Our top picks for a non-hikers guide to Sequoia National Park. Note: We receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.
Beyond hiking in Sequoia, we enjoyed a few other sights that are worth visiting while in Sequoia. These stops are perfect if you don’t have a lot of time in the park or are just driving through. Beyond these quick stops, we would also recommend visiting Crescent Meadow and General Sherman tree which were quick little hikes. You can read more about those hikes in this post. All of these stops were easy drives from our rental home in Three Rivers.
Following is our non-hikers guide to Sequoia National Park
Tunnel Rock
Tunnel Rock is near the Three Rivers entrance to Sequoia, it’s a huge granite boulder that created a tunnel over the Generals Highway until the road was rerouted.
Tunnel Log
When we visited in June we were able to take the road out to Moro Rock, Crescent Meadow, Auto Log and Tunnel Log so long as we were there before 9AM. (If you came after 9am you were required to park by the Giant Forest Museum and take the shuttle). It was so worth it to have the opportunity to experience these from the comfort of our car rather than the shuttle bus! Tunnel Log is a must see and you cannot miss it as the road literally goes through the tunnel. Note that there is a bypass as well since I’m sure at times it can get congested as people stop to take their photos.
Auto Log
Auto Log is famous because cars used to park or drive on it but that is no longer possible as the tree has degraded. Today Auto Log is a quick and neat stop from a historical viewpoint but not as memorable as Tunnel Log.
Hospital Rock
Hospital Rock is just off the Generals Highway and directly across the road (on the East side) from a picnic area. Somewhat confusingly the road to Buckeye Flat Campground (which is also where the Paradise Creek Trail begins if you plan to do that hike) runs right next to Hospital Rock itself and can make it appear that you have to drive down that road to get there. Rest assured, the rock you see right there by the road is Hospital Rock and you will want to park in the picnic area lot. There is also a flush toilet bathroom at this spot.
The short trail to the rock is to the left of the campground road and the mortars where the Potwisha ground acorns into flour are to the right. At the picnic area there are awkwardly anatomically correct dioramas where you can learn more about the history of Hospital Rock.
Giant Forest Museum
Beyond serving as a visitor center complete with gift shops, nearby flush toilets, and a ranger station, the Giant Forest Museum is where we received our Junior Ranger books and enjoyed some awesome exhibits and a spinning wheel game that I had to drag “Hank” away from playing so we could move along.
There is a large parking lot that the shuttles to Crescent Meadow and Moro Rock leave from as well as those that head towards the General Sherman and Lodgepole areas. The parking lot does fill up, however. The shop here is just a gift shop unlike the grocery store in Lodgepole but we found the National Park specific hand painted Christmas ornaments we like to collect here.
A stop at the Lodgepole Visitor center is also worthwhile, but parking is tight in the lot right next to it. The exhibits were interesting and worth a stop.
So that’s our non-hikers guide to Sequoia National Park. If you have more time in the park and the ability to hike, check out our post on the best family hikes in Sequoia National Park.
I stumbled upon your website and have so appreciated using it to help plan our family vacation. Thank you!
How long would you say it took to do all of the activities listed here?
How long did it take your family to hike Moro Rock and General Sherman’s? Trying to see how much we can squeeze in with 24 hours and if staying near the lodge (so pricey) is worth is to cut down on time. How early did you have to wake up in Three Rivers to make these sites before the traffic hit?
Thanks so much!
Tks!
So sorry for the late response, we normally get a notification when someone comments but we didn’t this time. It may be too late to answer your questions, sorry about that. Moro Rock took maybe an hour. We stayed on central time zone when we went so we typically tried to get to the park by 8am PST but when we did Moro Rock we didn’t want to take the shuttle so we got there around 7:30am. General Sherman didn’t take long either but it was very hard to find parking. If we remember right it was about an hour to get to the park from Three Rivers. We did all of the hikes and highlights over the course of 2 full days. Most of the items in our non-hikers guide are stops along the road so they can be fairly quick, some are on the road that requires a shuttle after 8am though, so those would take longer if you need to take the shuttle to see them. Hopefully that helps answer at least some of your questions. Thanks!
Thank you so much- we are planning a trip for latee this summer so this was perfect