Seeds of Change Inside Sequoia National Park

Ranger Kris Fister knelt beside a baby sequoia that had sprouted along Big Trees Trail, near a new museum here. “Look at this little one,” she said. “With luck, this will grow to be another giant.”

Considering that a sequoia can shoot 300 feet high and weigh 14 1/2 tons, Fister’s 6-inch seedling seemed far from giant size. Then again, given how much this part of Sequoia National Park has grown up, nothing would surprise me.

I saw some dramatic changes last month on a camping trip with my daughter, Courtney, 11. I had visited Sequoia in years past, but as we pulled into the Giant Forest, I felt a bit lost. So little looked familiar.

The old store, fast-food center, gas station, lodge and cabins were gone. In their place were new outdoor exhibits and the Giant Forest Museum, which opened in December. The only thing I recognized was the grand old Sentinel Tree, standing at attention. And with its surroundings changed, even that looked different.

The park service has spent more than $75 million to transform the Giant Forest into mostly a day-use area. The 102-room Wuksachi Lodge opened in 1999, but nearly 300 other buildings were cleared out, and car and foot traffic was rerouted--all to protect these trees and their intricate root systems.

Fewer visitors have been coming to the park and experiencing these improvements, partly because of the misperception that wildfires are ravaging the area. A blaze that started July 21 did threaten ancient trees in Sequoia National Forest to the south, but it never moved into Sequoia National Park or neighboring Kings Canyon. Rangers said the two national parks have been unaffected; though light smoke from the fire is visible, it’s so distant that the scent is undetectable.

Which is all the more reason to go now or to plan a visit for September or October, when the park’s usual summertime haze begins to clear anyway.

Courtney and I started out on a Friday, leaving Los Angeles for the four-hour drive north on Highways 99 and 198 to Three Rivers, just outside Sequoia’s entrance. At the Gateway Restaurant, we snagged a table overlooking the Kaweah River. Lunch--a hamburger for Courtney, a club sandwich for me--was as good as the view.

Winding 198, the Generals Highway, led to the Foothills Visitor Center and then toward the heart of the park. We detoured seven miles to Crystal Cave. With tour tickets, bought at the visitor center, we reached the entrance and discovered why the park recommends warm clothing. Although the temperature was in the 80s outside, it plunged to 48 inside the cave.

Guide Tim Morgan led our group to lighted rooms where we marveled at stalagmites, stalactites, domes and other fascinating forms shaped by mineral deposits over hundreds of years.

Of course sequoias, not caves, are the main attraction. The trees can live far longer than 2,000 years, and though not the oldest living things on Earth, they are the largest. The park’s General Sherman Tree is the biggest by volume, an estimated 52,508 cubic feet. It weights an estimated 2.7 million pounds, the equivalent of about 10 blue whales.

Convincing an 11-year-old to spend part of her weekend in a museum dedicated to trees wasn’t easy. But by the time we reached the Giant Forest Museum and met Fister, the ranger, I realized Courtney wouldn’t want to leave.

The structure was built in 1928 under the eye of Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the architect behind the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, then altered repeatedly, from hotel office to market to fast-food restaurant. Its latest renovation focused on restoring Underwood’s original vision: exposed frame, heavy timber throughout, river-rock fireplace.

The exhibits are just as naturally appealing, including interactive ones that recount the extraordinary life cycle of the giant sequoia. We learned how the park restoration team carefully burned low-lying brush to spur sequoia growth in areas previously covered by buildings or asphalt. The trunks of adult sequoias are resistant to flames, so fire was used to provide the bare, nutrient-rich soil that seeds need to germinate.

A short walk from the museum is Big Trees Trail. Benches made from sequoias have been added for the foot-weary, and 13 markers highlight the history and plants of Round Meadow. During our visit, the field was awash in cow parsnips (eaten by bears, actually), and farther into the forest we came across eye-catching red snow plants (though there’s no snow).

Lodgepole and Dorst Creek are the two main campgrounds by the Giant Forest. Lodgepole, along the Kaweah River, is more centrally located and has a nearby store, visitor center, deli and showers. During the summer it’s often booked. That’s why our home for the weekend was Dorst, 7 1/2 miles down the road. Though reservations are required for some campsites, others are first come, first served.

Our only complaints: In places the campsites are too close together and the ground is too uneven to pitch a tent. We made do with the kindness of campground strangers, who invited us to use a flat part of their site.

What Dorst lacks in design, it makes up for in excitement. “No campground in the western region of the National Park Service has more bear activity than we do,” a ranger said. “Right now we have 11 active bears here.”

Courtney dug out salad from the bear-proof storage bins while I whipped together Tuna Helper. After dinner, we spotted four young mule deer near Dorst Creek that paid little attention to us. They came so close that we could almost touch their velvety antlers. Back by our tent, our energy waned with the flickering flames of the campfire, and it wasn’t long before we tucked ourselves in for the night.

Sometime around midnight, there arose such a clatter that we sprang from our sleeping bags. In the moonlight we saw the commotion: one large bear.

Some campers banged pots and pans. Others yelled. The bear seemed largely unimpressed, strolling from campsite to campsite. Soon it was gone, and we fell back to sleep surprisingly quickly.

The next morning we set off for Crescent Meadow in hopes of seeing a bear in the daylight. No such luck. So we packed up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola bars and trail mix, then tackled the path to Tokopah Falls.

The relatively easy route climbs along the Marble Fork of the Kaweah and after less than two miles reaches the 100-foot-high falls. Rocks near the base provide a spot to picnic in the company of gray squirrels and fat golden marmots.

Back at camp, I cooked pasta for dinner. Courtney did some summer schoolwork and read. We fell into such a comfort zone that even when a bear caused another late-night clamor, we shrugged it off as just part of the Sequoia experience.

Our last morning we hiked the trail between Crescent and Huckleberry meadows. Around one bend a mule deer buck stood on a small promontory. Nearby we spotted a mother bear and cub climbing a tree--too far away for great photos but still fun to watch.

On the way out, we bridged the gap between the park’s wild wonders and the civilization that lay back home with lunch at Wuksachi Lodge. Courtney had a large club sandwich; I devoured a delicious citrus salmon filet on a bun. And we drove away, giant sequoias receding from view, the winding road guiding us home.

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Budget for Two

Campsite, Sequoia National Park, two nights...$32.00

Lunch, Gateway Restaurant...26.37

Admission, Crystal Cave 12.00

Lunch, Wuksachi Lodge 26.54

Groceries...40.75

Firewood...8.75

Gas...67.84

FINAL TAB...$214.25

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, 47050 Generals Highway, Three Rivers, CA 93271-9651; visitor information (559) 565-3341, fax (559) 565-3730, www.nps.gov/seki; campsite reservations (800) 365-2267, reservations.nps.gov.

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Dan Blackburn is a freelance writer and TV correspondent based in L.A.