One week later, Congress approved an enlargement of Sequoia and a new park called General Grant, just to the north. In 1940, Grant became part of the new Kings Canyon National Park. The Grant Grove and the Giant Forest each offers a range of trails just about anyone can handle. On a given day, bears and other wildlife might be spotted from a path that winds over, under, around and even through the massive trees. Because sequoias, like giant saguaros, grow in a limited area, strictly defined by elevation, the paths are mostly flat.
Visitors also have the option of going uphill or underground.
To go underground requires a visit to Crystal Cave. A small fee and a bit of a walk down a canyon carved by a cascading creek are the price of admission, worth it for those who appreciate a different kind of beauty. For the hike up, the parks offer plenty of backpacking opportunities from Cedar Grove at the bottom of Kings Canyon, from Lodgepole, near the geographical center of the parks, and from Mineral King, a recent addition at the southern end of the parks. A few of these may be suitable for day trips for the fit and determined walker. Then there is Moro Rock, a granite monolith that juts out of the end of a ridge like a thumb popping out of an old mitten.