Notes: Giant Forest, located on a plateau between the Marble and Middle Forks of Kaweah River, is the largest grove of giant redwoods in Sequoia National Park. Potwisha indians led cattleman Hale Dixon Tharp to Giant Forest in September 1858, and naturalist John Muir, who visited Tharp later, explored and named Giant Forest in 1875.
Excluded from the original park, Giant Forest became part of Sequoia National Park when the park expanded on October 1, 1890. The grove remains the most-accessible of all giant redwood groves with over 8 mi (13 km) of roads and 40 mi (64 km) of hiking trails.
Giant Forest includes the world's largest tree (General Sherman), the tallest giant redwood (Near Sherman), the giant redwood with the largest crown (President), the fastest-growing giant redwood (Burgeon), the redwood with the most leaves (General Sherman), 4 of the 5 oldest living redwoods (Cleveland, General Sherman, President, and Washington), 4 of the 10 largest trees on Earth (Franklin, General Sherman, Lincoln, and President), and 11 of the 30 largest giant redwoods (Adams, Chief Sequoyah, Column, Franklin, General Pershing, General Sherman, Lincoln, Monroe, Near Gothic Arch, Near Lincoln, and President). The grove contains 32 trees larger than 25,000 ft3 (708 m3), 22 trees larger than 30,000 ft3 (850 m3), 8 trees larger than 35,000 ft3 (991 m3), 5 trees larger than 40,000 ft3 (1,133 m3), and 2 trees larger than 45,000 ft3 (1,274 m3).
General Sherman is the largest tree, Near Sherman is the tallest tree, and President is the oldest tree in Giant Forest.
Giant Forest includes the following giant redwoods:
Panorama: Click panorama to take a virtual tour of the Giant Forest Museum
Photos: Pictures of Giant Forest
