Sequoia and Kings Canyon

From atop Moro Rock you can grasp the multiple superlatives that brought Sequoia - and eventually Kings Canton - into the National Park System so early that Sequoia is now our second oldest national park.  To the north lies the Giant Forest plateau where sequoias rise above their forest neighbors.  In cathedral-like Giant Forest stands the 275-foot-tall General Sherman giant sequoia tree, whose trunk weighs an estimated 1,385 tons and whose circumference at the ground is nearly 103 feet.  To the west, in contrast to these gargantuan conifers, are the dry foothills with their oak trees and chaparral vegetation descending toward the San Joaquin Valley.  To the south, and down, more than 5,000 vertical feet, the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River threads its rugged canyon.  To the east, snowcapped peaks of the Great Western Divide and the Kaweah Peaks top out on Mount Kaweah at 13,802 feet.  Just out of sight beyond the divide, the highest mountain in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney, reaches 14,491 feet of elevation.  Big trees, high peaks, and deep canyons in North America's longest single continuous mountain range: superlatives abound amidst glorious scenery.  Pioneering conservationist John Muir explored and named the Giant Forest.  "When I entered this sublime wilderness the day was nearly done," he observed, "the threes with rosy, glowing countenances seemed to be hushed and thoughtful, as if waiting in the conscious religious dependence on the sun, and one naturally walked softly and awestricken among them."

Earth's Largest Tree

IN volume of total wood the giant sequoia stands alone as the largest living tree on Earth.  Its nearly conical trunk - like a club, not a walking stick - shows why.  At least one tree species lives longer, one has a greater diameter, three grow taller, but none is larger.  In all the world, sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, most often between 5,000 and 7,000 feet of elevation.  There are some 75 groves in all.  The General Sherman Tree is approximately 2,200 years old.  Its largest branch is almost seven feet in diameter.  Every year the General Sherman grows enough new wood to make a 60-foot-tall tree of usual proportions.

"Most of the Sierra trees die of disease, fungi, etc.," John Muir wrote, "but nothing hurts the Big Tree.  Barring accidents, it seems tobe immortal."  Muir was partly right.  Chemicals in the wood and bark provide resistance to insects and fungi, and thick bark insulates them from most fire. The main cause of sequoia deaths is toppling.  They have a shallow root system with no taproot.  Soil moisture, root damage, and strong winds can lead to toppling.

Sequoia and Redwood Compared

The giant sequoia has a massive trunk, huge stout branches and cinnamon-colored bark.  Also called "Sierra redwood" and "Big Tree," its scientific name is Sequoiadendron giganteum.  The taller and more slend coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, is more conifer-like in profile.

Sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of California's Sierra Nevada range.  Redwoods grow naturally only in a narrow strip along the Pacific Coast.

Deep Canyons and High Peaks

These parks encompass the most rugged portions of the Sierra Nevada.  In their upper reaches, the gorges show the U-shaped profile characteristic of glacial gouging.  At lower elevations they resume the V shape of water-carved canyons.  In Sequoia, the Generals Highway climbs the stream-cut walls of the Kaweah canyon.  Kings Canyon Scenic Byway passes through both geologic profiles; where it ends, you can stand on canyon floor scoured flay by glaciers and stare up canyon walls rising nearly a mile.

Extreme elevation change - from 1,500 to 14,491 feet -creates a huge variety of habitats.  Plants and animals here inhabit life zones ranging from desert heat to arctic cold.  This rich diversity stands as one of the values Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks preserve for the world.

The Snowy, Sawtoothed Mountain Range

More than 400 miles long and 60-80 miles wide, the Sierra Nevada exceed the whole Alps area - French, Swiss, and Italian.  Palisade Crest in Kings Canyon National Park and the Mount Whitney group in Sequoia each boast six peaks more than 14,000 feet of elevation.

No roads cross the range here, intimate appreciations of the mountains' scale and grandeur are hard-won afoot or with packstock.  Panoramic vistas can be seen from atop Moro Rock; from roadside pullouts along the Generals Highway; from Panoramic Point near Grant Grove, and from roadside pullouts before Kings Canyon Scenic Byway descends into the canyon.  The Mineral King valley provides superlative hiking access to meadows, alpine lakes, and Sierra peaks.

Because park roads top out at 7,800 feet of elevation, most people who visit the parks do not experience the alpine country.  Above 9.000 feet the harsh climate cannot support tall trees or dense forests.  Above about 11,000 feet, no trees grow.  Here are mostly boulders, rocks, and gravel punctuated with small alpine lakes, meadows, and low-growing shrubs.  Summer flourishes but briefly.  Preparing for winter, the marmot stores body fat; the pika stores small piles of hay.  Mountain lakes dot Sierran highcountry, many set in cirques, small bowls carved by glaciers.

Sierran Wildlife

Mule deer are prime prey of elusive mountain lions.  Pine martens, fishers and wolverines pursue squirrels and other small animals.  Black bears may take fawns or eat carrion but mostly eat vegetation.  Marmots and pikas live in mountains.  Coyotes, gray fox, bobcats and ringtails patrol the foothills.

Decades of planting non-native brook, brown and other trout displaced native rainbow and Little Kern golden trout.  Planted fish also diminished amphibian populations, especially frogs.

Profile of the Sierra

Foothills Chaparral

Dry, hot summers in the Sierra's western foothills give rise to chaparral, a drought-resistant shrub community adapted to withstand periodic fire.

Winter rains bring wildflower bursts in spring before grasslands and chaparral go brown for the summer and fall.

Giant Sequoia Belt

The world's 75 giant sequoia groves grow on moist, unglaciated ridges on the Sierra's west slope, between 5,000 and 7,000 feet of elevation.  Only eight groves lie north of Kings River - scattered over nearly 200 miles.  Thest occur south of the river at intervals of 4.5 miles or less in a 60-mile long belt.  Visually dominant in their groves, sequoias are part of the mixed-conifer forest that includes white fit, sugar pine, yellow pine and incense-cedar.  The largest remaining sequoia groves are at Redwood Mountain in Kings Canyon National Park and at Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park.  Redwood Mountain grove covers 3,100 acres and has 15,800 sequoia trees more than one foot in diameter at their bases.  Giant Forest is 1,800 acres and has 8,400 such trees.  About 36.500 acres of sequoia groves remain in the Sierra, mostly under federal or state protection.

Elevation and Precipitation

The Sierra Nevada forces moist, eastbound air upwards.  As it rises the air is cooled and forced to release its moisture as precipitation.  Drought-resistant chaparral covers lower west slope elevations.  Gargantuan sequoia/mixed-conifer forests cover middle elevations.  Air masses crest the mountains mostly depleted of moisture.  East of the Sierra Nevada, in its rainshadow, lie the semi-arid Great Basin.  One the Sierra's west slope precipitation generally increases until it reaches a maximum between 5,000 and 8,000 feet of elevation.  This zone of maximum precipitation includes the sequoia belt and its luxuriant forest development.  Above these elevations precipitation tends to decrease.

Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney crowns the Sierra Nevada at 14,491 feet (4417 meters) - the highest point in the contiguous United States.  Named for California state geologist Josiah Dwight Whitney in 1864, it is visible from the west only from remote backcountry.  Visitors to the Owens Valley east of the park see it from U.S. 395 near Lone Pine.

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