★★★

The Grant Grove Area


Kings Canyon National Park
Home > Sierra Nevada > Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Camp Cabin 527 in Grant Grove

Redwood Mountain Grove

Sharply contrasting with Grant Grove is the minimally-developed Redwood Mountain Grove, which is ideal for day hikers who want to avoid the more touristy parts of the park. Unfortunately, the entire grove burned in the 2021 KNP Complex Fire and is now closed.

★★★

Redwood Mountain

Length 10.0 miles · Climbing 2200 feet

The largest remaining old-growth sequoia grove. It’s not quite as scenic as the Giant Forest, but it has more of a wilderness feel and no crowds.

The Sugar Bowl in Redwood Mountain Grove

Grant Grove just east of the paved loop

Giant Sequoia National Monument

The National Monument consists of two large regions with half of the world’s sequoias. Unfortunately, as part of Sequoia National Forest, it’s essentially a government-managed timberland, so most of the sequoia groves in this area have been logged. The most aggressive logging occured in the 1980s, when numerous stands of old-growth pines, firs, and cedars — most of the trees within the groves — were clearcut. In 2000, the Giant Sequoia National Monument was created to better protect the sequoia groves, but it’s still part of the National Forest and smaller trees can still be logged as part of the forest service’s fire suppression practices.

The Monument has an extensive road network sprinkled with numerous campgrounds and privately-run retreats, including the Sequoia High Sierra Camp, which may be the nicest place to stay in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon area. By and large, though, the National Forest-operated facilities don’t look as nice to me as the national parks’. In hunting season (fall) the rolling hills echo with the nearly continuous sound of gunfire.

Much of the National Monument burned in various fires between 2015 and 2021 and is still closed. The pages below are from before the fire.

★★★

Evans Grove

Length 3.8 miles · Climbing 980 feet

A 1-mile hike over open hills to a small but superb old growth area.


 

© 2011, 2014, 2022 David Baselt