Redwood Mountain and Redwood Canyon provide quiet trails, scenic views and ample chances to see Giant Sequoia trees (it has the largest grove in the world). There you can see the massive trees up close and bask in their enormity. The trail head is about 90 minutes East of Fresno, CA in Kings Canyon National Park.

The trail is mostly smooth dirt but there are several parts where you must cross downed trees or go around them. Additionally there are a few creek crossings which require going over simple log bridges (just logs, really). One to cross Redwood Creek is a large but somewhat smooth log and another on the Hart Tree Trail uses two smaller logs, one for each foot.

I took the loop and the added Hart Tree Trail in order to see the Hart Tree. I somehow missed the Fallen Goliath and almost missed the Hart Tree too which is funny considering how large they are (and how observant I think I am). As I thought I had gone too far or was on the wrong trail, I turned back towards the area I had just passed and saw a small sign designating the path to the Hart Tree – up the hill another 200 ft. or so. Having hiked about 4 hours to that point I took a good long rest, ate lunch and even set up my camp chair for some light reading.

Overall I was on the go from about 8 AM to 2 PM – 6 hours including breaks – to go about 7.25 miles. I was moving at a steady pace so it was a moderate challenge and definitely worth the effort. My pack was a tad heavy for a day hike, stuffed with too many “what if” items and extra water – next time I’d go lighter.

I saw several people and small groups at the trailhead start and finish. However in between I went for hours at a time without seeing any other people. So this trail is a good chance for solitude and observing nature quietly. Animals seen: birds (mostly heard and not seen), deer (2), ground squirrels and chipmunks (a few), lizards (several), bears (0).

Though I didn’t see any bears, I might have heard some. Periodically I heard a startling crashing sound from trees or fallen logs. I wasn’t sure if this was just the natural action of trees giving in to gravity or if it was a bear bulldozing through trees and logs, looking for insects to eat.

I read about this particular hike in Hiking Northern California by Ron Adkison. He does a great job of describing the trail, the history of Giant Sequoias and their relationship with wildfires (they usually survive them and are able to spread their seedlings once the ground is cleared).

Note that getting to the trailhead requires going on a single lane dirt forest road for a few miles. This wasn’t an issue in my Subaru, but I could see it being difficult if there were cars going in both directions or it had been raining (there were several pot holes).