Giant Sequoias
Yosemite Sightseeing Attraction

Although in most people's minds Yosemite is most famous for its lush valley, granite rock formations, and majestic waterfalls, the national park's three groves of spectacular Giant Sequoia trees are equally majestic and even more unique. The Giant Sequoia species, or Sequoiadendron, is relatively rare and only grows in a 250-square mile swath of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range, so don't miss your chance to see these beauties while visiting Yosemite National Park!

As their name indicates, the Giant Sequoias' claim to fame is their incredible size. They are not the tallest tree by height as many visitors believe them to be (that's the Coast Redwood), but they instead grab the honor of being the largest tree by volume. That isn't hard to believe once you've had the chance to stand next to their enormous trunks - the largest specimen in existence has a circumference of almost 110 feet! On average, the trees grow to become about 200 feet tall, which allows them to tower over the ponderosa pines surrounding these "gentle giants."

Yosemite houses three out of 75 total groves in all of California: the Mariposa Grove, the Tuolumne Grove and the Merced Grove. The Mariposa Grove is by far the largest of Yosemite National Park's three Giant Sequoia groves. Although this grove is about 35 miles away from the heart of the park in Yosemite Valley, this is a truly unforgettable place to visit due to its housing more than 200 trees more than 10 feet across in addition to thousands more Giant Sequoia saplings. The most famous tree in the grove is humorously named the Grizzly Giant. About 2,000 years old, the tree has a circumference of 100 feet and a diameter of 29 feet. That is one big tree! Many visitors also come to Yosemite hoping to see certain kinds of trees - walk-through trees and fallen trees - and, luckily, Mariposa Grove has both. The California Tunnel Tree is the only remaining walk-through tree following the dramatic topple of the majestic Wawona Tunnel Tree, now called the Fallen Tunnel Tree. The Wawona Tree was the first tunnel tree created in the Grove and began as a way to attract tourists to see the trees; creators made the tunnel large enough that, initially, carriages and, well into the 20th century, cars could drive through it. Unfortunately, it fell in a 1969 snow storm, leaving the California Tunnel Tree as the only walk-through tree in Yosemite. The most famous of the two fallen trees in the grove is the Fallen Monarch. It is estimated to have toppled hundreds of years ago, but because the Giant Sequoia's bark is extremely resistant to decay it still lies dramatically on its side, exposing its roots to curious visitors. A visit to the historic Mariposa Grove Museum is highly recommended, as it can give you a historical perspective on these amazing specimens!

The Merced and Tuolumne groves are much smaller, each contains about 20 fully-grown trees, and closer to Yosemite Valley. They are located about 30 minutes west of the Valley and are near to the campground Crane Flat. Tuolumne Grove has two more walk-through trees, one which was created in the stump of a logged tree in the late 19th century. The other was carved through the body of a fallen tree in order to keep the functional road that once existed there in use. Both make for fun photo opportunities and should not be missed!

However visitors should be sure to appreciate these trees for more than their gargantuan size; the species is also very interesting on a scientific level. The Giant Sequoia is often confused with the similar but very distinct Coastal Redwood. Although both species are found (naturally) exclusively in California, they occupy two different regions. The Giant Sequoia is found in only a few thousand acres of the western Sierra Nevada Mountains, whereas the Coastal Redwood, or Sequoia Sempervirens, is found in a few hundred miles of mostly coastal territory. The latter is also much taller than the Giant Sequoia, but what it has in height by comparison it lacks in girth. Coastal Redwoods appear much more spindly, while Giant Sequoias are definitely the more sturdy of the two species.