Sequoia National Park

Visited: June 2014

Nearby city: Visalia, CA

"The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It's not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time."

- John Steinbeck

The giant sequoia (also known as the giant redwood, or Sierra redwood, or the "Big Tree" as John Muir simply referred to them as), rule in silent majesty along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. They are a sight to behold. They are found nowhere else in the world. Their cousins, the coastal redwood and the dawn redwood, are also impressive and the coastal versions can grow taller, but the mighty Sequoia is the grandest tree of them all.

When the first white settlers told their friends back east about the giant trees, no one believed their accounts and thought they must be exaggerating. They quickly discovered they were not. The trees became a popular tourist attraction, but unfortunately as humans do, redwoods and sequoia were cut down at an alarming pace to make furniture, etc. Thanks to the efforts of famed explorer and conservationist John Muir, the park was established to preserve these wonderful, majestic trees. Sequoia was established in 1890, the second National Park after Yellowstone.

The best place to view the sequoias is in Sequoia National Park along the Generals Highway. But there are groves in nearby Sequoia National Monument, Kings Canyon National Park, and Yosemite National Park. Visalia is the largest city near the park, but just outside the Park Entrance is the small resort town of Three Rivers, which is a great place to stay before you venture into the park. Entrance fee is $30, and it also includes admission to Kings Canyon National Park.

Right before the park entrance, you can take a right and head to Mineral King Ranger Station, home base for some long hiking/backpacking trails in the high Sierra Nevada. Or head straight to the Foothills Visitor Center and explore the ecosystem of the park before you climb thousands of feet along the Generals Highway.

can't drive under here any more, but still cool

far in the distance is prominent Moro Rock, we'll get to the top of it later in the day

The road winds endlessly and climbs thousands of feet. Finally you'll get to the top. There is a turnoff to the left where you can visit Crystal Cave. Or stay straight and you'll come to the Giant Forest Museum. You can learn more about the Sequoia here. At the museum, there is a turnoff to the right to see Moro Rock and Tunnel Log. We visited there later, but we first went to the General Sherman Tree.

large tree, The Sentinel, at the Giant Forest Museum

A little past the Giant Forest Museum is the parking lot for the Giant Forest and the trail to General Sherman Tree. The General Sherman Tree is the largest tree by volume in the entire world. It's a nice hike, only a mile, to the tree. After gawking at the gigantic tree, we wandered through the grove. It was a pleasant hike.

the trail is well marked

Stats for the General Sherman Tree: Height: 274.9 ft. Circumference at its base: 102.6 ft. Diameter at base: 36.5 ft. Height of first large branch: 130 ft. Volume of trunk: 52,508 cubic ft.

This tree is named for the Cherokee leader who invented the Cherokee alphabet, Sequoyah, who is of course the namesake for the tree itself.

Once your neck has gotten a good workout from gazing up at these giants, time for a somewhat strenuous hike up 400 steps (but only half a mile) to the top of Moro Rock. At 6,725 ft, Moro Rock offers commanding panoramic views of the Sierra Nevada and Kaweah River Valley and Three Rivers area.

the narrow band is Generals Highway

we got a little worn out from this hike

its a bunch of steps

Tara was really excited to drive a car through a tree. The only opportunity to do that in Sequoia National Park is Tunnel Log near Moro Rock. Unfortunately, the road was closed to private vehicles because of a controlled forest fire. So, we could only access by Shuttle Bus, which is too big to go under Tunnel Log. Oh well. We got a picture.

We enjoyed our time at Sequoia National Park. It's a great park to visit in a day, and the General Sherman Tree alone makes the trip worth it. If you want to spend more time, there are great backpacking trails at Lodgepole, Mineral King Ranger Station, or Mt. Whitney at the eastern edge of the park. Check out the park website for more info: https://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm