent and that is where we decided to stay in the Jasmine perfumed night air...

A quick call to book our Hearst Castle tickets and we were all set for the next day!

Fondest Memories: In the foothills along route 198 before the park, we came across a petrol station that was going to be the cheapest one we saw in all of California - so we filled up on the way in and filled up on the way out! It was surprising it was so cheap considering it was in a prime 'tourist trap' location...

To stand beside the largest living thing in the World was something else! General Sherman was amazing in every way and I was very glad to have made the pilgrimage!

After visiting Sequoia, I was surprised that Sequoia doesn't enjoy a more prominent spot among the national park spotlights. We drove up from Los Angeles on a Saturday and arrived at Visalia. This was our overnight stop, and the "closest" town, 40 miles away from…Read More

After visiting Sequoia, I was surprised that Sequoia doesn't enjoy a more prominent spot among the national park spotlights.

We drove up from Los Angeles on a Saturday and arrived at Visalia. This was our overnight stop, and the "closest" town, 40 miles away from the park. Then we kept on going on highway 198, passing Kaweah Lake, and the cluster of small hotels and restaurants around Three Rivers, before arriving at the entrance to Sequoia.

After paying for the $10 fee, we proceeded ahead, driving through the winding road.

The first stop on the General's Highway, the main road that courses through Sequoia and Kings Canyon, was Hospital Rock. This is where we stopped briefly at the picnic area, took a few photos of the surrounding, before heading out on the General's Highway again.

Soon, we passed by another attraction, the infamous "Tunnel Rock" on the left. This is where the original road cut through a rock thats big enough to have a car pass through. We decided not to stop and kept on heading north along the highway until we arrived at the Foothills Visitor Center. This is where we purchased the $10 ticket for the Crystal Cave tour that afternoon.

Since our tour was just 2 hours away and the trek to Crystal Cave takes 1 hour from the Foothills Center, we decided to take our time touring Sequoia as we drove to the entrance at Crystal Cave.

As we drove deeper into the forest, suddenly, the scenary changed. Now, instead of the usual pine forests, we were surrounded by giant Sequoia forests. Every where we turn, there were Sequoias the girth of a car and height of mini sky scrapers. Very impressive. We drove up to the Museum (didn't have time to visit) as time alotted, before heading back down the Generals Highway again and took the 6-mile side road that lead to Crystal Cave.

Crystal Cave, as it was explained to us by our guide, is a limestone cave discovered 100 years ago. It is a giant cave with three main chambers that are connected by narrow corridors. Each chamber contained extraordinary limestone tubes, domes, folds, beds, ponds--so much so that we couldn't decide where to look. It was also fun to squeeze through the tiny corridors as some places were so narrow, we had to walk sideways. This memorable tour took 1 hour to finish and was very worth the admission price and the hike down (and up) to the cave.

We then got back on to the General's Highway, and came across a view point a few miles up north. We took a brief break at this stop. Here, we got a unbeatable view of the Moro Rock (which we later will climb), and the valley of Sequoia. Quite a scenic spot.

As we drove towards our next stop, the autolog, we came across two baby black bears playing in the woods along side of the road. We parked our car next to them and enjoyed a close up of the bears before arriving at the autolog.

We have all seen pictures of it before but seeing it up and close gave the proper perspective of just how big the tree is. Its a Sequoia that has fallen on a road, and was cut through its trunk to allow cars to pass through. We weren't so adventure inclined, but several teenagers from other cars climbed up the tree and took a picture of them on top of the tree with their cars in the middle of the tree. We were just happy to take a picture of it before moving on.

Our third stop was the Moro Rock, a giant "rock" that peaked at ~6000 feet. But in order to get to the top, we had to finish a steep 100 meter climb to the top. The hike was easier than I thought as there were already paved stairs with guard rails leading up to the top. The climb up took me about 10 minutes. After arriving at the top, I was rewarded with an amazing view to the mountain ranges to the East and the Sequoia valley underneath me. An amazing spot. Thsi climb up and down took me ~ 30 minutes to complete.

But the main attraction is still waiting for us, the General Sherman Tree. It is easliy accessible from the parking lot and after hiking down a 0.5 mile trail, we arrived at the bottom of the gigantic tree. It is determined to be >2000 years old, 10 meters wide, and 100 meters tall. Its just gigantic. Very impressive. We took several photos at this spot and enjoyed the fresh air at this prestine place before hiking back up to the parking lot.

By then, we were starving. So we took a brief lunch/dinner break at Lodgepole Visitors Center, the half way point along the General's Highway, where we also bought a few souvenirs at its gift shop.

As the day began to end, we finally arrived at our last stop, The General Grant Tree. The trail leading up to it from the parking lot is quite mild and there was a designated "photo spot" for taking pictures. Along side of it, is a fallen "Monarch" (a fallen Sequoia). The inside of it has been rotten away and we were able to walk through its trunk to the otherside. The trunk was ust huge, even with our arms fully extended, we didn't even come close to touching both sides of the walls of this "smaller" Sequoia.

As the day got darker, we stopped at the last stop of the day at Muir Center for last minute souvenirs before heading out highway 180 to head back to Visalia.

We didn't have time to finish the Kings Canyon portion of the General's Highway. But we were so impressed by the park that we will definitely visit Sequoia again, soon. And next time, we will definitely stay in the park, as travel to and from Visalia is actually quite time consuming (almost 1 hour due to the winding roads).

Giant Forest Named by John Muir, the Giant Forest is the most famous attraction. In it, you can find the General Sherman Tree, which is named the largest living tree in the world. Believed to be around 2,100 years old, the Sherman Tree is over 102…Read More

Giant Forest

Named by John Muir, the Giant Forest is the most famous attraction. In it, you can find the General Sherman Tree, which is named the largest living tree in the world. Believed to be around 2,100 years old, the Sherman Tree is over 102 feet in circumference at ground level!

Moro Rock

Also found in the Giant Forest area is Moro Rock, a large granite dome on which you can climb a foot trail to the top to get a wonderful view of the Great Western Divide.

Tharp’s Log

Named after the first non-native settler in the area that built a cabin out of a single fallen sequoia log. It is the oldest pioneer cabin in the park.

Crystal Cave

Of the more than 200 caves in the area, Crystal Cave is the one visited by tourists. The limestone that has metamorphosed into marble is said to be an awesome sight. NOTE: it can only be toured in the summer.

Mineral King

A glacial valley that is said to be a "hiker’s heaven" with 11 different trails. The constant sharp turns along the road that lead here make this about an hour and a half drive. NOTE: there are two campgrounds near Mineral King – no trailers permitted.

To get to Sequoia NP: from Fresno take Highway 180 East for approximately 70 miles from Visalia take Highway 198 East for approximately 45 miles from Bakersfield take Highway 65 North for approx. 59 miles to Highway 198 East for approx. 20 miles. (NOTE:…Read More

To get to Sequoia NP:

from Fresno take Highway 180 East for approximately 70 miles
from Visalia take Highway 198 East for approximately 45 miles
from Bakersfield take Highway 65 North for approx. 59 miles to Highway 198 East for approx. 20 miles.
(NOTE: No access from the Eastern side of the Park)

A Bit of History:
Sequoia National Park is America’s second oldest national park, after Yellowstone, and was established in 1890. Together, with Kings Canyon –its adjoining national park- the land area set aside covers over 860,000 acres. Mount Whitney, at 14,494 feet, is the tallest mountain in the contiguous 48 states. It is found on the eastern border of Sequoia National Park and is not accessible by car.

Natives have inhabited these ancient forests since prehistoric times. Gabriel Moraga was the first European to venture into the area in 1806 and named the great river he found "El Rio de los Santos Reyes" : The River of the Holy Kings – which was later shortened to Kings River. It was not long before loggers had cut down a third of the magnificent trees! (Do we Caucasian people have to ruin everything!!)

John Muir was one of the leaders in saving this land, but efforts continuously failed. Finally, the people of a nearby town, Visalia, continued the battle which was won when President Benjamin Harrison signed the bill that established Sequoia National Park.

It is simply amazing to be standing right next to some of the world’s largest trees and realize that they have been here for thousands of years. And that’s just the ones you’re standing next to! If you ever want to feel like you’re…Read More

It is simply amazing to be standing right next to some of the world’s largest trees and realize that they have been here for thousands of years. And that’s just the ones you’re standing next to!

If you ever want to feel like you’re truly walking in the Land of the Lost, then take an aimless stroll under the giant sequoia trees. You’ll half expect to see a dinosaur peek around one of them to glance at you as you would an ant, and continue stretching his neck to sniff the sequoia disappearing into the sky.

The giant sequoias can reach a height of 311 feet and can live for 3,200 years! The bark that protects these trees can be 31 inches thick!

One area we decided to hike was called Round Meadow, for obvious reasons. The Sequoias grew in a circle around this meadow, which was about two acres and had a stream running through it. The trees can't grow in the meadow because of the soft…Read More

One area we decided to hike was called Round Meadow, for obvious reasons. The Sequoias grew in a circle around this meadow, which was about two acres and had a stream running through it. The trees can't grow in the meadow because of the soft soil from the stream, so they grow around it. Of course, one was bigger than the next, or so it seemed. Sue stopped to look at a strange-looking bush with pods on it, and I went ahead a little ways to take a picture of a tree growing around a huge boulder. Then Sue called me in a loud whisper to turn around. There, coming out of the woods right behind her, was a mother black bear and her cub! We learned later that the cub was a spring cub and was only about a month old. They just walked on by her and into the meadow. There the mother was teaching the cub to scratch downed logs for insects and to climb logs. Later she taught the cub to climb a tree. It was awesome just to be able to watch this from a distance. The mother was very patient, even with people standing around and watching, when the cub went up a tree and stayed there a long time. She just camped out under the tree, which was right on our walking path, to wait. All the people there were great as far as not intruding; we were all just awestruck and fascinated. There were also two more bears wandering around the meadow later, just grazing. Soon, a park naturalist joined our small group of observers, and she said this bear was a new mother who had been fed by humans, so they were keeping an eye on her. She wasn't afraid of people after being fed, and these are usually the bears that cause problems and have to be put down. So when the mother and cub came toward us, she and her friend ran at the bears yelling and throwing sticks to scare them, drive them back into the woods, and to make them afraid of people again. Well, mother bear didn't like having sticks thrown at her, and she growled. And junior, just like Simba in The Lion King, practiced his growl, letting out a growl imitating his mom’s that was cute and scary at the same time. They finally did take off for the woods, so we continued our tour, but we'll never forget our bear encounter in Sequoia National Park. Close

LODGING There are over 1,200 campsites and a number of lodges throughout Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks – but since this is about Sequoia, I will concentrate on only that park. Wuksachi Village Boasts spectacular views of Mount Sillman and Silver peak. There are 102 guest rooms…Read More

LODGING

There are over 1,200 campsites and a number of lodges throughout Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks – but since this is about Sequoia, I will concentrate on only that park.

Wuksachi Village Boasts spectacular views of Mount Sillman and Silver peak. There are 102 guest rooms that are in three different price categories. This lodge is open year-round. NOTE: I did not see this lodge so cannot comment on the experience. Call: (559)565-4070 for more info Reservations: 1-888-252-5757 Website: http://www.visitsequoia.com

Bearpaw Meadow Camp This is a backcountry meadow tent hotel available for up to 12 hikers that take the 11.5 mile trail from Crescent Meadow. Open mid-June to mid-September – weather permitting of course. Bedding, towels, linens, meals and showers are provided. NOTE: I visited during the winter, so did not stay here – though this would be my choice during summer. Reservations are required. (888)252-5757

CAMPING

NOTE: All campgrounds (except Atwell Mill and Cold Springs) in Sequoia have bearproof storage boxes – which you are required to use to store your food. Rent or purchase them in Grant Grove, Cedar Grove, and Lodgepole shops or at Mineral King Ranger Station.

Lodgepole: $16 per night in summer (free after heavy snow) 250 sites, elevation 6,700 ft. Toilets, bearproof storage boxes, pay phone, laundromat, service station, camper store, deli, gift shop. NOTE: in winter, only the parking area is plowed.

Dorst: $16 per night with reservation, 218 sites, elevation 6,800 ft. Toilets, phone, sanitary disposal station. Open Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Buckeye Flat: $14 per night, 28 sites, elevation 2,800 ft. Toilets. Open in summer only. No trailers or RVs.

Potwisha: $14 per night, 44 sites, elevation 2,100 ft. Toilets, phone, sanitary disposal station.

South Fork: $8 per night mid-May through October (free rest of year), 13 sites, elevation 3,600 ft. Pit toilets, no drinking water. No trailers or RVs.

Atwell(Mineral King area): $8 per night late May through September (then water is turned off and no fees charged) 21 sites, elevation 6,650 ft. Pit toilets, phones, horses in summer. Road closed from November 1 to Memorial Day. No trailers or RVs.

Cold Springs(Mineral King area): same as Atwell – except has 40 sites and elevation is 7,500 ft.