Kings Canyon / Sequoia
With its deep valleys, skyscraping trees, and distinctive rock outcroppings, Kings Canyon National Park is the place that John Muir once called "a rival to Yosemite." Kings Canyon National Park is named for the deepest canyon in North America, surpassing even the Grand Canyon. The Kings River runs through it, descending 4,000 feet. Conifer forests give way to chaparral before the highway reaches desert-like terrain with scattered cacti and yucca. This is perhaps Kings Canyon’s most striking span, with jagged metamorphic rock walls closing in on the highway before the pines return at Roads End.
Kings Canyon National Park was established in 1940 and covers 461,901 acres (721.720 sq mi; 186,925 ha; 1,869.25 km2). It incorporated General Grant National Park, established in 1890 to protect the General Grant Grove of giant sequoias.
The Kings Canyon is north of and contiguous with Sequoia National Park, lying side by side in the southern Sierra Nevada east of the San Joaquin Valley. Weather varies a lot by season and elevation, which ranges from 1,370' to 14,494'. The two are administered by the National Park Service jointly. They were designated the UNESCO Sequoia-Kings Canyon Biosphere Reserve in 1976.
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks forge a wide-screen recreational wonderland covered by ancient forests, soaring domes, stone canyons, and rivers that roar or ripple, depending on the season. And all of it, kissed by some of the Sierra Nevada’s most consistently sunny weather.
Kings Canyon Park is composed of two distinct areas – Grant Grove (home to the General Grant tree, also known as "the Nation's Christmas Tree") and Cedar Grove. Grant Grove visitors snap photos and marvel at the sheer size of the sequoia grove. Kings Canyon is also home to Redwood Canyon, the largest remaining grove of sequoia trees in the world. With Giant Sequoia National Monument right next door, this is a massive, million-acre-plus Sierra playground, filled with points of amazement to explore and engage. In addition to the Park's celebrated sequoias, this glaciated valley features miles of hiking trails, horseback riding, and camping.
Grant Grove Village is the base camp for access to the nearly 900,000 acres of Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park. Set just inside the Kings Canyon’s Big Stump entrance on Highway 180, Grant Grove Village is home to the John Muir Lodge, Grant Grove Cabins, the Kings Canyon Visitor Center, Grant Grove Market, gift shop and Grant Grove Village Restaurant.
And, just down the highway, there’s Grant Grove and the third-largest tree on earth, the stately General Grant tree.
Grant Grove
A mixed conifer and sequoia forest surrounds the General Grant Tree Trail at Grant Grove. Other points of interest include the Gamlin Cabin and the Fallen Monarch along the 1/3 mile paved trail. Take the North Grove Loop, a lightly traveled, 1.5 mile trail that leads away from the pavement for a closer look at the big trees.
General Grant Tree
The focal point of Grant Grove, the General Grant Tree is the third largest in the world at nearly 50,000 cubic feet, almost 300 feet tall and has the largest base diameter of any tree in the world at more than 40 feet. Named in 1867 for General and President Ulysses S. Grant, proclaimed the “Nation’s Christmas Tree” in the 1920s by Pres. Calvin Coolidge, and honored as a living national shrine in memory of Americans lost during wars by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the General Grant Tree is one celebrated sequoia!
Sequoias grow at 5,000 - 7,000', above usual snowline.
Kings Canyon National Park was established in 1940 and covers 461,901 acres (721.720 sq mi; 186,925 ha; 1,869.25 km2). It incorporated General Grant National Park, established in 1890 to protect the General Grant Grove of giant sequoias.
The Kings Canyon is north of and contiguous with Sequoia National Park, lying side by side in the southern Sierra Nevada east of the San Joaquin Valley. Weather varies a lot by season and elevation, which ranges from 1,370' to 14,494'. The two are administered by the National Park Service jointly. They were designated the UNESCO Sequoia-Kings Canyon Biosphere Reserve in 1976.
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks forge a wide-screen recreational wonderland covered by ancient forests, soaring domes, stone canyons, and rivers that roar or ripple, depending on the season. And all of it, kissed by some of the Sierra Nevada’s most consistently sunny weather.
Kings Canyon Park is composed of two distinct areas – Grant Grove (home to the General Grant tree, also known as "the Nation's Christmas Tree") and Cedar Grove. Grant Grove visitors snap photos and marvel at the sheer size of the sequoia grove. Kings Canyon is also home to Redwood Canyon, the largest remaining grove of sequoia trees in the world. With Giant Sequoia National Monument right next door, this is a massive, million-acre-plus Sierra playground, filled with points of amazement to explore and engage. In addition to the Park's celebrated sequoias, this glaciated valley features miles of hiking trails, horseback riding, and camping.
Grant Grove Village is the base camp for access to the nearly 900,000 acres of Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park. Set just inside the Kings Canyon’s Big Stump entrance on Highway 180, Grant Grove Village is home to the John Muir Lodge, Grant Grove Cabins, the Kings Canyon Visitor Center, Grant Grove Market, gift shop and Grant Grove Village Restaurant.
And, just down the highway, there’s Grant Grove and the third-largest tree on earth, the stately General Grant tree.
Grant Grove
A mixed conifer and sequoia forest surrounds the General Grant Tree Trail at Grant Grove. Other points of interest include the Gamlin Cabin and the Fallen Monarch along the 1/3 mile paved trail. Take the North Grove Loop, a lightly traveled, 1.5 mile trail that leads away from the pavement for a closer look at the big trees.
General Grant Tree
The focal point of Grant Grove, the General Grant Tree is the third largest in the world at nearly 50,000 cubic feet, almost 300 feet tall and has the largest base diameter of any tree in the world at more than 40 feet. Named in 1867 for General and President Ulysses S. Grant, proclaimed the “Nation’s Christmas Tree” in the 1920s by Pres. Calvin Coolidge, and honored as a living national shrine in memory of Americans lost during wars by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the General Grant Tree is one celebrated sequoia!
Sequoias grow at 5,000 - 7,000', above usual snowline.