Salute General Grant — The Second Largest Tree

A couple of years back, readers of Tipsy from the Trip got to see the largest tree in the world — General Sherman, a Giant Sequoia in Sequoia National Park in California. Now, it’s time to bring to your screens the second largest tree (by volume) — General Grant, also a Giant Sequoia, and this tree stands in Kings Canyon National Park in California.

General Grant

General Grant lives in Grant Grove. Believed to be at least 1700 years old, General Grant towers over his peers at the grove with a height of 268 ft. and a width of 40 ft. With a circumference of 107.5 ft. at ground level, this tree is said to be the widest known Sequoia, too.  And it’s got a volume of 46,608 cubic feet (1,320 cubic meters), as recorded in July of 2020.

Grant Grove in the western part of Kings Canyon lies at an elevation of around 6000 ft. This area on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range is said to have ideal conditions for the growth of the Sequoiadendron giganteum or the Giant Sequoia.

Some General-Grant-fun-facts that I found at Grant Grove —

• If the trunk of the General Grant Tree were a gas tank in a car that got 25 miles per gallon, you could drive around the earth 350 times without refueling.
• The General Grant Tree is so wide it would take about 20 people holding hands to make a complete circle around the base.
• If the General Grant Tree’s trunk could be filled with sports equipment, it could hold 159,000 basketballs or more than 37 million ping-pong balls. 
• President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the General Grant Tree to be the Nation’s Christmas Tree in 1926. In 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower designated it as a National Shrine, a living memorial to those who have given their lives for their country.

Things to know before you go:

General Grant Tree Trail

— This trail is a half-mile loop.

— You can add a little more distance to the walk by adding-on the trail behind the tree that shows you the fire scar of this giant.

— TIP: It might be difficult to photograph the whole tree when you are standing right below it. If you’d like to see it from afar and get it all in frame, you could stop at the lower side of the loop, and just further ahead of the lower end of the Fallen Monarch. There’s a bench and an information board that marks the spot. 😉

— Yet another TIP: To photograph the whole tree while you are next to it, just turn your camera into Panorama mode and pan it up while in landscape, and voila! 😉

Grant Grove

— Grant Grove is around 4 square miles in area.

–Grant Grove is situated just off Highway 180 (CASR 180) and is around 4.5 miles away from the Big Stump Entrance into Kings Canyon National Park.

— Other things to see in the grove:

• Fallen Monarch
• Tennesse Tree
• Gamlin Cabin
• Centennial Stump

If you’d like a virtual trip to Sequoia National Park, visit —

First, Some Famous Redwoods Of Sequoia​ National Park
Giant Sequoia and Beyond
The Kings Canyon National Park

Linking to —
Our World
Thursday Tree Love
&
My Corner of the World

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