On this trail, you may hear fat yellow-bellied marmots and tiny pikas that whistle if you startle them. After two miles, you'll see Eagle Sink Hole, where flowing water vanishes into an underground passage. Here, you can turn around and retrace your path or continue on 1.5 miles to Eagle Lake, which is 10,000 feet in elevation. A pamphlet is available for a small charge at visitor centers. Trail follows old mill road through groves of giant sequoia, sugar pine, white fir, and dogwood.
Sequoias thrive in the wet meadow, and a large dead sequoia shows marks of a fire long ago.
The trail traverses an area cut for timber in the 1880s, where early lumberjacks threatened to eliminate giant sequoias. From Grant Grove Village, you drive the narrow, steep, 2.5-mile road east to Panoramic Point. Begin the hike by walking south along ridge 0.25 mile for vistas of valleys and peaks towering east of Grant Grove. On a clear day, you can see Hume Lake in Sequoia National Park, San Joaquin Valley, and Coast Range 100 miles away. Return via dirt fire road or retrace your steps.