09/21/2021
GRANT GROVE – Grant Grove is among the greatest groves of giant sequoias, a natural wonder that has been visited by millions of people since its discovery. The grove includes only 90 acres but for its limited size contains more large specimens of the ancient trees than any other sequoia grove.
Best known within the grove is its namesake, the General Grant Tree. It was discovered in 1862 by Joseph Hardin Thomas and named for General Ulysses S. Grant in 1867 by Lucretia Baker.
The core of Grant Grove escaped most logging after it was set aside in 1890 as General Grant National Park. (Yosemite National Park was created in the same legislation.) In 1940, General Grant Park was included in the new and larger Kings Canyon National Park.
The remarkable General Grant Tree is recognized by the National Park Service as the third largest sequoia but has the largest diameter, 28.9 feet at breast height.
Interesting Facts about these magnificent trees -
- Giant Sequoia trees are truly the skyscrapers of the natural world. They’re one of three members of the Sequoioideae subfamily, and the giants in particular are very unique.
- Giant sequoias are rare trees; Giant sequoias can only grow along a narrow, 260-mile strip on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, between 5,000 and 7,000 feet.
- Giant sequoia trees are among the oldest trees in the world.; A giant sequoia tree can live up to 3,000 years.
- Giant sequoias know how to branch out; A giant sequoia tree’s largest branches can be eight feet in diameter.
- Giant Sequoia trees have thick skin; You could say the giant sequoia is thick skinned. Its bark can be up to three feet thick!
- Giant sequoias are protected; Giant sequoias were once logged, but the practice stopped over a century ago because the tree’s wood is brittle. Today, the trees are protected.
- Giant sequoias are huge trees; The largest giant sequoia is taller than a 26 story building. It is rare for a giant sequoia tree to grow taller than 300 feet. Most giant sequoias are not able to grow to a height greater than 300 feet. The tallest sequoia is an abnormally tall 379 feet!
- Giant sequoias are some of the widest trees in the world; The giant sequoia’s girth is what truly makes it a giant. Their trunks are sometimes 35 feet across. It’d take six people stretched out head to toe to match its width.
- Giant sequoias really know how to fill up a room; The world’s largest tree by volume, General Sherman, is a giant sequoia boasting a total volume of more than 52,000 cubic feet.
- A giant sequoia is the world’s largest living organism; General Sherman is the largest living organism on the planet. It is 2,100 years old and weighs 2.7 million pounds.
- Giant sequoias are pretty hardy; Giant sequoias are one of the world’s hardiest trees. Their thick bark makes them flame resistant, as well as resistant to fungal rot and wood-boring beetles.
- Giant sequoias live the longest; Giant sequoias are the third longest-living tree species on the planet. The only trees that live longer are bristlecone pines and Alerce trees.
- Giant sequoias are always growing; Giant sequoia trees never stop growing until the day they die.
- Giant sequoias have single-child households; In order to sustain the species, a giant sequoia needs to produce only one offspring over its entire lifespan.
- Giant sequoias aren’t quick to reproduce; The giant sequoia only reproduces every 20 years. Forest fires are required to open its cones.
