Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Photo Gallery

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The Generals Highway is the major scenic road in Kings Canyon Park. Running from Ash Mountain to Hospital Rock, the road was originally built by the Mt. Whitney Power Company to provide access to build a flume carrying water from the Marble and Middle Forks of the Kaweah River to a power generator just outside the park. You can see this concrete flume on the far side of the river. The road from Hospital Rock to Giant Forest was built by the government, and was completed in 1926. The rock work was added by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Tunnel Rock
This large granite boulder is 1.6 miles from the Ash Mountain Visitor Center. Originally, the only road here was the bypass. The CCC dug the tunnel beneath the rock and faced the dirt wall with rock, finishing the work in 1938.

Hospital Rock
This pleasant site on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River was once home to nearly 500 Native Americans belonging to the Potwisha sub-group of the Monache (Western Mono) Indians. Archaeological evidence indicates that Indians settled in this area as early as 1350. Today, visitors to Hospital Rock can still view ancient rock paintings, or pictographs, and bedrock mortars used to grind acorns. The area got its present name in 1873, when James Everton stayed here to recover from a gunshot wound he had received while stumbling into a shotgun snare set to trap bear.

Amphitheater Point
Amphitheater Point is a broad turnout on the Generals Highway, 10.3 miles from the Foothills Visitor Center. From here, you can see all three of the life zones of the Sierras. Below lies the Foothill zone with its oak and brush forests. Above lies the Mixed Conifer forest, home to the Giant Sequoias, the world's largest living trees. And in the distance, you can get your first good view of the High Sierras, as the barren, rocky peaks of the Great Western Divide appear on your right.

Moro Rock-Crescent Meadow Road
The Moro Rock-Crescent Meadow Road leaves the General's Highway from Giant Forest Village and travels for three miles through the southwest portion of the Giant Forest. It dead-ends at a trailhead and picnic area. This road is not recommended for trailers or RVs. In winter, the road is closed to vehicles, but open to cross-country skiers. Several famous attractions are located along this road...

The Auto Log: Early visitors to the Giant Forest often had difficulty comprehending how big the giant sequoias are. To help give a sense of their size, a roadway was cut into the top of this fallen tree. The Auto Log is located 0.9 miles from Giant Forest Village on the Moro Rock-Crescent Meadow Road.

Moro Rock: The parking area for Moro Rock is two miles from the village. A steep 1/4-mile staircase climbs over 300' (91.4 meters) to the summit of this granite dome. From the top, you will have spectacular views of the western half of Sequoia National Park and the Great Western Divide. This chain of mountains runs north/south through the center of Sequoia National Park, "dividing" the watersheds of the Kaweah River to the west and the Kern River to the east. Also on the eastern side of the divide is Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. Unfortunately, because many of the snowcapped peaks in the Great Western Divide reach altitudes of 12,000' (3,657 meters) or higher, it is impossible to see over them to view Mt. Whitney from Moro Rock. The summit of Alta Peak, a strenuous seven-mile hike from the Wolverton picnic area, is the closest place from which to see Mt. Whitney.

The Parker Group: The Parker Group is considered one of the finest clusters of sequoias that can be reached by automobile. It is 2.6 miles from the Giant Forest Village.

The Tunnel Log: Sequoia and Kings Canyon have never had a drive-through tree. The Wawona Tunnel Tree, the famous "tree you can drive through," grew in the Mariposa Grove of Yosemite National Park, 100 air-miles north of Sequoia and Kings Canyon. It fell over during the severe winter of 1968-69. Visitors to Sequoia National Park can drive through a fallen sequoia, however. In December 1937, an unnamed sequoia 275' (83.8 meters) high and 21' (6.4 meters) in diameter fell across the Crescent Meadow Road as a result of "natural causes." The following summer, a Civilian Conservation Corps crew cut a tunnel through the tree. The tunnel is 8' (2.4 meters) high and 17' (5.2 meters) wide, and there is a bypass for taller vehicles.

Crescent Meadow: The Crescent Meadow Road ends at a parking and trailhead area less than 100 yards (91.4 meters) from the edge of Crescent Meadow. A popular hike from Crescent Meadow is the one-mile stroll to Tharp's Log, a fallen sequoia that provided a rustic summer home for the Giant Forest's first Caucasian resident, Hale Tharp. Another easy one-and-a-half-mile trail circles the meadow, which is an excellent place to view wildflowers in the summer. Because Crescent Meadow is a fragile environment, please stay on designated trails and walk only on fallen logs for access into the meadows.

Mount Whitney
Many visitors to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are interested in seeing Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the "lower 48" states. Unfortunately, Mt. Whitney is on the east side of the Great Western Divide, a chain of mountains that runs north/south through the center of Sequoia National Park, dividing the watersheds of the Kaweah River to the west and the Kern River to the east. Because many of the snowcapped peaks in the Great Western Divide reach altitudes of 12,000' (3,657 meters) or higher, it is impossible to see over them to view Mt. Whitney from any of the roads on the west side of the Sierras.

The best place from which to see Mt. Whitney is the Interagency Visitor Center on Highway 395, just south of the town of Lone Pine on the east side of the Sierras. Highway 395 can be reached via Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park (summer only), or by going around the southern end of the Sierras from the town of Bakersfield. There are no roads across the Sierras in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.