General Grant (270 ft)
While Yellowstone was the first national park, do you know which national parks were signed thereafter? First instinct would say something like Glacier or Grand Canyon....but none of those are right. Yosemite/Sequoia was #2, and King's Canyon was soon after. Tucked away in the High Sierras these national parks have been fairly well hidden from public view, but Congress thought they were of special importance because of the trees they protected.
What most people don't know is that Kings Canyon wasn't originally a national park. They had found a sequoia grove in the mountains and named it after President Ulysses S. Grant. In 1940 it was called General Grant National Park, so I returned to Grant Grove, the birthplace of the park.
Only years later did Congress realize that this area is unique for a combination of reasons: sequoia groves, glacial gorges, and the alpine wilderness of the High Sierras. I hiked into the High Sierras on a short 9 mile roundtrip trail to Mist Falls, coming across the beauty of the canyon walls.
For future travelers looking to hike down here, remember to lather yourself in bug spray. Mosquitos here are aggressive and tend to multiply in the pools of water collecting by the side of the King's River. Every few minutes I was slapping my arms and legs to get these guys off! But feeling the mist of the falls was well worth it!
Fun Fact: King's Canyon is known in China as being the sister park of Tai Shan (泰山）. I climbed Tai Shan during my one weekend off my first summer in Beijing. The massive mountain is one of the Five Great Mountains of China. I remember learning in my ancient Chinese class the old saying that goes "五岳归来不看山", meaning "after you return from the five great mountains there is no other mountain worth seeing." My friend and I only had one day to take the high speed rail from Beijing to Tai'an, climb the mountain, and ride it back. We had bought our roundtrip tickets for that night, however after hiking the whole day we told the taxi driver to take us back to the railroad station and ended up at the wrong one! With limited RMB in my pocket I realized that there was a separate high speed railway station on the opposite side of the city. We took a bus, but the smog was so heavy we couldn't see if we were anywhere in sight. Time was ticking down and we only had 30 mins to board. We got off at a random stop, bribed a guy at the bus stop to take us to the high speed railway. He asked, "How much do you have?" We emptied our pockets and he took it. He then drove us 2 minutes away (literally around the smoggy block) to the high speed railroad station for us to board our train. Ridiculous.
Both Tai Shan and King's Canyon are recognized for the commitment to preserving the heritage, educating the public, and protecting their respective mountain wilderness.