Sequoia and Kings Canyon: Giant Trees, Caves and Quieter Trails

A giant sequoia. NPS photo

For visitors tired of crowded national parks, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) are a quieter choice, known above all for their giant sequoias.

History

• Logging. Around the turn of the 20th century, most of the giant sequoias in one grove were cut down, leaving the Big Stump grove behind; logging giant sequoias was outlawed in the early 1900s.
• A park renamed. Kings Canyon was once General Grant National Park. An eastern section was added and the park renamed Kings Canyon.
• A dam that wasn't built. The city of Los Angeles wanted to dam the Kings River and flood the canyon; environmentalists opposed it and won, and the canyon became a protected national park.
• Fire. The struggle goes on: wildfires, including the Castle Fire of 2020 and the KNP Complex Fire of 2021, have destroyed 20% of the giant sequoia population and many groves.

Water

The parks' waterfalls, lakes, ponds, rivers and streams draw people for picnics, hiking, camping and fishing. The Sierra Nevada snowpack works as a reservoir, storing winter precipitation and releasing it as meltwater into the watershed. In low-snow years there is less water for plants and recreation, and drought can follow.

Caves

Among the most popular features are the parks' caves and karst, which hold Pleistocene fossils, rare minerals and unusual animals — scorpions, beetles, mites and other invertebrates, and bats. Park staff lead cave tours.

Caves form where surface streams are diverted underground and their mildly acidic water dissolves soluble rock such as limestone, hollowing out caverns over time.

Mist Falls. NPS photo

Trails

Nearby Grant Grove Village is the parks' main hub, with a visitor center, restaurant, hotel, campgrounds and post office. Plan a visit.

Sources

Based on "Travel Blog: Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks," by Abigail Stone Lauer, a National Park Service Workforce Management Fellow with the Northwest Youth Corps, for the "A Day in the Life of a Fellow" series, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words.