The Giant Forest is the name given the largest grove of sequoias, which is more than a grove. It is a Brobdingnagian forest. Here is found the General Sherman Tree, perhaps the oldest and largest living thing, 36.5 feet at its greatest diameter and 272.4 feet high. There are scores of trees almost as large as the General Sherman, hundreds over 10 feet in diameter, and many thousand from the seedling stage upward. In his book, Our National Parks, John Muir says, "* * * I entered the sublime wilderness of the Kaweah Basin. This part of the Sequoia belt seemed to me the finest, and I then named it 'The Giant Forest.' It extends, a magnificent growth of giants grouped in pure temple groves, ranged in colonnades along the sides of meadows or scattered among the other trees, from the granite headlands overlooking the hot foothills and plains of the San Joaquin back to within a few miles of the old glacier fountains at an elevation of 5,000 to 8,400 feet above the sea." Giant Forest is also the name of the village beneath the sequoias where the Giant Forest Lodge and the housekeeping and auto camps are situated. Its summer population is about 3,000. THE MEADOWS The beauty of the Giant Forest region is much enhanced by the many upland meadows, flower-strewn from the first blossoming of the amethystine cyclamen, or shooting stars in May, to the golden autumn glow of the goldenrod in September. The best-known meadows are Round, Circle, Crescent, and Log, all within 2 miles of Giant Forest Camp. THE SEQUOIAS The California Big Trees must ever remain the supreme attraction of the park, although for many the mountain scenery and the fishing are added allurements. The Big Tree (_Sequoia gigantea_) is sometimes confused with the redwood (_Sequoia sempervirens_), the smaller species of Sequoia found only in the Coast Range of California. While _gigantea_ approaches 40 feet in base diameter, _sempervirens_ rarely exceeds 20 feet. The wood is similar in color and texture, but the foliage is distinct, and the bark of the Big Tree is much thicker and of a rich red color, instead of a dull brown. The most distinctive characteristic is that the Big Tree is reproduced only from the seed while the redwood when cut down sprouts from the stump. There are many world-famous Big Trees in the Sequoia National Park, of which the General Sherman is the largest and best known. But there are scores or hundreds unnamed and almost equal to the General Sherman in size and majesty. In addition to those noted for their size, the National Park Service has named and signed many of singular form, burned by fire, struck by lightning, or fallen in strange fashion. The trees which should be seen by all visitors are: