Adventure 008, Hike 115 - Congress Trail, Giant Forest

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 008, Hike 115 - Congress Trail, Giant Forest

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 12, 2012

Location: Giant Forest, Sequoia National Park

Hike Info:

Trail: Congress Trail

Distance: 1.7 miles

Duration: 0:58

Elevation Rise: 185'

 









Description:
We hiked a series of trails in the Giant Forest Area. This area lies in the Sequoia National Park. It was named the Giant Forest because of the large number of Sequoia Gigantea groves in the area. These gentle trees are the largest oldest living organism on earth. The groves of these Sequoias are few on earth and Giant Forest has these trees in abundance. The Grove at Giant Forest occupies an area of 3 square miles. There are over 40 miles of hiking area within the area, and we did a quarter of them today, spread over several trails.



Thing One and Thing Two started this trail after completing The Trail of the Sequoias. Even though we have done this trail many times, it has been a while since we had hiked it. The trail has been improved and is now ADA accessible. It has fond memories as we used to take our children on this trail when they were young. We are now surrounded by lots of people, consequently we are missing the solitude of our previous trail. But it is always great when others are introduced to the beauty of these trees. This trail has several named giant trees which include The President, Chief Sequoyah, The Senate group, The House group, Telescope tree , the Learning tree and of course The General Sherman tree. The General Sherman Tree is the largest organism of earth. It measures 275 high and 103 feet around the tree. The trail also boasts the 4^th, 5^th and 29^th largest trees.