The Wolverton Cutoff Loop

Length 10.8 mi · Climbing 1600 ft
California > Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks > Giant Forest

The High Sierra Trail

Background

This is one of the shortest loop hikes that combines the two best parts of Sequoia National Park — alpine scenery and giant sequoias. The combination makes for an exceptionally enjoyable hike that's also a great introduction to the park.

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Hike description

Click here to see the trailhead location in Google Maps.

The hike starts at the Crescent Meadow parking lot. Sadly, visitors are no longer allowed to drive to the lot on summer weekends and holidays between 9 am and 4 pm. Instead, there's a shuttle that runs from the busy Giant Forest Museum between 9 am and 6 pm. It's a much more pleasant experience to visit when you can drive to the lot. In winter, the lot is always closed and there isn't a shuttle.

A large sign marks the beginning of the High Sierra Trail, which runs all the way to Mount Whitney. Follow the paved trail for a few hundred yards, then turn right to begin climbing a slight hill. Reaching a saddle, turn right. The trail emerges onto an open hillside and then rounds a corner where the alpine scenery first comes into view. The imposing snow-capped peaks of the Great Western Divide are the most dramatic part of the view, but the broad green valley of the Middle Fork Kaweah River and the various granite formations on the other side of the valley add to the alpine feel of the area.

View from the Wolverton Cutoff Trail

The High Sierra Trail is wide, well-maintained, and mostly flat. The trail passes through sunny, open pine forest with occasional glimpses of the alpine scenery. After about a mile, as the trail starts to descend slightly, the forest gets denser and there aren't any more views.

Turn left onto the Wolverton Cutoff Trail. The narrow, lightly used trail starts by switchbacking uphill. It's a little dull at first since the dense pine forest blocks any views. Eventually, though, the woods open up, allowing some views of the valley below. The alpine scenery culminates in a breathtaking viewpoint at the highest point of the hike. An easy stroll onto a low rock face brings a dramatic, sweeping view both up and down the Middle Fork valley. To your left, the conifer-carpeted hillsides of the upper valley slope upwards toward the snow-capped Great Western Divide. The clear whistle of a bird sounds repeatedly. This makes a great stopping point as it's both the literal and figurative high point of the hike.

Immediately after the viewpoint, the trail rounds a corner and enters the Giant Forest. The trail runs along the very edge of the sequoia grove, but you wouldn't know it from the size of the trees: although the sequoias are patchy, this is an unexpectedly nice section of old growth. Even compared to the Trail of the Sequoias, which is just a few hundred yards down the hill, the forest is very open with relatively few understory trees to block the views. So while it seems like this area has an unusually large number of sequoias, maybe it's only because they're easier to see. There's also no groundcover, giving the forest a spare look. The trail gets few visitors and is well away from roads, so it's very quiet and doesn't feel at all touristy.

The trail winds around a large ravine with an especially scenic collection of big trees, but after that the woods are less interesting until you reach the Alta Trail.

The Alta Trail has a small but striking collection of towering sequoias growing near a little meadow. The trees aren't right next to the trail, so you have to stop and look around for a while to appreciate them, but I think it's one of the highlights of the Giant Forest. From the meadow, the trail descends through a shallow depression alongside a burbling (but unseen) creek. A narrow strip of lush groundcover runs along the bottom of the depression, mostly lupines that bloom purple in the early summer.

The Alta Trail just inside the Giant Forest

Turn left onto the paved Congress Trail. From here several trails lead back to Crescent Meadow. The best is the Circle Meadow route as described on the Sevenmile Loop

page. Instead of repeating that description here, I'll describe an alternate route, the Trail of the Sequoias.

Although the Trail of the Sequoias is just a few hundred yards from the Wolverton Cutoff, it's not nearly as scenic. Probably because it's at a lower elevation, the understory of regular pine trees is much more dense (much like the Redwood Mountain Grove). There are some big sequoias along the trail, but they're harder to appreciate.

The trail climbs up to a glacial boulder-strewn hilltop, then descends into a sequoia-filled ravine, which is the best part of the trail; the forest becomes noticably more lush after this point. Just after the ravine, the trail passes through a crack in a large fallen log. The rest of the trail is somewhat mundane forest. For variety, try descending to the more interesting Tharp Long Trail, which runs alongside Log Meadow.

The Alta Trail

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© 2011, 2012 David Baselt