Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflowers Photo Gallery

advertisement

Big trees, high peaks, and deep canyons in North America's longest single continuous mountain range: Superlatives abound amidst glorious scenery. Pioneering conservationist John Muir explored and named the Giant Forest. "When I entered this sublime wilderness the day was nearly done," he observed, "the trees with rosy, glowing countenances seemed to be hushed and thoughtful, as if waiting in conscious religious dependence on the sun, and one naturally walked softly and awe-stricken among them." May you follow in Muir's footsteps.

San Joaquin Valley residents and others pressed Congress to protect Sierra tracts against logging in the 1880s. Some park proponents sought to protect water supplies for irrigation; others, the Big Trees. Preserving land for scenic and recreational values was an infant idea then.

Sequoia National Park was created on September 25, 1890. A week later Congress tripled its size and created General Grant National Park to protect Grant Grove. In 1893 a Sierra Forest Reserve protected more lands, and in 1926 Kern Canyon was added to Sequoia. In 1940 General Grant was merged into the newly created Kings Canyon National Park. In 1978 Mineral King was added to Sequoia. Since 1943 Sequoia and Kings Canyon have been managed jointly.

In volume of total wood, the giant sequoia stands alone as the largest living thing on Earth. Its nearly conical trunk—like a club, not a walking stick—shows why. At least one tree species lives longer, one has a greater diameter, three grow taller, but none is larger. In all the world, sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, most often between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. There are some 75 groves in all. The General Sherman tree is between 2,300 and 2,700 years old. Its largest branch is almost seven feet in diameter. Each year the General Sherman adds enough wood growth to make a 60-foot-tall tree of usual proportions.

"Most of the Sierra trees die of disease, fungi, etc.," John Muir wrote, "but nothing hurts the Big Tree. Barring accidents, it seems to be immortal." Muir was partially right. Chemicals in the wood and bark provide resistance to insects and fungi. The main cause of death for sequoias is toppling. Sequoias have a shallow root system with no tap root. Soil moisture, root damage, and strong winds can also lead to toppling.

These behemoth trees sprout only from seeds so small and light they look like oat flakes. Mature trees may produce 2,000 chicken's egg-sized cones each year, collectively bearing 500,000 seeds—dispersed only as cones are opened. Cones hang on the tree green and closed for up to 20 years. Douglas squirrels or the larvae of a tiny cone-boring beetle may cause cones to open, but fire is the key agent in the dispersal of seeds. It causes the cone to dry, open, and drop its seeds. The fire also consumes logs and branches that have accumulated on the forest floor. Their ashes form fertile seedbeds and enhance sequoia seedling survival. The fire cycle ensures seed release and seedbed fertility.

Steep and barren, the parks' canyon areas seem skeletal and cut to their geologic quicks. Kings Canyon reaches a depth outside the park of some 8,200 feet from river level up to Spanish Mountain's peak. There, just downstream from the confluence of the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River, the canyon is without peer in North America—deeper than the Snake River's Hells Canyon in Idaho, or the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Kern Canyon in southern Sequoia National Park is 6,000 feet deep, and several other canyons exceed 4,000 feet in depth. Sierran canyons show both stream-cut, V-shaped profiles and U-shaped profiles characteristic of glacial gouging. Both Generals Highway and Kings Canyon Highway thread through canyons. At Roads End on Kings Canyon Highway (closed from about November 1 to May 1), you can stand on a flat, glacial valley and stare up at canyon walls rising nearly a mile above the river's level.

The Snowy, Sawtoothed Mountain Range - More than 400 miles long and 60 to 80 miles wide, the Sierra Nevada exceeds the entire Alps area—French, Swiss, and Italian. Palisade Crest in Kings Canyon National Park and the Mt. Whitney group in Sequoia each boast six Peaks over 14,000 feet in elevation.

No roads cross the range here, intimate appreciation of the mountains scale and grandeur are hard won afoot or with packstock. Panoramic vistas can be seen from atop Moro Rock from roadside pullouts along the Generals Highway; from Panoramic Point near Grant Grove; and from roadside pullouts before Kings Canyon Highway descends into the canyon. Mineral King Valley provides superlative hiking access to meadows, alpine lakes, and Sierra peaks.

Because park roads top out at 7,800 feet of elevation, most people who visit the parks do not experience the alpine country. Above 9,000 feet the harsh climate cannot support tall trees or dense forests. Above about 11,000 feet, no trees grow. Here are mostly boulders, rocks, and gravel punctuated with small alpine lakes, meadows, and low-growing shrubs. Summer flourishes but briefly. Preparing for winter the marmot stores body fat; the pika stores small piles of hay. Mountain lakes dot Sierran high country, many set in small bowls—called cirques—carved by glaciers.