The first big tree you meet here is a surprise because it looks like a building. The General Grant Tree, in the grove that bears its name, is about 270 feet tall and nearly 30 feet across at the base, and by volume it is the second largest tree on Earth, after the General Sherman a few miles south. It is somewhere around 1,700 years old. President Coolidge named it the Nation's Christmas Tree in 1926, and it was later declared a national shrine to those who died in war, and each December a ceremony is held at its foot. It stands in a quiet loop of giant sequoias and fallen logs, a short walk from the visitor centre.
Highway 180, the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, takes you up from Fresno through orange groves and oak foothills, then climbs into the conifers and through the entrance of Kings Canyon National Park. The upper part of the road is a pleasant, winding ascent through pine and fir, and in the grove itself the road narrows and the speed limit drops. This is not a technical ride, but the bends are good, the surface is decent and the air smells of cedar. Mornings are best, before the tourist buses arrive, and in spring and autumn the temperatures are comfortable.
The grove was protected in 1890, making General Grant National Park one of the earliest in the country, before it was absorbed into Kings Canyon in 1940. The preservation of these trees owes much to a campaign by local residents and conservationists who feared that logging companies would cut them down, and indeed, many of the neighbouring sequoias were felled in the 1880s, and stumps still dot the area. Look for the Big Stump basin near the entrance, a graveyard of huge stumps that shows what happened. Sequoias have thick, fire-resistant bark and rely on fire to open their cones, so the park uses prescribed burns to keep the forest healthy.
Grant Grove Village has a visitor centre, a lodge, a restaurant and a small market. Fuel is a more difficult matter, since there is none at the grove, and services inside the park are limited, so fill up before you leave the foothills. Squaw Valley and Dunlap, near the road to the mountains, have petrol, and Fresno has all the rest. A park entry fee applies. Snow is common in winter, and chains may be required, so check before you go.