Holiday Inn Visalia-Hotel & Conf Center

Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Center, is the largest full-service hotel between Fresno and Bakersfield at the gateway to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Next to hotel is Plaza Park, a 40-acre recreational paradise ...more

Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Porterville

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A warm and friendly staff awaits you at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Porterville. We are minutes away from Lake Success and Eagle Mountain Casino. Our prime location will put you near famous attractions such as ...more

Welcome to Sequoia National Park! Sequoia National Park Hotels offers the best rates on hotels near the Sequoia's. All of our hotels have been inspected and rated by AAA and the Mobile Travel Guide, the authorities in hotel inspection. Book securely online for great rates on hotels near Sequoia National Park!

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Sequoia is the second-oldest national park in the United States. It was established on 25 Sep 1890 to protect the Big Trees in Giant Forest, including the General Sherman Tree, the world's largest living thing. Sequoia also contains the Mineral King Valley and Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the U.S. outside of Alaska.

A small portion of what is now Kings Canyon was originally set aside in 1890 as General Grant National Park. In 1940, General Grant was absorbed into the new and larger Kings Canyon National Park which eventually grew to include the South Fork of the Kings River and 456,552 acres of backcountry wilderness. Managed as one park, together Sequoia and Kings Canyon total over 863,700 acres.

People first started coming to the sequoia forests in large numbers shortly after the end of the Civil War. The General Grant Tree was discovered in 1862 by Joseph Hardin Thomas and named in 1867 by Lucretia Baker. Five years later, on 01 March 1872, Ulysses Grant, now president of the United States, signed the bill designating Yellowstone as the world's first national park. The area around the Grant Grove of giant sequoias was set aside in 1890 as General Grant National Park. (Yosemite National Park was created in the same piece of legislation.) In 1940, General Grant was included in the newly created Kings Canyon National Park.

In volume of total wood, the giant sequoia stands alone as the largest living thing on Earth. Its nearly conical trunk, like a club, not a walking stick, shows why. At least one tree species lives longer, one has a greater diameter, three grow tall, but none is larger. In all the world, sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, most often between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. There are some 75 groves in all. The General Sherman tree is between 2,300 and 2,700 years old. Its largest branch is almost seven feet in diameter. Each year the General Sherman adds enough wood growth to make a 60-foot-tall tree of usual proportions.

"Most of the Sierra trees die of disease, fungi, etc," John Muir wrote, "but nothing hurts the Big Trees. Barring accidents, it seems to be immortal." Muir was partially right. Chemicals in the wood and bark provide resistance to insects and fungi. Their wood is so impervious to decay that piles of sawdust remain in Grant Grove's Big Stump Basin where sequoias were cut for lumber over 100 years ago. This ability helps them to survive for centuries; the oldest known sequoia lived more than 3200 years. Since they continue to grow each year, they achieve impressive sizes. The General Grant Tree, third largest of the sequoias, is over 267 ft tall, 40 ft across its base and over 107 ft around. Estimates of its age range from 1500 to 2000 years old. Once it was thought to be 4000 years old due to its extreme width, but scientific studies have shown that its size is due to rapid growth in an ideal location. The main cause of death for sequoias is toppling. Sequoias have a shallow root system with no tap root. Soil, moisture, root damage, and strong winds can also lead to toppling.

Sequoias sprout from seeds so small and light, they look like oat flakes. Mature trees may produce each year, 2,000 chicken's egg-sized cones, collectively bearing 500,000 seeds, dispersed only as cones are opened. Cones hang on the tree green and closed for up to 20 years. Douglas squirrels or the larvae of a tiny cone-boring beetle may cause cones to open, but fire is the key agent in the dispersal of seeds. It causes the cone to dry, open, and drop its seeds. The fire also consumes logs and branches that have accumulated on the forest floor. Their ashes form fertile seedbeds and enhance sequoia seedling survival. The fire cycle ensures seed release and seedbed fertility.

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