A four- to five-hour drive from
Los Angeles and San Francisco, and just over an hour’s drive from Fresno, are California’s Sequoia &
Kings Canyon National Parks. Established in 1890, Sequoia National Park is named after one
the largest tree species on the planet, and is home to one of the USA’s highest peaks. Neighboring Kings Canyon lays just to the north, plunging 2000 feet deeper into the
Earth than Arizona’s Grand Canyon. Yet despite their differences, these
twin parks share much in common. Their valleys have been shaped by the snow-fed cascades of the Central Sierra Nevada. While from their soils rise giant sequoias, some of which first put down roots 3000 years ago, long before the rise of the Roman Empire. Sequoia & Kings Canyon National
Parks are living timelines that remind us that we have small parts
in a story far greater than our own. After passing Sequoia’s iconic entrance sign, follow Route 198 through
the park’s sunlit foothills into the dappled shadows of its conifer zone. Pull over at Tunnel Rock,
where generations of motorists left their mark before the
road was rerouted in 1997. Four miles on at Hospital Rock, see the marks of even earlier
travelers, the Potwisha People, who for centuries used this healing
place as a winter encampment. Follow the hairpins ever
upwards for another eight miles, then turn left, and follow the gentle melody of Yucca
Creek into the depths of Crystal Cave. Discovered by two park employees
while on a fishing trip in 1918, these marble caves have been
shaped and polished by snow melt for over 100,000 years. After exploring the park’s subterranean worlds, turn your gaze skyward at The Four
Guardsmen, a grove of 1000-year-old sequoias. But these are mere adolescents compared to what lays just beyond in the Giant Forest. Call in to the Giant Forest Museum
to learn more about the sequoia tree, named after the Cherokee scholar who
created the first alphabet for his people, and inspired the creation of writing systems for pre-literate languages all over the world. Which is somewhat ironic, for as you walk beneath the 8000
sequoias of the Giant Forest, chances are you’ll be lost for words. From the museum, take the Big Trees Trail, a wheelchair-friendly circuit where
you’ll find favorites such as Ed by Ned, twin sequoias whose combined footprint
is as large as a swimming pool. Two miles on from the museum, pay your respects to one of the park’s
elder statesmen, General Sherman, which rockets 16 stories into the sky and contains as much wood as
an average 20-acre pine forest. After straining your neck muscles
looking up at one of the world’s largest living beings, take the
10-minute drive to Moro Rock. Climb the 400 steps up the bald granite
dome which juts from the mountainside. To the west, look down on Route 198,
which zigzags up from the valley floor. To the east, gaze out to the
peaks of the Great Western Divide, piercing the clouds at over 13,000 feet. While to the north, feel the call of
even more adventure, from Kings Canyon. Just an hour’s drive from Moro
Rock, is Grant Grove Village, the sole gateway to Kings Canyon National Park. After learning more about the
park’s human and natural history at the visitor center, explore
the General Grant Tree Trail. Peer into the Fallen Monarch, used by the US Cavalry a
century ago to stable horses, and Gamlin Cabin, the oldest
remaining structure in the park. Then, stand before the General Grant,
the world’s second-largest tree. Declared the Nation’s Christmas
Tree by President Coolidge in 1926, and a living shrine to those lost in
war by President Eisenhower in 1956, the roots of this giant run deep
into America’s consciousness. After bathing in the forest
fragrances at Grant Grove, buckle up and hit the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway. Open from May to October, this incredible road snakes its way
eastward, high above the Kings River. As the road descends and your grip
on the steering wheel relaxes, take a breather by the cool mists of
Grizzly Falls, and Roaring River Falls. After 30 wild, rocky miles,
the road nears its end, delivering you into the lush
valley floor at Zumwalt Meadow. Wander the boardwalk around this
picture-perfect Sierra meadow filled with wildflowers, berries and birdsong, as the near-vertical granite giants,
North Dome and Grand Sentinel, fill the sky. Whether it’s the vastness of Zumwalt Meadow, or the giant sequoias which
reach towards the heavens, no photograph, no video, no
words can fully capture the sheer scale and spirit of Sequoia
& Kings Canyon National Parks. This is a place that defies the
limits of lens and language. A place where, as John Muir
wrote, “the snow melts into music and between every two trees is
a door leading to a new life.” The only way to experience this place, is to step through that door yourself.
