Sequoia National Park, USA

Sequoia National Park is one of the eight national parks in California. Located in the foothills and mountains of the south central section of the Sierra Nevada range, Sequoia is famous for big things--some of the largest trees in the world and some of the highest mountains in the U.S., including Mt. Whitney, at 14,495 feet the highest mountain in the contiguous 48 states. The park also contains over 100 marble solution caves (such as Crystal Cave) and more than 2600 lakes and ponds. It features a wide range of ecosystems which exist at an amazing range of altitudes, from 1700 feet near the Ash Mountain entrance to the peak of Mt. Whitney.

Big trees are the prime attraction of California's Sequoia National Park - many groves of the remarkable giant sequoia are found scattered along the moist, west-facing slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, between elevations of 5,000 and 7,000 feet. The scale and grandeur of these reddish giants is quite stunning, and the park has many easy foot trails that wind through the woody groves leading to quiet undisturbed places, ideal to contemplate the ambience of the forest. Although the national park contains the largest trees and the most well-known groves, many smaller, less accessible groups of sequoias can be found in the adjacent Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Rules and Regulations

Sequoia National Forest is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, whose rules and regulations permit some activities that are not allowed within the adjacent Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. These include snowmobiling, which is allowed on designated routes; mountain biking on trails; and walking pets on leashes along trails.

The Name

The national forest is named after the giant sequoia tree. The giant sequoia got its name from the Latin name of its close relative, the coastal redwood tree: “Sequoiadendron giganteum.” The name was given to the coastal redwood species by a German botanist who chose the name to honor Sequoya, a Cherokee chief famous for inventing a phonetic alphabet for the Cherokee language.

Recreation

Throughout Sequoia National Forest are over 1,500 miles of maintained roads, 1,000 miles of abandoned roads and 850 miles of trails. They are used for hiking, driving off-road vehicles, horseback riding and mountain biking. A 78-mile stretch of the 2,600 mile-long Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail from Canada to Mexico goes through the forest.

Giant Sequoias

There are 38 groves of giant sequoias--the world’s largest trees--in Sequoia National Forest. They are not the world’s tallest trees (that title belongs to coastal redwoods) but they are the most massive and voluminous single-trunked trees on the planet. The species only grows on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, within a 260-mile-long belt that is no more than 15 miles wide, and at an elevation between 5,000 and 7,500 feet.

Big Trees

Sequoia National Park contains gigantic specimens of a number of different types of trees, but the most memorable are surely the giant Sequoias which inhabit several groves scattered through the park. These gargantuan trees may grow to a height in excess of 300 feet. Among all species of trees, they are second in height only to their close relatives, the redwoods of the northern California coast, although they are considerably larger in bulk and girth.

The Boole Tree is not only the largest tree in Sequoia National Forest, it is the largest in the entire U.S. National Forest system. The giant sequoia is 269 feet tall and its trunk has a diameter of 35 feet.

The Trail of 100 Giants

Hike the “Trail of 100 Giants” around Long Meadow Giant Sequoia Grove and you will see some of the forest’s biggest and oldest trees. Some are 500 to 1,500 years old.

Kings Canyon

The canyon formed by Kings River, which can be seen along Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, is one of the deepest canyons in North America. Its elevation reaches over 11,000 feet at the highest point, Hogbeck Peak.