Sequoia Groves and Forests
Sequoia National Park is a four season’s feast that ranges from colorful wildflowers in the spring to summer greens, fall foliage for leaf peeping and winter snows. But the main attraction is the Sequoia forests and groves. Many groves of the remarkable giant sequoia are found scattered along the moist, west-facing slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, between elevations of 5,000 and 7,000 feet. The scale and grandeur of these reddish giants is quite stunning, and the park has many easy foot trails that wind through the woody groves leading to quiet undisturbed places, ideal to contemplate the ambience of the forest.
The Giant Sequoia Forest is one of the most popular attractions in the park. On the ascent to the forest there are several great viewpoints over the continuation of Middle Fork Canyon far below. The scenery changes gradually from bushes to small oak trees, to forests of fir, pine and cedar, and finally sequoias; at first these are scattered and relatively small, although still of distinctive color and much larger than the neighboring trees, but quite suddenly the giants are all around, towering above everything else. This is the Giant Forest, centerpiece of Sequoia National Park - an area also including Moro Rock, a granite dome that affords one of the best views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.