Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Mike White

      The Generals Highway connects the two prominent generals of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, the General Sherman and General Grant giant sequoia trees. The highway begins at the Ash Mountain Entrance in Sequoia at the park boundary with the community of Three Rivers, after State Highway 198 has passed through the town of Visalia and by Lake Kaweah. The highway technically ends at the General Grant Tree Road junction in Kings Canyon. Completed in 1926, the Generals Highway replaced the Colony Mill Road as the principal access for motorists to the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park. In modern times, the road is open from the Ash Mountain Entrance to Grant Grove, with periodic closures during winter storms beyond the Wuksachi junction.

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      Ash Mountain Entrance: The Ash Mountain Entrance heralds the visitor’s arrival to the west boundary of Sequoia National Park. The journey into the park begins in the foothills plant community, a typically hot and arid environment during the summer. Initially, the road follows Middle Fork Kaweah River upstream through a chaparral-covered canyon.

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      Entrance Sign: Shortly beyond the Ash Mountain Entrance, a pullout on the right-hand shoulder lets visitors stop and admire the newly restored welcome sign. Created in the 1930s by a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the sign was patterned after an Indian head (or buffalo) nickel, commemorating the link between Chief Sequoyah of the Cherokee and the naming of the parks’ most compelling feature, Sequoiadendron giganteum, the giant sequoia. Be on the alert for pedestrians; many visitors stop for the customary photograph in front of the old sign.

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      Ash Mountain Visitor Center: Open daily, the Ash Mountain Visitor Center offers visitors an excellent opportunity to acquaint themselves with the park, with a modest selection of interpretive exhibits, as well as an assortment of books, maps, and gifts. Rangers on staff are available to answer questions, write wilderness permits, and rent bear canisters. The visitor center has restrooms, a pay phone, and a small picnic area across the highway.

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      Tunnel Rock: When the Generals Highway was originally built during the 1920s, the road passed beneath this massive boulder.

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      Potwisha Campground: Potwisha, named for a band of Monache Indians, is an all-year campground, with running water, flush toilets, picnic tables, and a pay phone. At this campground at 2,100 feet, summer temperatures can be quite hot—the more temperate conditions during spring and fall offer more pleasant camping. The campground also provides a trailhead for the 3-plus-mile hike up a stretch of Marble Fork Kaweah River to Marble Falls (see Trip 19).

      Directly across the highway from the entrance is a broad flat containing the campground dump station and parking for the short Potwisha Pictographs Loop (see Trip 18). The Middle Fork Trail to Hospital Rock can also be accessed from here (see Trip 20).

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      Hospital Rock: The highway continues upstream through Middle Fork Kaweah River canyon until bending north at a fair-size flat known as Hospital Rock. Humans have frequented this hospitable area for hundreds of years, with Native Americans establishing residence as early as the mid-1300s. During the late 1850s, when Hale Tharp passed through on his way to the Giant Forest, hundreds of Monache were residing here and at Potwisha until introduced diseases devastated their population. After most of the Native Americans were gone, the area continued to provide a convenient camp for ranchers, settlers, and explorers. In 1873, James Everton accidentally shot himself in the leg and convalesced at this site, which became known as Hospital Rock.