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While trees are seldom scarce in SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK - where the giant sequoias can't grow there are thick swaths of pine and fir - the scenery varies. Paths lead through forests and meadows; longer treks rise above the tree line to the barren peaks of the High Sierra. Soon after entering the park from the south, Hwy-198 becomes the Generals Highway and climbs swiftly into the dense woods of the aptly labeled Giant Forest , where displays in the new Giant Forest Museum explain the lifecycle of the giant sequoias and what's being done to protect the remaining groves. From here you can explore along Crescent Meadow Road, which spurs east past the Auto Log - a fallen sequoia chiseled flat for motorists to drive onto. Just beyond, a loop road leads to the granite monolith of Moro Rock (a three-mile marked trail leads from Giant Forest), which streaks wildly upward from the green hillside. Views from its remarkably level top can stretch 150 miles. A hewn staircase makes it easy to climb the rock in fifteen minutes, although the altitude can be a strain. Continuing east along Crescent Meadow Road, you pass under the Tunnel Log , which fell across the road in 1937 and had a vehicle-sized hole cut through it. At the end of the route, Crescent Meadow is, like other grassy fields in the area, more accurately a marsh, too wet for the sequoias that form an impressive boundary around. A perimeter trail leads to Tharp's Log , a cabin hollowed out of a fallen sequoia by Hale Tharp who, while searching for a summer grazing ground for his sheep, was led here by Native Americans in 1856. He was not only the first white man to see the giant sequoias but the first to live in one. Just north of Giant Forest, back on the Generals Highway, is the biggest sequoia of them all, the 3000-year-old, 275ft General Sherman Tree . While it's certainly a thrill to see what is held to be the largest living thing on the planet, its extraordinary dimensions are hard to grasp alongside the almost equally monstrous sequoias around. Whatever your plans, you should stop at Lodgepole Village , three miles north of the Sherman Tree, for the geological displays and film shows at the visitor center (mid-May to Aug daily 8am-6pm; rest of year daily 8am-4.30pm). You can explore the glacial canyon on the Tokopah Valley Trail (2hr), which leads to the base of Tokopah Falls, beneath the 1600ft Watchtower cliff. The top of the Watchtower is accessible by the fatiguing but straightforward seven-mile Lakes Trail .
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