The Sequoia National Park is located in the southern Sierra Nevada at east of Visalia, California. It spans over 404 acres. In the park are 35 groves of giant sequoias, spectacular granite mountains, and deep canyons.
The park is well known for its Giant Sequoia trees, many groves of the giant sequoia are found along the moist, west slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, between elevations of 5,000 and 7,000 feet. The scale and grandeur of these reddish giants trees are extremaly extraordinary, also includes many walking trails that pass through the woods, which makes an ideal place to contemplate the atmosphere of the forest.
The park is famous for the General Sherman Tree (83 m high and 11 m in diameter at its widest point), is the largest and one of the oldest living in the world, estimated to be more than 3,500 years old. The General Sherman tree grows in the Giant Forest, which contains five out of the ten largest trees in the world, in terms of wood volume.
Most visitors come only to see some sequoias, but these trees are found in a moderately small area; the majority of the national park protects a large part of the Sierra Nevada range like canyons, lakes, waterfalls and high mountains, including Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States.
The park also contains over 100 marble caves such as Crystal Cave, more than 2600 lakes and ponds, and a wide range of ecosystems near the Ash Mountain entrance to the peak of Mt. Whitney.
Besides to hiking, camping, fishing, and backpacking, the park has attractions such as the Tunnel Log a fallen sequoia that automobiles can drive through; the Crystal Cave protected since 1918 and the only one of over 200 caves in the two adjoining parks which can be toured; and crescent meadow of Sequoia that John Muir called the "gem of the Sierra".
The park is open year round, and is seldom crowded. Most weekends, even in mid-summer. However, the lower parts of Kings Canyon is close from November 1, through mid-May. Winter visitors will find the giant sequoias decked with snow, but it is the opportunity to see the magnificent Kings Canyon.
Native peoples already knew and lived in the forests of the Sequoias since prehistoric time. Inhabitants included the Monaches, Potwishas, Wuksachis and Tubatulabals. In 1827, trappers and explorers began to arrive through the lofty passes and deep valleys on either side of the Sierra. The gold rush of 1849 drew thousands of people to California, searching for mineral wealth and beginning the exploration of the mountains.
In 1877, John Muir climbed Converse Basin and discovered a sawmill recognized to process lumber from the Sequoia groves, he starts a heavy fighting to save the trees.
President Benjamin Harrison signed a law in 1890 that established Sequoia National Park as California's first national park and the United States second National Park after Yellowstone National Park. One week later, General Grant National Park was created by Congress to protect the grove of giant sequoias, including the General Sherman Tree.
Thanks to the work of John Muir and other early conservationists, the natural beauty of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks has been preserved from the depths of the Kings Canyon to the summit of Mount Whitney in Sequoia National Park.
Sequoia is half of a combined unit of two National Parks, administered together, the other being Kings Canyon to the north.
Campgrounds in the park include three in the foothills area: Potwisha (42 sites), Buckeye Flat (28 sites), and South Fork (10 sites). Four campgrounds are at higher, conifer dominated elevations, ranging from 2,030 to 2,290 m. Atwell Mill (21 sites), Cold Springs (40 sites), Lodgepole (214 sites), and Dorst (204 sites).
The beauty of Sequoia has inspired visitors for generations, and with on-going efforts to preserve the Park's pristine settings, guests today can experience much of the Park the way it was viewed hundreds of years ago.