Foothills Visitor Center - Sequoia National Park

Foothills Visitor Center in Sequoia National Park is located about one mile beyond the Ash Mountain entrance station near Three Rivers, California. The visitor center houses all of the usual components of a park service visitor center including an information desk, gift shop, and exhibits. In addition, as we have begun to see in other areas, a donation box is prominently displayed. Restrooms with running water are located in the same building, but with a separate entrance. Unfortunately, there is no theater nor a park film. Since the visitor center was closing as we arrived a few days earlier, this was our final stop in Sequoia National Park during our March 2018 trip to California.

Entrance to the Visitor Center

Gift shop

Geography and geology exhibits

Hands on biology exhibit

Challenges facing the foothills

Photograph of the missing sign

Wildlife adaptations to climate changes

A short rainy season and then "a season of drought"

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.

Hospital Rock - Sequoia National Park

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.

Pictographs at an obliuqe angle

Short set of stairs leads around the pictographs

Trail seems simple enough...

...until it isn't!

Just a few more feet to a nice view of the river

The top of Hospital Rock

View of  Middle Fork Kaweah River from atop Hospital Rock

Small waterfall

Part of the parking area from atop Hospital Rock

Underneath Hospital Rock

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.

Big Fern Springs - Sequoia National Park

Big Fern Springs in Sequoia National Park is located just off the Generals Highway 9.5 miles northeast of the Ash Mountain entrance station. Parking for a couple of vehicles is available on both sides of the road. An obvious trail leads to a cascading stream, but ends before reaching the spring. We stopped for a few minutes during our March 2018 visit to the park.

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.

Generals Highway - Giant Forest to Amphitheater Point - Sequoia National Park

Below are a few images along the Generals Highway from the Giant Forest to Amphitheater Point during our March 2018 visit to Sequoia National Park. Traction control devices, snow chains or snow cables, were required above Eleven Range Overlook. In my opinion, this is one of the most scenic drives in all the national parks.

Four Guardsmen - Entrance to Giant Forest - MP 14.8

Marble Fork Kaweah River watershed - MP 13.9

Marble Canyon - Eleven Range Overlook - MP 13.3

Granite cliffs above Marble Falls - Eleven Range Overlook - MP 13.3

Ash Mountain (USGS Ash Peaks Ridge 5600') - Eleven Range Overlook - MP 13.3

Telephoto view of Ash Mountain - Eleven Range Overlook - MP 13.3

Switchback Peak (left 5024') and a 5112' spur of Ash Mountain - MP 12.9

 

Castle Rocks - MP 11.3

Paradise Ridge - MP 11.3

Switchbacks below Moro Rock - Amphitheater Point - MP 10.9

Closer view of Moro Rock - Amphitheater Point - MP 10.9

Castle Rocks - Amphitheater Point - MP 10.9

Stone walls and bench at switchback - Amphitheater Point - MP 10.9

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.

Silliman Creek - Sequoia National Park

During our March 2018 visit to Sequoia National Park, we passed Silliman Creek several times with my wife getting just a glimpse of what seemed to be a very picturesque stream. We finally made a note of its location on Generals Highway and planned time to stop. The creek passes under Generals Highway at milepost 21.2 measured from the Ash Mountain Entrance Station. A small pullout is located at milepost 21.1 on the outside of a curve, so you have to be traveling from Wuksachi toward Lodgepole in order to safely use the pullout. This probably isn't a location where I'd want to standing beside the road with the summer traffic, but as you can see below, we had the road pretty much to ourselves.

The creek is just past the orange pole on the right

Silliman Creek just before it passes under the road

Boulder filled creek bed

 

A closer look at the stream

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.

Congress Trail - Sequoia National Park

Continuing our March 2018 visit to Sequoia National Park, we hiked a bit more than half of the Congress Trail loop. We parked at the winter roadside parking area for the General Sherman tree. Following the trailhead near the handicap parking area and comfort station, we hiked the western side of the loop trail south to the McKinley tree and then east to The House group of trees. While the trail is paved, the pavement was not visible at any point along the route. Instead, we followed the path of packed down snow. A couple of trail signs and a kiosk ensured we were on the right path. We had considered completing the loop that the Congress Trail forms, but there were too few footprints or cross-country ski tracks to follow beyond The House group so we retraced our steps back to the McKinley tree and then north to the parking area. This made for a two mile round-trip hike. Once we returned to the trail head, we decided to find the other trail head located along the seasonally opened General Sherman access trail. Once there, we found that the eastern leg of the loop was closed for construction, so we definitely made the correct choice to retrace our steps.

Topographic map with GPS route

Elevation profile

Typical trail conditions near the trail head

Snow covered giant sequoia in the sunshine

Footbridge over Sherman Creek

Typical trail conditions

The only footprints off the trail are from wildlife

Looking up at a trail side sequoia

Snow covered boulders

Fire has scarred many trees along the trail

This leaning tree has shed most of its branches on one side to remain upright

Another trail side sequoia

Slowly recovering from fire damage

Three more fire damaged trees beyond the cross country ski track

A fallen giant

A large burl has formed on this sequoia

A large sequoia near the trail

McKinley Tree

A bit of snow on the trail

Another view of the McKinley Tree

A pair of burned trunks frame a healthy sequoia

A large sequoia on the trail...literally on the trail 

The trail likely doesn't go through this burned tree, but this was the only path in the area

The House group

Inside The House group

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.