Trail of 100 Giants

"Magnificent" is an over-used adjective, but is 100% accurate when describing the Giant Sequoia.  It is a magnificent tree!  My travel buddy and I found ourselves muttering this word many times last week as we walked the Trail of 100 Giants.  This self-guided trail is located on the Western Divide Highway within the Giant Sequoia National Monument.  It is an easy one hour drive from Kernville, California.

Congress moved quickly back in 1890 to protect these trees by creating Sequoia National Park.   One hundred years later,  in 2000, President Bill Clinton signed a proclamation at this site to ensure that even more of these magnificent trees would receive perpetual protection.  Sequoia National Monument  encompasses 353,000 acres and 33 groves of Sequoias.

The Sequoia is one of the fastest growing trees on earth.  It can grow up to two feet every year for 150 years.  Then it just gets wider and wider until the ripe old age of 2000!  There were trees along this trail that were 1,500 years old.  One of them fell over in September of 2011, scaring a German tourist half to death.   Fortunately,  no one was injured that day but  the newly created paved trail is now blocked.  You can walk around, of course, or as my buddy tried to do--climb over it.  He didn't make it.  Thick black sap covered his hands and clothing.  He was not allowed to touch my beloved Sony camera for the rest of the day!