#2 - General Grant

The General Grant is the largest Sequoia in the Grant Grove in Kings Canyon NP. It is the second largest Sequoia (and by extension the third largest living thing known) having surpassed the Washington Tree in 2005 when Washington lost a portion of its trunk. This is most people's first view of General Grant from the best viewpoint of it. Although the trees to the right look taller that's an optical illusion - they are actually growing at higher elevation and in any event have considerably less mass.

The stats on the General Grant:

• 268.1 feet high
• 107.5 feet in circumference and
• 46,608 cubic feet in volume.

For the image below I stitched a series of photos of the General together. It won't fit on your monitor at this scale but scrolling will give you an idea of its enormity.

In 1926 Calvin Coolridge declared the General Grant Tree "our nation's Christmas Tree" - apparently it gets a wreath every year to symbolise this. It was also made a living shrine (a concept I'd previously only heard of in Japan) commemorating Americans who died in war by Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. Interestingly General Grant is quite young (1600 or so) for such a big tree which suggests it may get more massive still.