Hospital Rock is adjacent to Generals Highway about six miles northeast of the Ash Mountain Entrance Station in Sequoia National Park. The rock has been a gathering place for almost 700 years. Hale Thorp named the rock after two incidents in 1860 and 1873 in which he brought injured explorers to be treated by the native people. A whole panel of pictographs are still visible on a slanted rock above Hospital Rock. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good image of the pictographs. Yet another reason to return to Sequoia.
A picnic area is located across Generals Highway from Hospital Rock. Besides picnic tables and restroom facilities (in season), it includes a paved parking area for over 50 passenger vehicles and two handicap placarded vehicles. The one-lane road to Buckeye Flat Campground (tents only) begins at the base of Hospital Rock.
We visited in March 2018.
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| Pictographs at an obliuqe angle |
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| Short set of stairs leads around the pictographs |
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| Trail seems simple enough... |
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| ...until it isn't! |
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| Just a few more feet to a nice view of the river |
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| The top of Hospital Rock |
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| View of Middle Fork Kaweah River from atop Hospital Rock |
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| Small waterfall |
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| Part of the parking area from atop Hospital Rock |
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| Underneath Hospital Rock |
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| Numerous bedrock mortars on a nearby rock were created over countless years from grinding acorns into meal |
Entrance to Sequoia and/or Kings Canyon National Parks requires an entry fee of $30 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.
The park website is https://www.nps.gov/seki.
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