36.5647° N, 118.7727° W
LOOKING TO EXPLORE TWO OF CALIFORNIANS EXCITING NATIONAL PARKS? THEN DEFINITELY CHECK OUT THIS IN-DEPTH ADVENTURE GUIDE ON KINGS CANYON & SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARKS.
These two parks’ dramatic landscape testifies to nature's size, beauty, and diversity. Think huge mountains, rugged foothills, deep canyons, vast caverns, and of course, the world's largest trees. The parks lie side by side in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, just east of the San Joaquin Valley, and together they contain five unique areas: Foothills, Mineral King, Giant Forest & Lodgepole, Grant Grove, and Cedar Grove. Each area has its own climate, features, and highlights. Grant Grove and Giant Forest are home to the largest sequoia groves.
Due to its location between two popular national parks (Yosemite and Sequoia) and its overall lack of road access to most of the park, Kings Canyon National Park has remained one of the least visited parks in California (roughly 700,000 visitors entered in 2017 compared to 1.3 million visitors at Sequoia and over 4 million at Yosemite).
HISTORY OF SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS
People have inhabited the area for about 6,000–7,000 years. Specifically, the Owens Valley Paiute peoples visited the region from their homeland east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Paiute eventually created trade routes connecting the Owens Valley with the Central Valley west of the Sierra Nevadas.
The early Spanish exploration of California largely bypassed what is now Kings Canyon National Park. In 1805 Gabriel Moraga led an expedition through the Central Valley and crossed what is now the Kings River, bestowing the name Rio de los Santo Reyes (River of the Holy Kings) on the stream. Fur trappers also visited the areas in the 1820s, but most likely did not venture into the high country since beaver were only present at lower elevations.
The fur trappers were followed by prospectors during the California Gold Rush, which began in 1848. During the 1860s, a road was built to Grant Grove and many of the sequoias there were eventually logged. The first of several sawmills in the area opened in 1862, and logging operations expanded north and almost entirely leveled Converse Basin, then one of the largest sequoia groves in the world (although the Boole Tree, the grove's biggest, was luckily spared).
In1890, President Harrison signed legislation establishing America's second national park: Sequoia National Park. The plan was to protect the giant sequoia trees from logging, and because of this, Sequoia was the first national park formed to protect a living organism: Sequoiadendron giganteum, aka giant sequoia trees. One week later, General Grant National Park was created.
Once the parks were created, U.S. Army Cavalry troops were sent from the Presidio in San Francisco to watch over the area. This unit included Colonel Charles Young, who would become the first African American national park superintendent.
Fast forward to 1940 when Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a new national park to include the glacially-formed splendor of Kings Canyon. The newly established Kings Canyon National Park also engulfed and included General Grant National Park. Since WWII, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks have been administered jointly.
INTERESTING THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS
By far one of the most interesting things to see in the parks is the General Grant Tree, the second largest tree in the world and the largest sequoia tree in the entire Grants Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park. Scientists once thought the tree was well over 2,000 years old, but recent estimates suggest it is closer to 1,650. General Grant also features the third largest footprint of any living giant sequoia, measuring 107.6 feet or 32.8 meters in circumference at ground level. The tree was named after Ulysses S. Grant in 1867 (Grant was a Union Army general during the American Civil War and also the 18th President of the United States). Another interesting fact is that President Coolidge proclaimed it the "Nation's Christmas Tree" in 1926.
Now, what about that famous tree you can drive through? Well… in truth, that tree is actually quite a ways away - roughly, 100 miles away in the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park. Though before you get excited and start changing your plans, know that that tree - the Wawona Tree - actually fell over in early 1969.
If you want to drive “through” a tree you can still check out the fallen "Tunnel Log," which is located along the Crescent Meadow Road in Giant Forest. When the tree fell in 1937 it measured 275 feet high (83.8 meters) and 21 feet in diameter at the base (6.4 meters).
\\ Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | Fast Facts
YEAR ESTABLISHED
1943
STATE
California
SIZE
A combined size of 1,353 square miles or 3,500 square kilometers
NUMBER OF ANNUAL VISITORS