Great Western Road Trip: Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park doesn't immediately present itself as anything more than a nice bit of forest and rolling hills. But hidden within are thousands of the largest living things on earth: the Giant Sequoias. Nothing else even comes close.

Sequoia National Park is located in Central California just west of Death Valley National Park. However, it can't be accessed from the east, as the Sierra Nevada mountain range is impassible in that direction.

Sequoia National Park can be reached from the southwest by Highway 198 or from the northwest by Highway 180. Both of these roads join in the center of the park and together they make a loop known as "General's Highway."

Sequoia National Park is actually joined with King's Canyon National Park (to the north) and one entrance fee will give you access to both. Though we didn't have time to check out King's Canyon National Park, we learned that in addition to its scenic canyon, it also has its own groves of Giant Sequoia Trees, including the second largest tree in the world.

The main attraction at Sequoia National Park is definitely the Giant Sequoia Trees. Unfortunately, they don't cover the whole park. They're apparently very fickle plants and only find very small patches of land with just the right elevation, humidity, and acidity of soil to be suitable for growth. This is one of the main reasons they need to be protected: small changes in their environment could lead to the distinction of the largest living things on earth.

There are several groves of Sequoia trees that exist outside the National Park, but even most of those are located in National Forests. But within the Sequoia National Park are the largest Sequoia groves in the world and the largest is the Giant Forest, right in the middle of the park.