Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Mike White
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through the town of Visalia and by Lake Kaweah. The highway technically ends at the General Grant Tree Road junction in Kings Canyon. Completed in 1926, the Generals Highway replaced the Colony Mill Road as the principal access for motorists to the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park. In modern times, the road is open from the Ash Mountain Entrance to Grant Grove, with periodic closures during winter storms beyond the Wuksachi junction.
Ash Mountain Entrance: The Ash Mountain Entrance heralds the visitor’s arrival to the west boundary of Sequoia National Park. The journey into the park begins in the foothills plant community, a typically hot and arid environment during the summer. Initially, the road follows Middle Fork Kaweah River upstream through a chaparral-covered canyon.
Entrance Sign: Shortly beyond the Ash Mountain Entrance, a pullout on the right-hand shoulder lets visitors stop and admire the newly restored welcome sign. Created in the 1930s by a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the sign was patterned after an Indian head (or buffalo) nickel, commemorating the link between Chief Sequoyah of the Cherokee and the naming of the parks’ most compelling feature, Sequoiadendron giganteum, the giant sequoia. Be on the alert for pedestrians; many visitors stop for the customary photograph in front of the old sign.
Ash Mountain Visitor Center: Open daily, the Ash Mountain Visitor Center offers visitors an excellent opportunity to acquaint themselves with the park, with a modest selection of interpretive exhibits, as well as an assortment of books, maps, and gifts. Rangers on staff are available to answer questions, write wilderness permits, and rent bear canisters. The visitor center has restrooms, a pay phone, and a small picnic area across the highway.
Tunnel Rock: When the Generals Highway was originally built during the 1920s, the road passed beneath this massive boulder.
Potwisha Campground: Potwisha, named for a band of Monache Indians, is an all-year campground, with running water, flush toilets, picnic tables, and a pay phone. At this campground at 2,100 feet, summer temperatures can be quite hot—the more temperate conditions during spring and fall offer more pleasant camping. The campground also provides a trailhead for the 3-plus-mile hike up a stretch of Marble Fork Kaweah River to Marble Falls (see Trip 19).
Directly across the highway from the entrance is a broad flat containing the campground dump station and parking for the short Potwisha Pictographs Loop (see Trip 18). The Middle Fork Trail to Hospital Rock can also be accessed from here (see Trip 20).
Hospital Rock: The highway continues upstream through Middle Fork Kaweah River canyon until bending north at a fair-size flat known as Hospital Rock. Humans have frequented this hospitable area for hundreds of years, with Native Americans establishing residence as early as the mid-1300s. During the late 1850s, when Hale Tharp passed through on his way to the Giant Forest, hundreds of Monache were residing here and at Potwisha until introduced diseases devastated their population. After most of the Native Americans were gone, the area continued to provide a convenient camp for ranchers, settlers, and explorers. In 1873, James Everton accidentally shot himself in the leg and convalesced at this site, which became known as Hospital Rock.
Founders Group, Giant Forest (Trip 30)
Nowadays, Hospital Rock is a picnic area with running water, restrooms, and oak-shaded tables. Interpretive signs provide information about the former residents, and visitors may find pictographs on some of the nearby rocks. The Middle Fork Trail to Potwisha begins on the uphill side of the picnic area (see Trip 20).
Across the highway from the entrance to the picnic area, is a paved road to Buckeye Campground, open mid-May to mid-October. Inside the campground is the trailhead for the Paradise Creek Trail, but hikers will have to walk the 0.6-mile road from Hospital Rock because only campground guests may park at the trailhead (see Trip 21). A dirt road beyond the campground access road leads another 1.3 miles to a trailhead for the upper section of the Middle Fork Trail (see Trip 22).
Big Fern Spring: Beyond Hospital Rock, the Generals Highway begins a steep and winding climb up the south wall of the Giant Forest Plateau toward the Giant Forest. Built in the 1920s and 1930s, this highway is something of an engineering marvel. On the way to Big Fern Spring, the vegetation transitions from the drought-tolerant vegetation of the foothills zone to broadleaf evergreens, such as live oaks and laurels, with an occasional incense cedar serving as a harbinger of the coniferous forest above. The spring is named for the giant chain fern, largest of the native Californian ferns.
Amphitheater Point: The broad turnout here offers a wide-ranging panorama encompassing the full breadth of Sierra Nevada life zones. The precipitous slopes below are cloaked with the classic oak forest and chaparral of the foothills zone. Directly above lies the distinctive exfoliated granite dome of Moro Rock, bordered by the coniferous forest carpeting the Giant Forest Plateau. In the distance are some of the airy summits of the Great Western Divide, offering the first images of the mighty High Sierra.
Deer Ridge: From Amphitheater Point to Deer Ridge, the Generals Highway offers glimpses of two distinct rock types—the classic salt-and-pepper-colored granites typically associated with the Sierra and much older metamorphic rocks. Most of the metamorphic rocks are red, but patches of white rocks can be seen scattered across the terrain as well. The white cliffs seen from the vicinity of Deer Ridge are usually made of marble. Since marble is water-soluble over the course of geologic time, natural caverns often form in this rock, with Crystal Cave being the most famous of these caverns in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
Eleven Range Point: This point is named for its expansive vista, encompassing up to eleven mountain ridges, depending upon the air quality. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous haze coating the atmosphere above the San Joaquin Valley usually clouds the view. Air pollution from Southern California and the Central Valley poses the most significant risk to humans and the natural environment in the parks. Oftentimes, Sequoia and Kings Canyon suffer some of the worst air quality in the national park system.
Giant Forest: The steep and winding climb eventually leads to the Giant Forest, where a roadside sign heralds your arrival. Gone are the oaks and laurels of the upper foothills zone, replaced by varieties of tall, slender,