Sequoia & Kings Canyon NPS - Day 2
A Visit to Kings Canyon NP
We continued our visit to the Sierra Nevada’s towering forests, arriving at Kings Canyon National Park via E Kings Canyon Road. We marked our entry with a photo and then made a quick stop at the visitor center, getting information about the park’s highlights and must-do hikes to make the most of our one-day visit.
Kings Canyon's Giant Sequoias
- September 28, 2023
- 4.18 mi
- 1:49:37 hrs
- 64 °F
We started a hike at the General Grant Tree Trailhead. We were early, so we had the Fallen Monarch, a giant hollow sequoia tree, to ourselves. Walking through the inside, the enormous size of the trunk is even more apparent. What’s more surprising is that even after they have fallen to the forest floor, it can take centuries for sequoias to decay. Another tree with a big trunk, however, still standing strong, was the General Grant tree, which is over 1700 years old and is over 268 feet tall; it is the world’s third-largest tree in volume.
We met a park ranger, and she told us they would start prescribed fires in the upcoming days. These fires will eliminate all the flammable materials that can cause scorching, high-temperature fires, protecting the sequoias that can withstand low-temperature burns very well. In fact, sequoias depend on fire: their seeds will sprout after they have been touched by fire. Nature is so beautiful!
We continued our hike by following a few of the shorter North Grove Trails, starting with the North Grove Loop, which meandered through a magnificent grove of sequoias and meadows; then the Dead Giant Loop, where we saw the impressive Dead Giant, a massive sequoia that has remained standing even after it died; and finally, part of the Sunset Trail back to the General Grant parking area, which offered beautiful views.
Kings Canyon's Vistas
Before we drove to the Big Stump Trail for our last hike, we headed to Kings Canyon Overlook and Redwood Mountain Overlook, following the Generals Highway. Kings Canyon Overlook provided a stunning view of thousands of acres of the park’s wilderness; Redwood Mountain Overlook offered a view of the world’s largest intact sequoia grove.
Big Stump Grove
- September 28, 2023
- 2.05 mi
- 55:44 min
- 79 °F
There was a time when these giants were not protected. We saw remnants of their destruction walking the Big Stump Grove Trail. The most famous one is the stump of the Mark Twain Tree, a giant sequoia tree that was felled in 1891. The tree was “sacrificed to provide a slab for The American Museum of Natural History in New York”; it is still on display there today.
However, I mentioned before that nature is resilient! Almost one and a half centuries later, while being protected, the forest with beautiful young Giant Sequoia trees is recovering again.